No, you CANNOT be an astronaut when you grow up, dear

louche

Wed, Jan 27 2010, 9:56 am

Isramom8 wrote:

Very few people become astronauts also. Maybe you can direct him to a more practical job that could theoretically be a step towards becoming an astronaut. ... maybe that will lead to more, or maybe he will decide he enjoys an alternative job.

PUH-LEEZE, ladies! Are you for real????? Get a grip on yourselves! The kid is not a HS senior having a career counseling session or a college student choosing a major--he's a great, big FOUR--count 'em--FOUR years old! Tell me you didn't want to be a ballerina, or a princess, or a clown or a movie star when you were four. Let him dream a little. Yeesh!

PinkFridge

Wed, Jan 27 2010, 10:29 am

louche wrote:

Isramom8 wrote:

That's it!
That's what I couldn't articulate. Why squash dreams? Why teach a kid that s/he has to neurotically second guess all the time as ideas come up (and may go just as fleetingly)?

chocolate moose

Wed, Jan 27 2010, 10:51 am

louche wrote:

Isramom8 wrote:

Because we don't fill our kids' heads with nonsense !!!!

PinkFridge

Wed, Jan 27 2010, 1:26 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

louche wrote:

Isramom8 wrote:

Because we don't fill our kids' heads with nonsense !!!!

This may be as fine a parenting policy as many others, though one's mileage may vary. My question is, what would you say are the practical parameters of this policy?

louche

Wed, Jan 27 2010, 1:56 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

louche wrote:

Isramom8 wrote:

Because we don't fill our kids' heads with nonsense !!!!

You're not filling his head...it's already full of a lively, limitless imagination, which is a beautiful thing. Must EVERY Jewish boy become a rebbe? So maybe he won't become an astronaut...maybe he'll just become a pilot. A Hatzalah Medevac pilot who airlifts people from remote accident scenes and transports them to hospitals. Or maybe he'll fly a helicopter and take tour groups for aerial views of the holy sites, or participate in searches for missing Bais Yaakov girls who get separated from their school groups on LaG Baomer trips.

Or maybe he'll find out he suffers from motion sickness and turn his love of aerospace into a love of aerospace engineering, and design hatzalah medevac craft with special features that limit how much chilul Shabbos the Hatzalah guys have to do while caring for their passengers. Maybe audio tehillim that start up when the gurney is rolled in and tefillas HaDerech audio that kicks in when the plane is airborne.

But no, maybe you're right. Maybe we should quash our children's oh-so-misguided imaginations. A little imagination is a dangerous thing. Maybe we should indeed tell our preschoolers that the only acceptable or even possible career for a ben Torah is full-time kollel, or, in a pinch, chinuch, and the sooner they get that through their thick little skulls the better. Maybe four is already too late. maybe we should sing it to them instead of lullabies. Don't want to fill their heads with nonsense, now do we?

levial

Wed, Jan 27 2010, 2:36 pm

It's the opportunity to communicate with your child. LIke chocolate moose said, it may lead him to his true calling. Each person has middot and you need to use your middot for good - if exploring space is touching his neshama right now, your non-squashing (you need not gush over it) will allow him to share with you his feelings, interests, etc.

And you know what, there's a former ballerina who's BT and she was feeling squashed she couldn't dance and now she's got a frum girl's ballet school in town. . .there can be ways to channel your skills for good.

greenfire

Wed, Jan 27 2010, 5:03 pm

what bothers me about many of the posts is that the common theme seems to be - tell him go for it - why squash his dreams - yet you know it's not going to happen anyways ...

I believe it can happen ... and I say GO FOR IT - and actually DO IT !!!

by the way isn't it the satellites in space that help us track weather, have cell phones, programs telecast through out the world ... What

p.s. I too know a frum NASA employee