From a kid's point of view, what is the worst career a parent could have?

When I was a kid one of the kids in my class had a dad who was a mortician. Everyone treated the kid like he must be a weirdo, so that was pretty tough for him. He grew up to be a teacher.

@Dutchess III: You have only one child and one grandchild. I seem to remember more.

@gailcalled What? Are you nit-picking again?

Never mind. I got it. Should have been “kids’ ” and “grandkids’ ”

Escort? Drug Dealer. Thank God I have no kids cuz I’m a janitor. Not to proud of that. I get paid good though.

A parent in the military who spends a lot of time away or a business man who travels all the time. I am thinking of the lack of interaction with them.

@sufferkate, as long as you enjoy your work you should feel no shame. If you don’t, then perhaps you can work towards changing your occupation. We spend so much time working I always feel we should at least enjoy it.

Cinemax or Showtime softcore porn actor/actress. People in school are gonna see that.

Unemployed.
Convicted felon.

policeman

Garbage truck driver, septic tank cleaner, PortaPotty crew. Anything with bodily fluids and waste.

^^ As bad as those jobs sound, all of the folks that do those jobs, that I know, are some of the nicest people I know. And they seem pretty happy. Just good folks : )

I’m thinking that the worst career a parent could have, in the eyes of a kid, is being a teacher or worse yet, an administrator, or God forbid: the principal, in or of the school the kid goes to.

Being a kid of two pediatricians sucked because if your parents both work 70–80 hour weeks, you don’t get to be raised by them. I did not enjoy the long string of nannies and au pairs. Plus I sort of always had this feeling they cared more about other peoples’ kids than me and my brother, even though I knew consciously that couldn’t possibly be true.

So, worst? I think doctor, lawyer, researcher, traveling whatever, and other professions that demand a lot of time away from the kids is the worst from their perspective.

Military.

@sufferkate I love the irony of your answer!

The guy who puts up the No Ball Games signs, fucking killjoy.

Dad’s job was a good one, but he often embarrassed inquirers (as well as me) by stating with a smile, “I’m in the trash business.” He was actually a self-employed sales person that represented companies that sold air, water, and waste control equipment.

The SO has worked in a factory on a production line since getting out of high school, as have many of his family members. It’s fascinating to watch the reactions of my American friends when they ask what he does. They don’t seem to grasp that this man doesn’t have a mortgage on his house and has a life outside of work, whereas they often don’t.

Having a parent in the military or on a police force would be bad enough, but being a preacher’s kid has to be in the top 10.

Military, or any job that involves the parents being gone.

I think having a parent who is a clown or a mime would be pretty rough.

As kids, we thought the worst job a parent could have was being a teacher at the same school your kid goes to.

When I was subbing and got called to the HS, I’d make sure to walk through the commons during the time my son had lunch. Mwhaaaa! All of his friends would holler “Chris! Your mom is here!!!” Then you’d see rows of feet moving away from the table as my son would duck under the long row of tables and start scrambling to the other end. :) I’d casually go stand at the end where he was going to come out and say, “Hey you guys! I see Chris isn’t here. You want to know a secret about him??” then come up with some off the wall story about him ironing his socks or something! You’d hear a muffled “I DO NOT!!” from under the table. We all loved it. :)

Doctor.

I agree with those who said any job that involves the parent being gone for long hours. I rarely saw my dad. The few memories that I have of him during my childhood involved the yearly vacations we had together as a family. We had money thanks to his job, but I would have rather had him home more often and a mom that wasn’t stressed all the time because her husband was always gone.

@Dutchess_III I can empathize with your son. My sister (14 years older) was an English teacher in my middle school, and she was either loved or loathed. I was a student in her Creative Writing class and had to call her Mrs. W. This was okay, as I understood her reasoning, but it still felt odd. The worst part was when she found out about my scores before I did and told me about them, be it good or bad. It felt like a violation. Having a relative in the school system helped keep me in check from doing some of the other rule-bending or illegal activities that some of my friends did. Ask him how he feels about it now. You might be surprised about his answer.

I think the kids themselves get used to their parents’ jobs, regardless of whether they work at the same school the kids go to, or whether they work with dead bodies or garbage. It’s second nature for those kids. My mom worked at my school- it was annoying at times, but I was used to it and wouldn’t have called it the “worst job.” My aunt was a mortician, so that didn’t bother me either. I know a good number of military brats who enjoyed the traveling.

I think as bystanders, we can say, “That’s a terrible job for a kid to grow up with,” but the kids themselves aren’t that affected.

However, the worst job, I really believe, is anything that keeps a parent away for long, long hours at a time.

Police, firefighter, military. Any job where you routinely worry that the parent might not live to come home from it.

@Pied_Pfeffer I’m pretty sure he’ll just shrug and say, “Didn’t matter to me!” But I’ll ask.

I’m changing my answer to superscientist.

A homeopath.

This is actually a real example. One of my wife’s high school student’s mother is one. And in one of the science classes the issue of quackery came up. Those are tough times of science teachers. Feelings can get hurt quite easily.

So other examples would be astrologers, card readers, palm readers and so forth.

A janitor at the school their child attends.

@J0E Though not as bad as actually being the janitor in your own school. Fuck Newt Gingrich. What an ass.