When I was little my male classmates answered the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” with answers like fireman and policeman, maybe even a doctor, but usually a community helper of some sort. Being Canadian kids, hockey players or other sports heros were popular choices too. Boys who were super creative answered with fantasies like super hero!
Now that I am a mom to three boys, I hear them talk about what they want to be when they get older and I’m a little bit surprised by their answers! My oldest is 8 and for years he’s talked about owning a hotel of his own someday. My middle boy is 6 and for as long as I can remember he’s wanted to be a server in a restaurant! He thinks it would be fun to own the restaurant as long as he gets to serve the food! My youngest is a little undecided. The brothers often offer to add them on their endeavours as chef for example, but sometimes he just says ‘worker‘.
I may or may not be encouraging him to be a pilot, because it looks like hubs and I have a good thing going here into retirement! Hotel and restaurant chains around the world could come in handy, include free flights and we are golden! lol
It did get me thinking though, did my boys pick these careers because they were fond of traveling or were all boys today opening their futures up to all kinds of possibilities to explore.
I asked some fellow boymom bloggers what their sons wanted to be when they grew up and I fell in love with the answers!
Jenna from Synmed.com has 4 boys! Here’s her report – B9: Scientist, B7: Math Teacher, B5: Comedian, B4: A Daddy – and her 4 year old wasn’t alone on that! Daddy came up a number of times and totally melted my heart! Thanks to the ladies who shared that!
Kristen from My 3 little kittens has 2 boys, one wants to be a Spy and the other wants to be a Dinosaur Hunter! Very Cool!
Amanda from The Mommy Mix and Kyla from Mommy’s Weird both have boys who have wanted to be Pizza Delivery Men (they must really love pizza!)
Stephanie from Spaceships and Laserbeams and Stacey from Did You Know Canada? both have boys who wants to be a Master Builder thanks to The LEGO Movie, hopefully a position opens up at Legoland!
Shari from The Knit Wit by Shair has three boys, her 7 yr old wants to be a race car drive AND a pilot. Her 8 yr old wants to be an arcade maker, a scientist and artist – they will be busy!
Brittany from The Modern Mommy cracked me up when she said her 7 yr old used to say the Prime Minister, but now wants to be the man who makes Pop Tarts! hilarious!
Jen from Ninja Mommers told me that her 6yr old wants to be a solar electrician like daddy and a race car driver too! He wasn’t the only one who picked the same job as their daddy, Lisa from The Canadian Homeschooler mentioned her little guy wanted to help Daddy at the golf course so the job would get done faster , Ashley from Tales of Mommyhood mentioned her 4 year old either wants to be bumblebee from Transformers or in construction like his dad. Hard choice to make buddy! And Brandi from My Unwritten Life said her 7 yr old used to want to be a power engineer like his dad before he changed his mind to a hockey player in the NHL.
Melissa from Mommy Knows will have her hands full with a cowboy, a clown (he thinks he’s funny), a beast and buzz light year. The good thing is they change their minds quick!
Randa from The Bewitchin Kitchen is banking on her 3 yrs olds dream of being a Canucks hockey player to come true, so he can buy her fancy things! Fingers crossed Randa!
Alyssa from A Motherhood Experience mentioned her 7 yr old has told her he wants to be a superhero or a “science guy“. Maybe a Super Science Guy? lol
Kathryn from Mommy Kat and Kids has two boys, the little guy is 5 and wants to be a singer (because they make lots of money, he can’t figure out why she didn’t go that route lol) and her oldest is almost 9 and wants to be a famous author like “the woman that wrote Harry Potter.” I can’t wait to read what he comes up with!
Sandi from Canadian House Blog has a 9 yr old who always answered Monster Truck Driver, but she’s thankful he’s changing his might and now wants to be an engineer!
Jenn from One Heart One Family told me she could have a future strawberry farmer or “movie theatre guy” on her hands.
Carla from Working Mommy Journal mentioned her 3 yr old wants to be the Red Power Ranger (he offered her the job of Pink Ranger!) and also her 10 year old says he wants to be a professional video game tester or a soccer player.
This was definitely a growing trend in choices, kids today are techier than ever and there is a whole new world of possiblilities in that field!
Tiffany from Naturally Cracked , Jessica from 4 The Love of Mommy and Andrea from Vacationing with the Kids all mentioned they had boys who wanted to design video games, Lisa from The Canadian Homeschooler has an 11 yr her old who aspires to own his own gaming store, and Shannon from Shasher’s Life has a boy who can’t wait for YouTube fame! I’m honestly not surprised at all by this and thought I would hear it even more. My boys are constantly playing video games and watching youtube videos. My oldest keeps asking me to come up with some great plan to get him famous on youtube lol
And at the end of the day they are still our baby boys, these answers were pretty great too
Jen from A Busy Mommy said her little guy wants to be her husband and Kerrie from Family Food And Travel has twins, one who wants to be a fire fighter and the other who answered “I just want to live with you forever mom”. You think that’s cute now, but just ask my mom, it loses it’s charm when they grow! lol
and for the win Nicole from Domesticated Momma’s son said “When I grow up I want to be me, only a bigger and bigger and bigger me“
So the timeless appeal of fire fighters and sports stars certainly exist and probably always will for our boys, but you can also see how their world’s are expanding and evolving with experience, time and technology! I think our future is in good hands with these sweet, brave and creative thinkers!
