What did you want to be when you grew up?

[Daisy]

As the heading - when you were a child what did you want to be or do?

[Nanto2girls]

I always wanted to be a nurse.
But after getting married at 17 and starting a family, it fell by the wasyside.
I never regretted not going for it,always been happy with the way my life panned out.

[Gemini]

When I was a little girl I wanted to be 'a Mummy'. I suppose because my mum didn't work and neither did my friends mums, I saw Mummy as the perfect job!

In my teens I really had the theatre bug, but I also loved children. I entertained the idea of being a nanny. I always imagined somewhere unusual like Australia or the wilds of Scotland to work, never locally!

I decided that as hopefully I would have children of my own one day, it would be better to work in a different field first. I suspected (rightly I'm sure) that nannying could be rather a lonely job.

I worked behind the scenes for a small theatre in education group for a couple of years. We travelled around Yorkshire taking shows into schools. This filled my theatre and working with children needs!
I then went to London to theatre school to study stage management and design for two years.

[Plantaholic]

I just wanted to stay at school forever, I loved the Headmistress, she joined the school as I joined it and had a mission to see us into further education. I always said I wanted to work with people and I was found a job in an Estate Agents which I loved. I think I lacked ambition and didn't set my sights very high. Being a lot older than you, I don't think there were the opportunities.

[Glammanana]

I always wanted to be a Hairdresser but my dad said there was no money it

[Oma]

Either a Electrician or a Archaeologist

In those days no way could a girl be a Electrician and I didn't have the opportunity of further education we couldn't afford that to go into Archaeology ,
anyway I hated school so didn't get any qualifications

Funnily enough all the jobs I did have in my working life the one Job I loved was working in a shoe shop , sadly it was a little family owned shop that closed when the owner died

[Gemini]

Oma my mum worked in Saxone shoe shop for years. She worked in the mens department and loved it. She said the men just wanted something in their size and whatever colour they wanted bought and left. On the ladies and childrens sections she could see the staff constantly going back and forth to the stockroom for different styles and colours 😊

[Sunshine]

I always wanted to be a mummy and a children’s nanny. I achieved both. Very happy. In between I was a bank clerk. That was supposed to be the ‘sensible’ option. I did enjoy it, but child care was, and still is much more my passion.

[Daisy]

I wanted to be a vet, for year and years, until one day reality struck and I realised I couldn't cure or save all the animals I would meet and would have to euthanise those beyond help. At that age (early teens) I couldn't face that. For some reason, I started to think about being a pharmacist, and thought how interesting that would be. Then reality struck again, and I thought what if I dispensed the wrong drug to someone. I loved Art, but in my world that wasn't a career - we had no careers advice at all. So I reached the Fifth form with no ideas and no motivation.

My dad was adamant that a clutch of O Levels didn't qualify me for work, and given I wanted to leave school by then dad's friend suggested a secretarial course at the local college. This is what one of his daughters had done and was working in Geneva at the United Nations. My girl cousin was a secretary in the Cabinet Office. I read a book about a girl who worked in the Purser's Office on board a ship. This secretarial lark sounded as though it had possibilities! So I ended up doing a secretarial course at the local college.

[Daisy]

I just wanted to stay at school forever, I loved the Headmistress, she joined the school as I joined it and had a mission to see us into further education. I always said I wanted to work with people and I was found a job in an Estate Agents which I loved. I think I lacked ambition and didn't set my sights very high. Being a lot older than you, I don't think there were the opportunities.

Plant - I'm not much younger than you, and we had no careers advice at all either. Living in a highly industrial city, most youngsters ended up working on a factory of some kind, a lot of boys would get apprenticeships in building trades etc, but for girls there was less choice. It was mostly factories, shops or perhaps hairdressing. The grammar school seemed to have a view that if we didn't go to university or teaching training, we were only fit for the civil service, banking or nursing. No wonder we lacked ambition!

[Oma]

Gem I loved the men's dept it was easy no fuss they knew what they wanted got it and out again

[Sunshine]

I was brought up to believe that a career was really for boys. The boys would be the bread winners and the girls would look after the children.
My mother was horrified when the careers teacher suggested I go to college to do an NNEB. My mum said, (in no uncertain terms) that is was a waste of time going to college, I’d have children of my own soon enough.
My first job was a junior bank clerk. It wasn’t too long before I left to have a family of my own. Perhaps my mum knew me better than I did. I did eventually pursue a career in childcare, which I loved.
I raised my children completely differently. I have always actively encouraged them to follow their heart. They too seem to be doing the same with their children.

[Daisy]

Sunshine, I think a lot of girls were raised to think they'd work between leaving school and having a family and that would be it. Even up till I was retiring from College I'd hear parents say, in effect, "there's no point in educating a girl, they'll stop work when they have a family". I usually quoted the divorce figures to them and suggested that maybe it was even more important for a girl to have qualifications and a career.

[Gemini]

All the girls from my school seemed to go to work in banks or building societies. Nice steady jobs.
17 year old me thought I would rather be buried alive!!

[Clover]

I always wanted to be a nurse,never considered anything else. At 16 I started a Pre nursing course where we worked in various hospital departments before “proper” training at 18. How proud we were of our purple and white striped uniforms, starched aprons and caps that had to be starched and folded in a certain way to resemble butterfly wings! How things have changed!