Parental Role In Career Guidance And Counseling

by Nhundu Pardingtone

Children at a tender age learn 60% of things by observation. Hence the famous kids actions of following Church procedures at home through singing, dances and even prayer positions. At most kids copying of learning activities i.e copying a teacher or headmaster and the list goes on. To amplify this learning by observation concept, at most parents refuse to argue, converse emotional matters in front of their children. The same concept takes place in the realm of Career Guidance. The child is taught about careers by parents sub-consciously. Thus by observation the child can decide to follow a parents or guardians career path.

While children observe their parents career path, they happen to have direct experience. A number of parents bring work home, others often take their children to their work places, and some do not even discuss their work with their children while others rarely spend time with their families because of work. These experiences have a substantive impact on how children decide on their careers. Hence, by unique experiences kids can decide to follow a parents/guardians career path or not.

However, other children can decide to take certain career paths because of rather indirect family career experiences. Children can witness a cruel robbery and loss of a parent or sibling and thus decide to be a policeman/woman. A child can witness the incarceration of an innocent close relative and decide to be a lawyer or judge. Children can also admire a community friend who puts on a shiny blue air force uniform and just decide to follow the career path because of the intriguing uniform. Others can just have a relative who is no-longer addressed by name but job title like Doctor and just fall in love with the career related to the title.

Lastly by advice parents/guardians can help shape their children‟s career paths. Parents can thus not take a leading role in career decisions of their children but they walk side by side with their children and assist them to come up with the best career paths.

Types of Career Guidance parenting

Before we even discuss how parents can assist children in Career Guidance lets first discuss the various type of parents/guardians around in the area of Career Guidance.

1. Traditional parents

This group of parents believes without school a child is nothing not considering their talents. For instance, they can argue against a child following a soccer talent
because they might get injured and be stranded because they don‟t have the education. Even though, a qualified electrician can be electrocuted to a wheel chair.

The parents in this section allow technical courses as a second option after one has failed mainstream education. That is, to pass Grade 7, “O” Level, “A” Level and proceeds to University. They have little regard for any technical related college.

2. Contemporary parents

The modern parents have an appreciation of what it was like soon after independence and a number of years after because they were either victims of Traditional parenting or modern career parenting. Hence they appreciate any profession because of experience or observation of people who have done it in contemporary careers. The modern parents are best at advising and assisting their children to follow their career paths.
Best of all modern parents appreciate their children‟s talent. Hence they go to support their children playing soccer, tennis, cricket, debating, poetry, public speaking, stand-up comedy and any other extra-curricular activity you can name.

3. Legacy parents

I also call these parents the „no nonsense‟ parents. They have worked so hard and set a great name in the community, province, country, region or international. The parents thus have no regard to any career path that can bring the family name or legacy to disrepute meaning a child‟s career path is cut out way before the child can make a career decision. This is more like arranged marriages.
Hence if the father is a Medical Doctor, Pilot or Lawyer everyone else should follow that path. When there is a possibility to decide otherwise no mediocre profession would be tolerated.

4. Open book parents

This model of career parenting gives room to the child to do whatsoever they like because it is the child‟s life. They believe that there is no reason to force a child into nursing when the child can barely stand the hospital environment.

Parents in this model cat as if they don‟t care about their child‟s future. However they are the best risk takers who are not possessive and thus give the child room
to mature in decision making. This model is usually used by parents who have the financial muscle to resuscitate their children when they commit „career suicides‟.

5. Circumstantial parents

This model of career parenting is mostly affected by the prevailing family situation. The child should study hard, get a good profession and take care of the family. So it doesn‟t really matter what you want but you have to make the family better and that‟s all.

More so, circumstantial parents direct children‟s career path because of their financial stability. I have witnessed a number of students just get into „mediocre‟ professions compared to their qualifications because they cannot stand the idea of having passed and still seated at home with a suffering family. The child then has to sacrifice their career dream and jump into a random career path so as to shine a light in the family.
In the next edition we will discuss on how parents can thus play a pivotal role in Career parenting.