I think one of the coolest things about moving has been the time my husband gets to spend with our kids. Previously, he worked really long hours. The kids were in bed before came home. We never had a common day off to spend together as a family. He was off Tuesday and Wednesday and I was off Saturday and Sunday. It was hard. His schedule was a huge factor in our decision for him to pursue a different career. He wanted to be an active participant in their lives!
He has been taking a few prerequisite courses this year. Luckily they have all been online so he is able to home school our preschool daughter. They work on many interesting topics together. She is able to follow her own interests. She always has an interesting story about her day.
We bought our toddler son a John Deere video. We thought he’d love the big trucks and the cheesy songs. We were surprised when he shunned it and the big kids took an immediate interest. There is even a car called Auto that they talk about on repeat!
We want to expand on her love for this heavy machinery. I teach young kids about different careers paths. It is never too young to start. This early exploration allows them to test out many career roles. My daughter loves to pretend that she’s driving one on the dozers. Here is how we will expand on her interests.
1. I bought The Big Book Of Things That Go. I use this book with first graders, but it will be great for even younger kids. It is great for introducing careers like pilot, captain, and several careers in construction.
2. We have an old race car driver Halloween costume that they will repurpose so she can role play.
3. We encouraged her to play with a variety of cars. We talked about sounds that the different modes of transportation make. She had a blast making a make believe city with blocks!
Do you think early career exploration is important?
blackheart betty 
I’m glad that the move did you guys well – it must have been really tough on all of you with his working hours!!
I do think that early career exploration is a good thing. The last thing a parent should do is force something onto their child to the extent that they have it drilled into their head that they MUST do this one thing…. I think it’s important to introduce children to many things and to show them bits about life and you’ll gauge what they do take a shining to and what they don’t.
x
www,bohemianmuses.blogspot.com
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My husband gets a leave between jobs now and it’s wonderful having him home. My daughters all play different instruments. We thought it would be nice to give each girl her own. But my three year old wants to do what her older sister does and already identifies as a flutist. She has been able to observe her sisters and their practicing and has chosen for herself. It’s really cute. We’ll see how long she keeps her decision. But early exploration is key!
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Yes! I think it’s great to share with children and talk about careers and also breaking the traditional gender molds. Boys can be nurses as easily as girls, women can be contractors, etc! Love this – I like the idea of letting them explore their interests to come up with career ideas too!
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Love this! I think that is an awesome thing to explore careers early on to expose our kids to the many options that they have! So far, my one daughter has about a dozen careers going! 🙂 It will be interesting to see what she ends up doing!
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Those work hours did sound dreadful. Glad things have improved!
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You checked my site out, I am checking your site out. Yes! Children should be exposed to all sorts of things in our world. As a preschool teacher we devote a whole week to community helpers and exploring “what do you want to be when you grow up.” Plus, time spent with your children is the best “career” one can have!
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My youngest used to love cement mixers and would freak out every time we saw one on the road! I definitely encourage career exploration!
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It’s always a great thing when two parents are in the same home with their children. I applaud the both of you for that. And believe it or not, I’ve seen that book before. My niece has it 🙂
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It’s great that you are now getting more time together as a family.
Exploring anything through play is a good thing and encouraging your daughter to explore the world of heavy machinery and the job possibilities that it holds is a good thing, but youngsters can be fickle and their interests change as the world around them gets bigger and more interesting. It will be many years before you will know how much your encouragement guided her into her career choice.
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