About An Aussie Dad In A House Full Of Sheilas

Living as I do in a house full of females, finding a clear space to relax and think can be a bit difficult at times.

Every thing is covered in rich lashings of emotions, and discussions are usually quite animated.

I came home earlier after a long, hard day, and was faced with a 17 year old in her final year at high school, wrestling with subject choices, and the direction that she wants to take after school.

That happened with her younger sister prancing around performing a fashion parade, while the eldest was telling everyone to be quiet because she wanted to watch a movie, at full volume, so that nobody could hear themselves think, let alone talk.

My better half sat there looking from one to the other, multi tasking and maintaining about four conversations at once.

Me? Well, I just sat there like a stunned mullet like I usually do in such situations, wondering how I was going to escape…

Miss 17 is lovely, and intelligent, but was stressed out because she isn’t 100% sure what she wants to do after leaving school.

Amidst all the chaos, I managed to lay out some logical choices.

She is interested in both physiotherapy, and mechanical engineering.

She somehow feels that engineering’s not quite feminine enough though, and feels awkward talking about it to her teachers.

She believes that they’re a bit too conservative.

When we started discussing her subject choices though, we sifted through and worked out which ones would bring the highest marks, and which ones she enjoyed doing.

Happily, most of them turned out to be the same subjects, except for the mechanical engineering course, which, although she would have gained her good marks, wouldn’t have counted towards university acceptance for some reason.

In the end, she narrowed the choices that she’d made last year down, explaining that ‘…Dad, if I do well in these subjects, I can pick any course…’

Great idea sweet heart, I replied, patting myself on the back – that’s what I had tried to tell her three months ago.

The most important thing a parent can do in situations like this is to try and lay out options without prejudice and let them come to their own conclusions.

In the meantime the fashion parade had continued, and I found out that the motivation was a school dress up day later in the week. I lost a shirt to the cause, as none of the clothes that she had matched the bill!

Why wasn’t I surprised?

I eventually got the volume on the movie turned right down, while figuring where the fourth girl had gotten to…

Then some time spent with my better half, and I can tell you that all in all it’s been quite an intense evening.

I wonder why someone hasn’t told school teachers that high school exams aren’t the be all and end all in life?

I tend to think that real life education begins after schooling has finished, and that the perspective of being a couple of years older can help in the choce of career paths.

Are we expecting too much of our schools, and our kids, in forcing career and study choices like this?

Would a good, solid education in the basics serve everyone better, and worry about the electives later?