Undesirable Music Major and Biking Around Town for 11/10/2017

Undesirable Music Major and Biking Around Town for 11/10/2017
Dear Family Coach

Dear Family Coach: My son is applying to colleges to be a music major. He has visions of a career on Broadway or in the music business. He’s talented, and I’ve always enjoyed his music. However, I think he isn’t good enough to make a career out of it. He says he doesn’t mind having little money as long as he can make music. My husband and I think he should keep music as a hobby and find a more practical career. Would it be wrong to threaten to take away his tuition money if he decides to pursue music? –Scared

Dear Scared: Would it be wrong? Emphatically, yes! It would be very wrong to bully your child into a different career path by taking away his ability to pay for college.

Here’s how the situation could play out. After you threaten withdrawing your support your son decides to be an accounting major. It’s a safe career with lots of jobs. He drudges through his classes while playing music on the side. All seems well. Your son graduates and immediately gets a high paying job at a respected firm. Terrific. Now he gets married, has children and works longs hours. He doesn’t play music anymore. There really isn’t time. He clocks into a job that he realizes he never enjoyed, and he becomes dangerously depressed. He calls you in tears one day saying his life didn’t turn out like he planned.

Updated: Fri Nov 10, 2017

Undesirable Music Major and Biking Around Town for 11/10/2017