Doing art/music as career
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Anonymous
| I have a DD8 that studying is so hard for her. She has dyslexia & adhd inattentive, so anything related to books or math are painful to her. She has interests in art and music. I would say she may have more potential in art since she is quite creative. I am not sure about music. Her lessons & summer camps are all related to art, music and dance. Anyone has experience for kid doing art/music route as a career? Is that a difficult path? I want to find more information on this alternative for her " just in case" that may work better for her. |
Anonymous
| Maybe but it's not really a high-likelihood-of-success career. My sister does that but she barely pays her rent at age 50. |
Anonymous
| Please also remember that 8 is really young and her brain is still very immature. My son has dyslexia and could not read at all at age 8. He only started reading at 10. He is 14 now and is only slightly below grade level in reading (he is very behind in spelling and grammar, but uses technology to help). He is clearly of average intelligence, and I can see any number of careers for him now, but I could definitely couldn't see those possibilities when he was 8. |
Anonymous
| For music she can either teach it or perform. |
Anonymous
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Being a performing artist is a hard road even for the most talented, and the lifestyle can be tough-- late nights, travel, being broke even if quite talented. Something like art therapist or school art teacher may be a better fit with more stability. There are also lots of support and admin jobs in those fields.
8 is way too soon to stress about this though! She will learn to read well enough in time, there's no need to be the best reader ever. And with your help she will likely get a handle on the attention issues too. Let her enjoy her passions! |
Anonymous
+100 My kids both have ADHD. They are so different now as college students than they were at 8. DD also loves art and invests a lot of time in it as a hobby but also came to love science and is majoring in environmental science and wants a job where she can work outside a lot since a desk job would not be good for her. Last summer she had an internship in natural resources management and was so happy to be out working every day. Just keep supporting her and make sure she is getting intensive support for the dyslexia. FWIW, my friend's DD with dyslexia and ADHD is in college as an English major! You never know what the future holds. |
Anonymous
| At age 8 just keep exposing her to different things. If she doesnt have a natural talent for the arts, its not worth pushing. If she does, she will gravitate to those activities and will find confidence and enjoyment. Dont worry about future job prospects. |
Anonymous
| Design might be a good compromise as you can stay employed but also be creative. With AI the future is uncertain of course but graphic design, interior design/renovation/construction, and industrial design are good places to start. |
Anonymous
| Don't worry about long-term career. If she loves it then encourage it and keep it low-stakes and fun! She will benefit from an outlet she enjoys and something she excels at. Kids with profiles like this have to work so hard at school and often feel bad because they can't do academic stuff as well as some of their peers. It'll benefit her to be proud of her art and music and to have fun with it. As she gets older, if she chooses to continue with it, it could be an identity for her, and that's important. It will also help her meet kids out of school who knows her as a fantastic artist or a cool musician - not the kid who is in the lower reading group or struggles to write out worksheets. |
Anonymous
This. She’d need to be very good at singing, an instrument or technical. |
Anonymous
This and I tell mine as a minor or dual major fine but they need a way to earn a living. |
Anonymous
| 8 years old is way too young to be thinking about this. She will be an entirely different person 10 years from now. Actually, she will go through many versions of herself between now and then. |
Anonymous
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Kudos for thinking about all these things so early, OP. Lots of parents don't until their kids are in the job market.
Art and music as a career? You might not realize it, OP, but Art is an extremely competitive field, because there are so many very low-paying jobs in it, and extremely few high-paying jobs. Music, dance and math use the same areas of the brain (because music and dance are rhythm-based), so if she's not good at math, she will not get to a professional level in music or dance. But there are many Art careers that a spouse can do while their wife or husband earns the bulk of the income. I know it's not PC to say, and definitely not something to rely on, but the reality is that a lot of people exist in art- or humanities-related careers because their spouses pay the bills, or they have family money. Art-adjacent careers, based on other skills she will develop later in her life (communication, scheduling, managing a group), are also a possibility: gallery manager, art/music teacher for kids, museum curator, project manager, etc. They won't be very different in skill set from their equivalents in other topics. Please do not write her off at 8, in terms of academics. My son has ADHD, high-functioning autism, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, low processing speed, hypotonia and lack of coordination, and is currently in college majoring in International Affairs. He took a dozen AP classes in high school and graduated with a high GPA and near perfect ACT score. He will be a great analyst one day! Right now you need to focus on developing those areas of her brain that are impacted by her disabilities. Pay through the nose for the right dyslexia tutor if you have to, observe the sessions, and learn how to train her yourself in addition to the professional sessions. I had to essentially re-teach my son all the stuff he had missed in elementary. Every blasted day of his elementary school life, OP, I sat with him for hours. I observed his weekly physical and occupational therapy sessions and practiced it all every day myself when he was a toddler and preschooler. Otherwise he would never have caught up in time to attend school. I dedicated so much time to this kid for years so he could overcome his disabilities and achieve his potential. What you do in these critical years will seriously impact her future potential, I cannot stress this enough. Please go all out to remediate her weaknesses, and the world might very well be her oyster as an adult. |
Anonymous
| 13:19 again. Is she currently medicated for the ADHD? If not, please consider it. It's a game changer, despite the common side effects that need to be managed. ADHD meds allow the brain to focus enough to learn. It's going to be very hard, if not impossible, for her to overcome dyslexia, and learn all sorts of academic and social skills, if she's not treated for her ADHD. |
Anonymous
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Op here. I will continue to support her academic journey. It is just I would love her to expose to other art/music path just in case. It would be wonderful if she can turn her passion/hobby into career one day. I think art/music teacher to little kids, or designer are decent career for her fun personalty. She is not medicated yet, and I think her adhd inattentive does not play an important role of her not learning much compared to peers. Her social skills are okay.
It is interesting to learn that one PP mentions that music, dance and math use the same areas of the brain. I have an older child who is really great in math with low muscle tone. He never gets exposed to dance and music outside of school because he is not interested in them. |