Stop asking children what they want to be when they grow up

When movement reveals genius

Sir Ken Robinson, who was knighted in 2003 for his services to the arts, shared a powerful story in his 2006 TED talk that would go on to become one of the most-watched presentations in TED history, viewed over 18 million times. The talk featured Gillian Lynne, who struggled at school as a child and was thought to have a learning problem.

During an assessment, a doctor turned on the radio and left the room with her mother. Almost immediately, Gillian began moving to the music. Watching her, the doctor recognised something others had missed: this was a child who needed to move in order to think and express herself.

Her mother enrolled her in dance school. Gillian Lynne would go on to choreograph more than 50 productions on the West End and Broadway, earning the 1981 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Musicals for Cats. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014 for her services to dance and musical theatre. Robinson later explored such stories in his book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, which sold over a million copies worldwide and was translated into 23 languages.

The lesson remains clear: children are often observed through structures created by adults. Sit here. Complete this task. Answer this question. Achieve this grade. Yet sometimes a child's strengths become visible only when we change the environment and give them room to explore.

The surprising benefits of boredom

One simple yet surprisingly difficult approach today involves allowing children to be bored. Research indicates that boredom can serve as a catalyst for creative thinking in children. Studies show that periods of boredom encourage children to engage in imaginative play, explore their surroundings, and develop self-directed learning skills.

A 2014 study found that people who completed a task in which boredom was induced generated more ideas following the task than a control group. Boredom may loosen constraints on thinking and open people up to new experiences.

When children experience boredom, they develop problem-solving skills, frustration tolerance, initiative, planning strategies, perseverance, and increased confidence in their ability to self-soothe and find joy in small moments.

Take away the device for a while. Resist the temptation to fill every free hour with another organised activity. Give them paper, books, building materials, music, a ball, or simply some unstructured time, and observe what happens.

What does the child choose when nobody is telling them what to do? They may draw for an hour. They may build something. They may organise a game, invent characters, write stories, take something apart to understand how it works, or spend their time explaining things to somebody else. These seemingly ordinary moments may reveal more about a child's emerging interests than asking them to select a future occupation.

The weight of parental influence

The pressure to choose early carries real consequences. According to a 2021 survey, 48 per cent of people felt their parents strongly influenced their career path, and 40 per cent felt pressured to follow their parents' career advice. A majority—65 per cent of respondents—work in the field their parents wanted for them.

Adults can learn something from looking backwards too. Reflecting on childhood, many people remember moments when they pursued activities purely for enjoyment, without grades, rewards or career plans attached. One person may recall organising imaginary classrooms and teaching younger siblings. Another may remember hours spent dismantling household objects. These unforced choices often foreshadow lifelong passions.

Not every childhood interest will become a profession, nor should it. Children will change their minds, discover new abilities and sometimes abandon things they once loved. That is part of growing up.

But perhaps, as a new school year unfolds, the question itself deserves reconsideration. Instead of asking children what they want to be when they grow up, ask them what they enjoy doing now. What are they curious about? What would they spend hours doing if nobody were grading them? What would they like to make, explore or learn?

Then give them the time and space to show us. Their answer may tell us far more about their future than the name of a profession ever could.