Ask the Readers: What Was Your Childhood Dream Job?
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Kat, Christie, and Amanda for winning this week's contest!
Adults often ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. When we're kids, the salary of a dream job doesn't matter — it's usually the fun factor that counts the most!
What was your childhood dream job? Has your idea of a dream job changed over the years? Were you able to land your dream job, or are you still working towards it?
Tell us about your childhood dream job and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!
Win 1 of 3 $20 Amazon Gift Cards
We're doing three giveaways — here's how you can win!
Mandatory Entry:
- Post your answer in the comments below. One commenter will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card!
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If you're inspired to write a whole blog post OR you have a photo on flickr to share, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.
Giveaway Rules:
- Contest ends Monday, April 4th at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Winners will be announced after April 4th on the original post. Winners will also be contacted via email.
- You can enter all three drawings — once by leaving a comment, once by liking our Facebook update, and once by tweeting.
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Good Luck!
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tv news reporter
Egyptologist!
My dream job for awhile was to be a sound engineer for a country music band. However, once I discovered forensic science, i completely changed my mind. I'm still working towards that, but I'm in my 4th year as a PhD student in chemistry, so I'm getting there!
My dream job has always been to be a Broadway star! Sadly, I can neither sing nor dance.
When I was a kid I wanted to be a journalist.
My dream career when I was a kid was to be a Doctor. I wanted to help people who are sick and make them feel better!
Pilot, I was definitely a tomboy :)
When I was a kid my dream job was to be a teacher. I taught for a year and then moved on to other industries. Now my dream is to just retire and lounge around.
I wanted to be a teacher
LOL I think I went between fashion designer and travel photographer. Still want to the do the latter!!!
For the longest time I wanted to be a marine biologist and killer whale trainer but I was super scared of fish, so you can imagine the conflict I felt. I have changed my mind so many times and learned a lot since then and am working towards my dream job now.
I wanted to be a veterinarian. Nothing has changed. I am still passionate about animals! :)
I wanted to work with animals, but couldn't pin down if that meant on a farm or in a zoo.
My childhood dream job was to become a wolf biologist. It sounds very specific for a little girl of seven to think about but I remember watching a documentary on Animal Planet and being hooked into the idea. I also may have read Julie of the Wolves way too much. I still love learning about nature and reading, but I work in higher education now.
I always wanted to work with animals somehow.
a judge!
I don't remember ever having a dream about which job I would have as an adult. I knew that whatever I tackled, everything would be OK and it has been. Being willing to try new things and embrace new ideas has been the best "job" I've ever had!
Lion tamer, I liked to live life on the edge.
When I was a child, my dream job was to be a nurse, like my mom.
I always wanted to write jingles for commercials. Since I was 5-6 I would memorize and sing all the jingles around the house. To this day I still love jingles. Im not sure what happened to that dream.
My dream job as a kid was to be a lawyer. Today, I'm a public defender! Some dreams don't change. :-)
I dreamed of being an actress.
I always wanted to be an astronaut!
I wanted to be a veterinarian.
I wanted to be a Marine Biologist and save the manatees. I work in healthcare now, but still love manatees.
I wanted to be a deejay--I thought it would be great to sit around and play music all day.
I have been able to live my childhood dream job - being a full-time homemaker and mother. It hasn't always been easy living on one income, but I'm frugal by nature, so that has never bothered me...in fact, I've loved the challenge. I've never regretted that I chose to stay home to raise my kids - it was a privilege and a joy.
Now that I have an empty nest, I'm trying to figure out the next phase of my life. Way back before I met my husband, I thought if I never married I would have to come up with an alternative career, but I'd never really settled on any one thing. My husband has his own business and I do the bookkeeping for that. I'm thinking about doing some online writing to earn some additional income. Maybe I'll send in something to Wise Bread one of these days. Lol.
I wanted to be an astronaut
Jedi. :)
Be a song writer
I wanted to be a contemporary dancer and my alternative dream job was to choreograph dance and gymnastics.
A floral delivery person
oceanographer - never happened though :(
The first? Garbage collector. They used to wire the most interesting stuff on their truck grills. Then drafter, then scientific photographer, then research geneticist. I ended up as a graphic designer.
I wanted to be a marine biologist and work with ocean animals. I also went through some phases of wanting to be a teacher.
Librarian.
I wanted to be a teacher or a nurse when I was a kid.
My dream job was to be a veterinarian, however I am a LPN. Still care for animals
To be like my dad and jump out of planes in the 82nd Airborne Army
I am blessed in that I have been able to live my dream job of being a stay at home mother and full-time homemaker. It has not been easy to live on one income, but I have a naturally frugal nature and found that I enjoyed the challenge.
