At 14 she wants to be a school teacher. The family keeps saying 'at least a professor'

ivory_fern_647615 May 2026

At a family lunch last weekend someone asked her the usual question, and she said she wants to teach small children, class 3 or 4. The table went quiet, and then her Dadu said, very kindly, 'why not a professor like your Baba?' Since then three relatives have called to suggest she 'aim higher'. I teach at a university. I don't think it is higher. But I know I'm not neutral, and she is 14 and will change her mind five times. What do I say to the relatives, and do I say anything at all to her?

4 comments

willow_coconut_24615 May 2026
My papa was a teacher in a government school in our town. Everybody respected him more than the doctor. I think it depends on the place, here in the city people think different. Your daughter has a good heart to want small children. Small children are not easy, I know with my two at home!
mellow_balcony_205315 May 2026
son's class 12 results came out this month. half his friends are now doing what their relatives picked. i'd say nothing to her and smile at the relatives
olive_hammock_939215 May 2026
I also wanted to become a teacher. I did BA, then marriage, shifting, now my son. These days I sit with him for English every evening since he changed to English medium, and I think I am a teacher after all, only one student! Let her keep this dream. Teachers are needed.
mellow_drum_307717 May 2026
If you need something to hand the relatives: a good primary teacher in a decent school isn't badly placed at all, there's the B.Ed route, and some colleges here run early-years diplomas now. A friend of my daughter's from school is going down exactly that road and seems happier than most of the engineers in their batch 😄 At 14 though, I'd just let her say it out loud without anyone grading the answer.