Given our unfortunate and prolonged unemployment situation, I am obsessed with what life lessons our children are learning from the manner in which we are handling ourselves as parents and our approach to this obvious dilemma. Someone close to me told me that she feels our children will learn resilience from this situation but we have not bounced back in the least, only moved further away from returning to normal. I worry that they will learn to be bitter and cynical despite my efforts to shield them from my most dark moods so I try to instill in them a sense of adventure (though even my youngest is not buying the adventure spin anymore). I have started thinking more an more about how best to guide them in their schooling and subsequent career choices as I feel that that is the one component of my education in which I was most certainly lacking. Let's face it, I am not exactly a hot career ticket with a B.A. in English Literature (let's not forget the minor in French) and a Ed. M. In English Education.
Our extended foray into the world of the unemployed has shown us that even Ivy league educations are no guarantee to long term employment these days. So the question stands as to how to counsel and guide my children toward better (safer, if such a thing still exists) career choices and how to empower them with a feeling of resilience even when I feel as though I have snapped.
What can I say? Gloomy, cold Mondays always bring out my dark side. It is something to think about.
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