What job(s) did your parent(s) have when you were young and did you learn anything about that field?

12 comments

1. My father was a social worker, my mom was a daycare worker. I myself ended up in the animal science field and know absolutely nothing about mental healthcare or how to care for a child properly.

2. Father – mechanic/service manager, in my entire life i’ve taken my car in for service twice, everything else I do myself.

   Mother – daycare, it taught me exactly why i’ll never be a parent.

3. Bio dad was army turned federal contractor turned cop. Mom did a million different type of jobs. She worked in nursing homes, factory’s., fast food, a gas station, was a nanny, wood worker.

   Ironically, I ended up more like my bio dad in terms of career goals despite not being raised by him

4. My mom was a waitress, and my dad was an attorney.

5. My dad worked in construction. My mom was a pharmacist. I learned more about buildings then I did about drugs.

6. Dad was a clerk so no.

   On the side he fixed TVs and did HVAC work I learned about those, became an engineer.

7. My mom is an architect. She was self-employed and had an office at home so I was around her work a lot. I have a lot of opinions about how houses are designed and built and can’t look at a lot of houses, especially newer ones, without thinking about how ugly they are and how they could have been improved.

8. Mom was/is in special ed/gifted testing, dad was physical therapist. Dad took me to the rehab hospital he worked for plenty of times and I have picked up info about the education field from my mom.

9. My mom was a bartender, maid at a motel, chef at a greasy spoon, and then a cosmetologist.

   I can make a couple of really great drinks, but I was also a cosmetologist until my body quit cooperating. I went into school knowing more than a lot of the other students just from watching my mom.

   Fwiw, my grandma was a wig styler in the 1950s, so it was an adjacent field.

   My daughter is a makeup artist who considered full cosmetology. She can cut and color hair pretty well, though!

10. My dad was an eminent domain lawyer for the State and my mom was a public school teacher. I learned humanity and empathy from my parents and that I never want to be a lawyer – too boring and too much reading.

11. Dad was an Electrical Engineer but never talked about his job. Didn’t even know he was an engineer till HS. Nothing was passed down to me and I still don’t know what they do.

    Mom is a doctor and she always talked about her job. Went to her job sometimes. Learned a lot of about the medical field… the good, bad, and what personality is required to be a medical professional.

    Where did I end you may ask? I went into Mechanical Engineering because I didn’t want to deal with the BS of the medical field and I didn’t have enough empathy to get me through the day in that field.

12. My mom and uncle co-own and operate a sand and gravel company. My dad works for them, he’s their CFO. I work for them as well, as do my brother and cousin. We’re constantly learning from them to gain the skills we’ll need to eventually take over the family business when they decide to retire.