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[quote=Anonymous]

While this may well be the way it is today, especially in a  highly educated metro area or aiming for the top Ivy League or top state schools, it is equally true that there are many more mental health issues which crop up on late teens to early 20s population now, AND the pressures put upon this age group both internally and externally are one cause for the increased manifestation.  So it is especially important for parents to keep aware of the signals and to know each child and what might be a trigger of extra stress.  In my opinion it is important to keep the pressure or push from within the family circle at a very low level because that can so often become intertwined with "parent love" or "familial approaval" which it should not be.  Also make sure the teens get breaks from the merry-go-round which is so often their lives.

In middle and early high school, I would paint with a broad brush career fields rather than over focusing on just one sector.  Giving the child the opportunity to learn through volunteer work about different kinds of work is good and different populations as working with children, or the elderly, or those with special needs or those who are newly immigrated.  Also volunteering in different sectors such as a school setting, a medical/hospital setting, an office (nonprofit) setting.

At this age just taking a course or class they might just consider to be fun might, in fact, later on be related to a career pathway or a very nice personal interest  I could see American Sign Language, a Spanish class, CPR and Fist Aid, swimming skills for life guarding, an introductory art class or any kind, an introductory instrument class (or taking advantage of band or orchestra in school).  These are the kinds of things which could be done for fun and not necessarily "for credit" in the summer and lead to future interesting summer jobs as in camps which combine work and fun or related to fields such as health care, teaching, social services etc.

One of our daughters is now a part-time pediatric physical therapist in the DC area with two young  children and she gained her first knowledge of children with disabilities and Sign Language in volunteering at a Parks & Rec summer camp in  high school.  (She does have a sister with Down syndrome, but to see the field on a broader range.)  She decided to take a couple of sign language classes on her own which she has used in therapy settings as well as with both children who were early and very good talkers. Oh and you mention kinds of pressure, well one family actually asked a friend of my daughter's who is a OT if she could work with her son who was not disabled - why - because he did not seem to pick up toys and something else equally inane and she was afraid he would not pass the preschool entrance test for some super duper program.  Crazy!!
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