What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to join The WRENS, but when I was 12 I met the lad who was going to be my husband and all thoughts of careers went out the window.

As a teenager I wanted to be a fancy solicitor. My childhood dreams were to be a ballerina or a circus performer, either trapeze or high wire.

Just to leave school, get a job yo earn money to help my parents.

Woolwoths Saturday girl, going full time on leaving school. Eldest of 3 born before WW2 I knew nothing about ambition..
Worked in care over 30 yrs.

A librarian, and I did voluntary Saturday work in the local library for a few years while at school.
Both my sister and I were determined that we would never be teachers as all our uncles, aunts, cousins taught. We both did teach, of course! Maths at a girls’ grammar for her, infants for me.
Now life has circled round and I volunteer at the local library.

I wanted to be a dental nurse..who sits with the sucker in the mouth while dentist drilling .no idea why and never got there.....

Right from when I started school I always wanted to be a teacher, and in particular, an infants' teacher - ambition achieved.

I wanted to be a Librarian from the age of 8 so that I could use the clicky date stamp.
Then I wanted to be a music teacher
Then I "found" genetics.

So, first of all I did my degrees in genetics, and then some lecturing
Once all our children were at school, I became a library assistant (I really enjoyed using the clicky date stamp) before qualifying as a Children's Librarian
During my time working in the library service I studied folk and classical guitar, and ended up teaching both.

It was all hard work, but despite health and other problems, my working life has been amazing!!

I wanted to be a man as to the little me men had a much easier life. Then I wanted to be a librarian, or a florist. I grew up, had a lovely husband and two wonderful sons. When I finally retired I partly achieved my dream and now arrange flowers in our local church.

To own and run a "Tea Shop" with white tablecloths, fine china and home made cakes. My parents would not hear of it, and in those days you did as your parents told you so off I went to university, hating every minute, ended up as an Administrator, didn't like that either but it was a case of another day another dollar as we had three lads to look after.

A teacher and I was until I retrained as a psychotherapist

Aged 3 I wanted to be a bus conductor and use the machine that issued the tickets! But at 4 I went with my Mum to a hospital appointment and saw the nurses. That was it. Never changed after that. Nursed for the next 40 years with some time out raising the children and loved it.

TerriBull my DD is a cabin crew manager and loves flying.
She was never academic and always saw it as her dream job. She absolutely loves it, spends time in places all over the world on long haul and meets lots of successful people. I enjoy going along as a ‘cling on’ too!
It’s not all the miserable picture you paint.

A fighter pilot but girls didn’t do that sort of thing when I was little 😢

I wanted to be a nurse and to teach. And I did them both. I'm in the US so I got a basic nursing degree, an ASN, associate degree in nursing to start. It took me another 25 years to finish my PhD. I used that to teach at the university level. I even taught a semester at Oxford as a visiting lecturer.

I also wanted to have a personal life.
I have two sons, two foster sons, and 6 grands.

I feel I got the life I wanted at 16. I didn't get any pots of gold that would make life easier now if I had.

I wanted to be a jockey. I was certainly small enough and loved horses. However I was scared of them for a long time and would never have been brave enough to race!

Apart from wanting to be a vet - until I realised I was rubbish at Physics & Chemistry, I never had much of an ambition. I got good O levels but was expected to leave school and get a job. I worked in insurance for 14 years, rising to a good level and then worked in University admin for 25 years. I know I've just drifted through life but I am well read and a mine of (sometimes useless) information.

At school I wanted to be a probation officer, I actually left to train as a Nursery Nurse, rubbish money though, so I worked in a couple of factories on ‘a line’.
Then applied for and got a job as a computer operator with a large IT company, became a software project manager for twenty odd years until voluntary redundancy. Transferred my skills to project manage a large build of 3,000 houses within a LA planning team until early retirement.

Like Bestgrammaever, I wanted to be a nurse and a teacher. This was fully cemented when I was on my nursing school obstetrics/paediatrics rotation (also like Bestgrammaever I was in the States), and I (platonically) fell in love with my paediatrics instructor. Oddly, as I had never spent much time around children, but spent years as a neonatal nurse as I was slowly advancing my degrees up to a Masters when I could teach at university level. After my own children were born, I found I really did enjoy children, particularly studying growth and development. When I moved to England in my 40's and worked in a neonatal unit in London, I discovered 'nursery nurses' which don't exist in the US. I happily got a job in a small college teaching 'child care' (nursery nurses) as it is now called. When I started, I had no idea that I would be teaching 16 year olds, but I adjusted and loved it. (PS I had also dreamed of being an air hostess, but found out that you had to be at least 5ft. 2 inches which I never attained! But I managed to move to Switzerland with a partner, and then to England, and have travelled extensively around Europe, so was able to attend to my 'travel bug' desires, without having to manage a tea trolley in the aisles )

I wanted to be a librarian, but the careers advisor said that I needed Latin to be a qualified librarian. I think that she thought I wanted to be a librarian in a university or something high minded like that, when I really just wanted to be in the local library. She steered me towards teaching, which although I qualified, only just, never led to a job.

A dancer. Went to tap and ballet and teacher thought as I supposed to be good I should attend others as well. Funds just couldn't stretch, this I discovered was the reason after being told the classes were too far away (no car in these days) and parent's work couldn't accommodate.

A vet, or a nurse, or an archaeologist, or an author.

I thought that I’d be a good actress like Doris Day, Vivienne Leigh, Deborah Kerr, and others of the fifties. I wasn’t. The nearest I got was to be in the chorus of a number of amateur musical productions. I was a teacher. During my student days, and the years when my children were young, I had jobs in hotel reception, and in offices. I think that I might have enjoyed a career in a secretarial/ administrative role.

I wanted to be with books and eventually qualified as librarian. while training I actually got to be a mobile library assistant, the van we used was driven by a mobile van driver. It never seemed like work and I almost felt I was cheating when I got my pay. Unfortunately when I had my children I was unable to get part-time work so had to give up my library post.

I always wanted to be a Mum. Never wanted a career but worked in hospitals and schools . I achieved my ambition and became a Mum to 3 girls and of course I am still doing the job and have no plans to retire.😁

I wanted to be a Vet as I love animals.
I ended up as a legal secretary for most of my working life pre children ,then when they arrived and went to school, I did all sorts of jobs from Waitressing to Care work and finally Community support.