What If…Fame and Money Didn’t Matter

I love to read about the 💰rich and 💫famous. I enjoy photos of their homes and stories about their lives off the court or out of the studio. I get it. Movie ✨stars and 🎤singers and 🏈sports sensations are interesting. It is just as fun to see glimpses of their extraordinary lifestyles as it is to learn something that makes them seem more like me.

I don’t feel a need to be 💰rich and 💫famous, though. I’ve read enough to understand that there are consequences that come as part of that package. I chose to work with kids. Fame and money were never a part of the equation. ❤️Love, 📚learning, and influence are the perks of my job- along with really cool pictures 🎨drawn by awesome kids to put on my desk!

For a 📝writing project in my class, students recently researched career options. I know that my middle schoolers aren’t ready to choose careers. The idea for this project was to use their 💻research skills to examine possibilities that are open to them in this big 🌎world. They were supposed to choose two different careers to compare and contrast. They looked at things like 👩🏻‍🎓education, 💵pay, working conditions, and outlook for hiring. After evaluating all of the research, each student was to explain which career choice was the best fit.

As we started the project, I read over some early notes and found a 🤔theme that stood out to me. It made me 😢sad and scared for the kids all at the same time. An overwhelming number of my students were hoping for jobs that required no 🚫skills or education–not “few.” I meant the word “no” when I typed it! And, for those jobs that required 0️⃣nothing-zilch-nada in the way of training and experience, they planned to earn 💫fame and 💰money-lots and lots of money (as many 7th-graders called it- BANK!).

Whoa! That was not what I expected to see in those research notes. First, I can’t tell you of any job that has no expectations or requirements. That was a big clue that some students were going off of what they THOUGHT they knew 😬when they completed those papers, not what they actually researched. I mean- if you look up training and education for ✂️hairstylists or ✈️pilots, there’s going to be at least one thing that is required to get the license, right?

What bothered me more, though, was the idea that such a huge number of kiddos wanted 💫fame and 💰money for doing 0️⃣nothing. They stated over and over again that they wanted to be ✨famous- and they wanted to earn buckets of 💵money. Very few wanted to research careers because they hoped to 👮🏻help people. Or be 🎨creative. Or work with 🐶animals. Or in 🌲nature. Or in 🏨hospitals. Or in 📚schools.

A whole bunch of them aspire to be 💻YouTubers!  Those same students thought that particular career choice required no 0️⃣skills with the promise of- you guessed it- 💫fame and 💰money. When I tried to bring up skills like marketing, 📸videography, editing, and 📝writing as well as general knowledge of the subject matter for said YouTube channels, most kids thought I was nuts. 😜Some tried to contradict me- absolutely positive that the folks making 💰BANK on YouTube are randomly slapping together videos in their basements after 😴sleeping late and playing video games with unlimited amounts of energy drinks and 🍿🍪snacks on the table.

I pulled my Teacher Card and made some new rules about the assignment. Students couldn’t use 💫fame and 💰money as a benefit of a career choice. Boom! 💥Gone! Obviously, I also wouldn’t accept that careers required no 0️⃣skills or training. Pulling those things out of the equation helped to fine-tune their research, but it didn’t take away the desire for 💫fame and 💰money in the end.

This made me think. 🤔Why are 💫fame and 💰money so important to these kids? I don’t have the answer to that. I do know that kids need to see the 👍🏻benefits of things that don’t involve 💫fame and 💰money. Learning something new. Trying a new 🎸hobby. Showing ❤️kindness. Volunteering. Being a great friend. care of your family. Working 💪🏻hard. Being nice!

It’s not all about being 💫famous and making 💰BANK, my friends! Nope- those things don’t make the 🌎world go ’round.

What if…💫fame and 💰money didn’t matter? I know that 💵money is a necessity. Parts of ✨fame might even be fun. Who am I to judge that one? I’ve never experienced 💫fame. Here’s my take on it, though- do what you ❤️love! If 💫fame and 💰money happen to be a part of that, so be it. If not, you’ll still be 💖rich.