“Gwamma, what do you want to be when you gwow up?” Pleased that my four-year old granddaughter thought I was young enough to still have a choice, I told her I should have been a veterinarian and asked if she knew what that was.

“Yes,” she told me. “It means you would take care of puppies, cats, and kittens.”

“That’s right”, I told her.

Almost without a pause, she kept on speaking. “When I gwow up, I want to be a teachew,” she told me. “Because to be a gwamma, you have to be owd, owd, owd!”

So much for feeling young.

Why didn’t I follow my dream? Because as a high school student without much self-esteem, I really needed someone to tell me I could. Despite my apparent affinity in working with both large and small animals on our family’s ranch, my ability was pretty much taken for granted.

Fortunately, when my oldest daughter got to the same point, her musical talent was not only apparent and recognized, it promised to help pay for a large part of her college education. And while some might point out there aren’t many who make a living in the competitive music industry, we had learned graduate schools for medicine of all kinds (which she found of strong interest) are at least as likely to choose students with a well-rounded foundation as they are to pick, for example, biology majors.

If you have an upcoming college student or a current college student not sure where to focus, help your student assess his/her interests and strong abilities. And don’t forget you know your child better than anyone else. Sometimes, it’s just an encouraging word that will make all the difference, for both of you.