Now that my children are grown up and moving forward in their lives, I am once again contemplating a new dream job. To be able to earn money from writing would be wonderful. Recently, I have begun doing research into being able to do it from home. Wish me luck! :)
Sorry! I didn't mean to enter twice...I thought the first one didn't go through due to seeing a captcha error message. I checked later to see if the first was posted and when it wasn't, I entered a new one.
My childhood dream job was to be a professional dancer/performer. Maybe it's never too late!! :).
I wanted to be a chemical engineer, because I thought that meant I'd get to blow stuff up. I was a strange child.
I wanted to be a sportswriter.
I wanted to be an astronaut. My dad was a technical editor who worked on the manual for the guidance system for the Saturn V rocket that took Apollo to the moon, so I was indoctrinated early.
Race car driver. And I'm still racing today! :)
I was dumb - dream job was to be one of those tv wrestlers. Ended up as a computer programmer.
I don't ever remember wanting to be anything in particular when I was a child. Of course, I have never really found a job that I sync well with, all of my adult life, either.
Paleontologist! I was fascinated by dinosaurs.
My dream job was to be an actress
I wanted to be a military dr. like on M*A*S*H
My dream as a child was to be a TV reporter
I really wanted to be a gymnast like Mary Lou Retton, but changed my mind when I realized I was petrified to do flips on the ground, much less on a balance beam!
I always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher when I grew up. I remember playing school all the time and my dolls were my students!
Being a professional golfer
I wanted to be a doctor and though that never happened, I did become a nurse and worked for 40 years in a great profession.
I just wanted to be a mommy. My mother did not work outside of the home and was a wonderful role model. I ended up with the best of both worlds - a wonderful daughter and a fulfilling career where, after 30+ years I'm still molding it to fit my desires. :)
Mom or an Artist
A pink winged kitten. Obviously that didn't work out.
A teacher is what I always wanted to be.
I had a few "dream jobs" in my childhood: Pope, NFL running back, drummer in a rock band...but the one I was more seriously interested in was detective. I did not grow up to become one, but I do still occasionally use my natural detective skills, like when I was researching my family tree and some long lost relatives. Mostly I get it out of my system by watching lots of crime TV and mystery movies and solving the cases right away. :)
My dream job was a teacher. Since I can remember, I had turned a basement room into a classroom, and had an overhead and chalkboard. My little brother was my student, and I would bring home my lessons of what I learned that day, and would teach it to him. He is the smartest person I know this day, so I like to think having a 3 year head start helped! I still may strive for my dream of being a teacher, I think about it every day! Of course I went into accounting because of higher pay, but I know I am meant to be a teacher.
Maybe you could teach accounting :)
Seriously, though, there are likely to be evening teaching jobs in that field because business classes/MBA programs are often filled with people working full-time.
If kindergarten art was any indication, I wanted to be a nurse-doctor.
I wanted to be a dancer but I didn't keep at it.
I wanted to be a genius scientist! That's really not happening but it was a nice dream at the time.
Fashion designer (in Paris, of course!)
Writer.
I wanted to be a tennis player.
I wanted to be a veterinarian until I realized you have to go to medical school!
Nuclear Physicist.
When I was a kid, I dreamed of being an archeologist. Though I think it may have been from watching Indiana Jones one too many times!
When I was a kid I wanted to be a nurse.
It was, and still is, to be queen of the world. Although I don't see it happening any time soon.
I wanted to be a basketball player
My childhood dream job was to be a veterinarian. Being around animals all day seemed like a great way to spend the day!
I wanted to be an artist
A friend of mine recently reminded me that we had a talk when we were 11 yo about what we wanted to do when we grew up... Apparently I'm the only one she knows that actually did what I said I wanted at 11yo. Back then I told her that first I was going to be a dude rancher (I worked on several ranches in Arizona and Wyoming in my early to mid 20's) and then I'd be working with animals... I've been a technician at a Veterinary Hospital for 8 years before being a Veterinary Hospital Manager for the last 2...
Life is funny sometimes!
Your picture made me laugh. I wanted to be a ballerina.
I wanted to be a scientist.
I wanted to be a nurse and help others.
I wanted to be a doctor. I ended up realizing it wasn't the right choice for me, and I'm much happier with the hours I work and job I have now.
I wanted to be a famous singer.
I always wanted to be in The Beatles. Needless to say, it didn't happen.
I wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid.
I wanted to be a lawyer
I wanted to be a baseball player.
I always wanted to be a country western singer ever since childhood but it did not pan out as I am unable to carry a tune. I never did have my dream job but had several jobs that I liked but am no longer able to work due to cancer.