It depends on the kid. I have four kids, only one of whom would be happy with retail work. Although I see him working as a cashier in a bookstore rather than Walmart.

The others would not be happy doing something that didn’t require a lot of reading, thinking, and talking.

My brother is an electrician. He ended up in a commercial, union job.

Guess who is jealous? White collar, “educated” me.

It's not about being a cashier that is the problem here but that it is hard live off of it wherever you live in Us.

With college costs where they are, it's not a bad idea to consider the trades. Or two years of community college.

Graduating relatively debt-free is the new Harvard degree.

I don't care what my kid does, as long as she can support herself and isn't doing anything illegal.

Of course, I have a friend who has said in no uncertain terms that her kid "will never go into something pointless like acting or humanities; she can do that on the side while she gets a PhD in a STEM field." This is about her 3 year old, BTW.

Anonymous wrote:Considering how snobby everyone on the board is, what if your child grows up to end up working at Walmart as a cashier or becoming a plumber?

Or what if he grows up to become a cop?

What will you do?

They are presumably adults, so there is nothing for me to do but love them and hope that they are truly happy with their choices.

Anonymous wrote:Cop, plumber, firefighter - yes of course

Cashier at Walmart- probably not. My family is very blue collar and I’ve worked hard to establish a career that isn’t retail focused.

I know this was posted years ago, but this is such a narrow view of life. There are big buCks in upper retail management and corporate jobs. DH works in that industry, and I have other HS friends who also work in retail - we often joke that it’s the career no one tells you about. I have an STEM career, and all of their paycheque blow mine out of the water.

It's not about being snobby, it's about wanting my kids to have stable employment while being decently treated. IME, having multiple family members working non-skilled blue collar jobs, they are treated like garbage and paid pittance. I don't want that for my children. But that leaves a lot of flexibility in what they do.

A blue collar job would not be my first choice for my DD, not becuase I think it is beneath her but becuase I know that there are easier ways to earn a living that have better prospects for steady income.

That said, I also think it depends on what the job is and what the white collar alternative is. I would proabay rather be an electrician than a middle level manager in many large corporations

In the end, I want her to take a job that will provide her with financial stability, because I know what it is like to live without such stability.

Anonymous wrote:Considering how snobby everyone on the board is, what if your child grows up to end up working at Walmart as a cashier or becoming a plumber?

Or what if he grows up to become a cop?

What will you do?

Our kids are not reflections on us. They are their own individual people with different goals. So first of all I am not raising my kids to live the life that I want them to have but, they want to have. Too many parents want to live through their kids. If my kids were happy doing blue color jobs than I would be happy too. The only thing I would not want my kids to become is drug or alcohol dependent or a person of low morals and illegal shady stuff. If they were bankers and robbed the poor, for example I would be more ashamed than if they were a plumber or other blue collar worker.

My brother is a union pipefitter and makes just as much money as I do. (I'm an attorney in DC). Plus, he has a brand-new house overlooking a small lake, and his wife keeps (expensive) horses. He travels a lot for work.

My sister works in a factory doing unskilled labor. She makes about 20 bucks an hour. She lives in a beautiful brick home on river. She works mandatory 50-hour weeks so she gets time and a half for the overtime, but she doesn't have a choice.

Both of them live in the midwest. Neither of them read literature. But they can do a lot of practical things and are interesting and funny and good company. Not snobby jerks who think they are better than other people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something specialized with room for growth - yes, absolutely.

Something dead-end - absolutely not.

So you would be opposed to your kid becoming a teacher?

Teachers/admins can make six figures, at least in some states. And they have a huge positive impact on society.

Can't say that for retail "associate".

Interesting how many people are so accepting. You are not the people I encounter in my life. When I mentioned to friends that my son had been accepted into vo-tech, without fail, 100% said to me "you're not going to let him go, are you?". My friend whose son is enlisting in the military right after high school always seems to apologize when she answers the question about her son's post-high school plans. My son has since grown up to be a car mechanic. He is currently doing very well in his entry level position. An added benefit is that I no longer pay for maintenance on my cars. He just takes care of it.

The Walmart cashier is a hard question. I think that most of us, whether accepting or not of non-white collar work, really want our children to be able to be independent and, if they choose, to be able to afford to start a family. That's difficult on a cashier's wages. However, for some kids, that is the level of their ability. If that were the case for my kids, I would do everything I could to help them build a successful life in that career, including assisting them with evaluating whether they should stay in the expensive DMV area.

Ha ha nice run on sentence! Ooops!

Electricians can make 100k. And they can start making good money at 20 or 21 with no educational debt. I think it's a great option for people to persue trades and i have zero snobbery about it despite being from a very overeducated family....my grandfather and dad were both College Professors and I have an advanced degree.