Things You Need To Consider Before You Say YES or NO

When your child wants an unusual career. When your child is ready to build a career in a field of life that is unfamiliar to you, don't panic and shoot it down. A few questions will help you both determine if your child is suited and ready for the career of his choice and also help you take an enlightened position at this crucial time



- IS HE TALENTED ENOUGH TO MAKE A MARK AND COMMITTED ENOUGH TO LAST?
When rating our children, we tend to colour the facts. What to do now is to expose the child to competition and pressure of performance. Put him against other talents in first rate contests. Give him the opportunity to moonlight among real professionals e.g. vacation jobs, apprenticeships, contract jobs etc. Where possible, let him live on His entry level earnings. Expensive schools are not the way to go at this time. What you need to know is how much potential he has work with while pruning him of all romantic notions and letting him into the hard facts- this too hard work.

- DOES HE KNOW HOW IT WORKS AND DOES HE KNOW WHAT IT TAKES?
Young people tend to equate creative talent based careers with glamour and stupendous financial rewards with no thought given to what it takes to achieve that level of success. Have your child do a business-like pitch. He must show you how knowledgeable he is about the trends, potential and challenges of the industry. If he has had sufficient interaction with infuse professionals and what career chart he has mapped out. His level of preparedness for the pitch will show his determination while his persuasive skills and negotiating skills will be on display for your assessment. Some professions (soccer playing) have a limited life span while others (acting) evolve as the actor ages. What plan does your child have to deal with these peculiarities.

- IS HE STRONG ENOUGH TO BE A PIONEER AND DOES HE HAVE ENTREPRENEURIAL TENDENCIES?
This is probably the most important information you need. Making a career of a creative talent can be very productive and rewarding. However, success, particularly in evolving industries like Nigeria's, depends largely on the skills and inner strength of the talent himself. The support group made up of good managers, agents, publicists etc barely exist and so the talent has to work as the product, the system and the visionary/ driving force behind it all. Is you son armed with people skills, financial skills and resilience? Having a friend whose uncle is positioned to help is not a worth while connection at all. Long gone are the days when all you needed was a good product i.e talent. In today's global ultra- competitive market, a good system is what can guarantee success.

- IT'S TIME TO GIVEN AN HONEST ASSESSMENT OF THE SITUATION.
Chance are that you both learned many new things about yourself, each other and the abundance of new generation career opportunities that exist today. Handled properly, this could be final bonding experience before the young adult leaves home.
You would have noticed several areas of weakness and strength which you can both put into perspective when deciding whether to go ahead with the career as planned, to adjust the approach, change the tining or relegate it to a hobby after all.

By this time, the child should know that you care and to have gone through this whole process. If at the end you are in agreement with the child's choice, then you have the makings of a winning team. If however you differ, it is time to extract a commitment from the child to work on his areas of weakness and acquire the needed skills. Should he fail to commit to that, do not let it ruin your relationship. Be firm and let him know that you'll leave the door open should he need comfort support but you will not finance this venture, n either will you clean up his mess.

Sometimes our children surprise us and we should be happy at their success but at the other times, we just have to wait it out knowing, like the mother hen, that what is hit will eventually be cool.