What Do You Do for a Living? (And How Would Your Kid Explain It?)

When I was growing up, I hardly knew the occupations of the parents of many of my classmates. Unless, of course, they were policemen, nurses, teachers or housewives, I probably didn’t have a clue. In many cases I never knew, until I’m reading their obituaries now 40 years later.

Unlike when I was a kid, my son Ethan has a pretty good idea of what his mother and I do for a living because we both work from home and he gets to see us in “action.”

So I was particularly shocked one day when I picked him up at pre-school (this was five years ago) and one of the teachers was giving me the hairy eyeball. “We had a discussion with the kids today about what their parents do for a living,” she explained, with a lilting chuckle.
“Ah ha,” I said. “So what did he say?”

“My dad works on his computer—and does lots of laundry.” Well, that is accurate, I thought. Wait, it gets better…

“My mommy sits in her studio all day and makes money!” Well, neither one of those lines is blatantly incorrect (especially the part about me doing lots o’ laundry), but they don’t paint too accurate (or flattering) a picture. (No Sue is not a counterfeiter, by the way.)

But it did show us that while Ethan did get to see us in action, he didn’t really know what the action was about. Luckily, some of the other kids were just as offbase.

One said, “My daddy is a sailor.” In reality: this guy is a very accomplished electrical engineer who relieves his work stress by going sailing every Wednesday evening.

What does his mom do? “My mom goes to the gym.” No mention of shleping him and his younger sister everywhere, taking care of them, buying groceries, etc.

Ethan knows we do writing and public relations, while I’m sure sometimes he doesn’t have any better handle on the latter than I do.

So next time you’re feeling a bit breezy and whimsical, ask your kid(s) about your profession. You may be shocked by the answers, but better you than the highly amused teacher.