Footsteps We Take

Footsteps We Take

            Since the day we’re born all we hear is comparisons between us and our parents. “Oh, you have your mother’s eyes!” “You are defiantly your father’s son!” “You’re just as beautiful as your mother when she was your age!” Some may think we’re pre-destined to be the same as them, make the same mistakes, and choose the same career plan. The last one especially. I have heard countless times, “So you’re going to be a teacher like your father, aren’t you?” My answer is always answering to the effect that I don’t know yet. My father’s mother was a teacher and that’s why he became one. Unlike my mother who wanted nothing to do with her father’s job as a Chiquita Banana salesman (and I don’t blame her). There’s three ways a child could turn out. Yes, they are like their parents. No, they aren’t like their parents. And also, that nobody’s quite sure yet.

            Political parents produce political children. Adults who make up their own business leave it to their children to keep it going. Military equals military. Farmers equal more farmers. It’s just something people have observed over their lives. My father told me once that when he was figuring out what to do with his life he figured he might as well either be a farmer (what his father and both brothers were doing) or a teacher (what his mother did). Tons of studies have shown that kids often end up imitating their parents and their actions. This includes with their jobs, relationships, and just their plain out attitudes. So it would make sense that people would think we’re ‘pre-determined’.

            In disagreement with that, some people have found all the negative effects of the occupation from watching their parents go through it. Some may think that the job is to time consuming. That it doesn’t make enough money. Maybe the job just doesn’t appeal to them (like, for example, selling bananas). Each of us has our own lives, our own personalities, and our own decisions to make. So it’s impossible for some to think that our parents’ choices influence ours to that great of an extent.

            Otherwise, nobody’s ruling out anything. Anything, in this case, is game. Just because our parents chose that job doesn’t mean we have to (or can’t) choose the same job. It’s crazy to think that. People want to do what they feel comfortable with, what they enjoy doing. Is it wrong to think that their parents might have just shown them the pros or cons to a career choice? Not really, parents share their knowledge with their children. It’s what happens. So whatever goes is good. There’s no superstition. Not a pre-determined fate that will defiantly happen.

            It’s pretty much a universal thing when you’re compared to your parents. In one way, shape, or form I bet it’s at least happened once to all of us. But do we really follow in our parents’ footsteps? Some may think so, others may not. Some can’t be sure yet because they don’t feel like they’re sure about their future plans. Which ever they choose, they have to fit in one of those three things. Eventually one thing will be chosen. The footprints will be their own. Even if it is behind their parents footprints, it will be it’s own separate pair of footprints. “To each his own.”