Paige's Future

Car ride chats have become more and more common for Paige and me, and I try to talk to her about a variety of subjects. Recently, we have covered everything from learning her middle & last name to Santa. On a recent car trip, I was chatting with her about Dave's and my jobs. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: When you are at school, Mommy & Daddy go to work.
Paige: Mommy & Daddy go to work.
Me: Yep, and do you know what I do at work?
Paige: Work.
Me: Well, yes, but my JOB is that I am a teacher.
Paige: A teacher?! Mommy a teacher?

(Side note - I think I blew her mind that I was a teacher, cause she has teachers at her "school," and, while she's visited my school many times, she apparently had no clue that was what I did.)

Me: Yep, and Daddy is an Engineer.
Paige: An Enguyneer?
Me: Yes, an EnGIneer.

So, we talked for a bit about Mommy and Daddy's jobs (traffic can be terrible around here) and how when we work, those are our jobs, blah, blah, blah. I also had to clarify that Daddy does not, in fact, work at the airport, but I suppose her only experience with Dave's "work" has been when we were dropping him off or pickig him up from the airport and I tell her that "Dad has to go to work for a few days."

I decided to take this conversation one notch higher (I AM a teacher of gifted students, so I feel a need to end all conversations with an opportunity for higher level thinking). I asked, "Paige, when you get older, what do YOU want to do for a job?" Now, I anticipated that she'd either answer with, "a teacher," or "an enguyneer," because Paige is the ultimate follower and not generally one for original thoughts. She surprised me when she said, "hum....." cause that meant that she was actually thinking about her answer. After a few seconds of thinking, she says, "a bucket." I was certain that Paige was just confused about my question, so I clarified, "No, what do you want to be when you have a job?" and she assured me that she does, in fact, want to be a bucket. I thought she must not know what a bucket is, so I asked her, "So what does a bucket do?" and she replied, "Holds water."

This conversation happened about a week ago, and Paige still maintains that she wants to be a bucket when she grows up. While these aren't the same aspirations that we have for her, we may be looking some career openings in the field of bucketry in a few years. I'm pretty sure UVA and BC don't have any sort of programs for buckets, but maybe they'll develop something before she gets to college.