What does your little boy want to be when he grows up??
some great answers – thanks for including mine!
of course, thanks for sharing!
Love the answers! 🙂
they are so cute aren’t they?
Our eldest (now 19!) wanted to be a chef when he grew up. Our 16 yr old has wanted to join the air force & become a pilot since he was 8 & our 8 year old wants to be Daddy!
my boys work with me so much in the kitchen I’m surprised none of them have ever said chef, the middle guy just wants to serve the food! Daddy is such a cute answer and wow! air force!!!
I enjoyed reading this, it was fun! My kids are all grown up and not one of them stuck to what they said they wanted to be when they were little. One nearly did, she said she wanted to be a Dr and she is a doctor but not a medical one 🙂
It’s actually great how much kids change their path in life! I think I remember always saying ‘teacher’ and I ended working in day care centres for years so that’s pretty close too.
My 6 year wants to be a DJ Ninja and my 3 year old wants to be the Hulk.
haha love it!
There are some great answers here. I like being a strawberry farmer.
I REALLY have to start blogging again. For the longest time our Q said he wanted to be a meatball. Sigh. Then an astronaut. And my first response to that was, “well you have about the same chance of becoming an astronaut as a meatball” 🙂
meatball? that is so funny! A guy in my class in highschool grew up to be an astronaut actually, it can be done!
My 5yo wants to be an angry bird!
What great answers!
A bigger and bigger me is funny and live with you forever is touching and yet a little worrisome. Hahaha.
Now, poptart maker is an awesome answer lol My nephew wants to be a race car driver!
poptart maker is pretty genius! lol I bet racing cars sounds like a whole lot of fun to little boys…their mom’s not so much! lol
I loved reading this, and enjoyed a chuckle or two. These boys all have big dreams. Adorable photo of your little guy.
Thanks Jenna, I thought the answers were just soooo cute!
My 5 year old son wants to be a dentist. This changes all the time though but right now he wants to be a dentist. 🙂
that’s really cool! I think touching other people’s mouths would have grossed me out, well it still does! lol
When my husband was asked this question as a (French -Canadian) child, he always answered, “Fat Albert”. When asked why, he said, “because he was happy and had lots of friends.”. :'( Our boy began with Police Officer (so he could help people), then Construction Worker (so he could build us a house of our own, but now 11, he’s working towards being an Ocean Archaeologist so he can find Atlantis & make other great discoveries!
oh too funny, I remember Fat Albert! lol
my granddaughter wants to be a strawberry grower
My grandson wants to be a Papa when he grows up – so cute!
my 1st Boy wants to be a policeman when he grows up but sometimes he wants to be like his 2nd brother. my 2nd boy wants to be a fireman..he love all about fire engine, fire departmen , fireman sam & red. everyday everytime he talks about it 😀
and the 3rd still 10 mo.. and i think, now he wants to be a chef.. lol..
firefighting is such a draw for little boys isn’t it? must be the cool trucks lol
Sometimes kids want to be the funnest things when they grow up
So, my little guy this morning says he wants to be a Firefighter. 🙂
My three boys are 12,10,and 8. They have been wanting to work for years now, they want to earn their own money. They don’t say what they want to be other than the youngest wanting to join the military.
Those are such cute and creative answers!
Thanks I really enjoyed this read!
its so cute how they have all these fabulous aspirations.if only our minds could continue to think anything is possible.while our children are learning from us ,we as well are learning from them
Fun post! My oldest wants to work in the pit crew for his friends Monster Truck, the middle man wants to be a police officer and my youngest boy wants to be an artist, a police officer or a Dad.
My son said “I want to be on youtube when I grow up”. (that’s a job for some people!) LOL
B12 has gone through a few career aspirations – construction like Daddy, video game tester and famous Youtuber. But he keeps coming back to his lifelong ( 😀 ) love of trains and ultimately wants to be a operator/mechanic.
That’s really cool
My granddaughter wants to have a job dressing babies,awe sweet
So my little guy told me this morning he wants to be a race car driver!
awesome!
My grandson wants to be a garbage collector,tell his mom said he had to pick it up and he says..i’m not touched dirty garbage !
I loved the answers from the boys, They are as interesting and as varied as the boysl. I think there are stages where boys want to be super heroes or hockey stars. As they grow older, their carfeer changes reflect that as well. My boys became farmers, like their father, for a time.
Low Market prices forced a change of careers. One works for CFIA and the other is a Field Suprvisor in Fort MacMurray. They seem happy enough but I think the younger would still like to farm.
Boys do come up with the funniest answers sometimes, i love those!