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What do you want to be when you grow up?

6th April 2009 by Helena 6 Comments  

The lovely designer I met last week told me she has wanted to be a clothes designer since she was eight years old. I too, as a young child, had very fixed ideas about what I wanted to be. Up to the age of around 10 I wanted to be a vet for wild animals (since they have no vets), then I wanted to be a film star (like you do) then a writer. Never when asked the question adults invariably ask children ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ did I not know.

My children have no idea. I am longing for them to show some (any) consistent interest or passion for something. Here is a list of all the things they have tried over the past five years or so: art, judo, football, horse riding, rugby, ballet, tennis, jazz dancing, hip-hop, piano, violin, guitar, swimming, gymnastics and golf. Apart from Leo (who is mad about anything which involves a ball) they have shown no real aptitude or liking for anything. Maybe I have exposed them to too much?

But as a parent all you want to do is let them try as much as possible so they can see what they’re good at. Olivia’s violin teacher suggests she is so good at arguing she should become a barrister. I am not averse to that idea, but was rather hoping he might declare her fit for the role of First Violin with the Vienna Philharmonic.

the-barrister-giclee-print-c12261396.jpg

Bea has said she wants to be a singer, but gave up guitar as soon as she had the chance. So she’s obviously not that serious about it. Knowing poor Bea she will just become what Olivia tells her. Leo will I hope become a sporting superstar so I can spend my twilight years on the sidelines of a cricket pitch, tennis court, rugby field or whatever.

Whatever else it will be interesting to see where their true passions lie. I just hope it’s not polo. Unless Olivia does become a barrister. Then she can pay for the ponies.
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


Filed Under: Children, Work, blog -->

6 thoughts on What do you want to be when you grow up?

  • Meriel says:
    6th April 2009 at 11:45 am

    Hi Helena,

    I have been a big fan of your books for a few years though had to go and buy ‘More More France Please’ on Saturday as its the one I hadn’t read. I have recently ‘discovered’ your blog and have just spent the last week going back to the start of your blog posts and reading them all (it was a very quiet week at work!).

    In fact I am now at a bit of a loss to what to read now I have caught up…guess I will start on your newspaper articles now…

    I am very envious of your life but love your writing so keep it up!

    Mx

    PS I still don’t know what I want to do when I ‘grow up’… and I am 35 😀

  • helena says:
    6th April 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Hi Meriel
    Thanks for your lovely comment, there’s lots on the National website to keep you busy, click on Magazine.
    Hx

  • Patricia Rodriguez says:
    6th April 2009 at 3:34 pm

    When I was growing up I wanted to marry Prince Andrew and be a princess…
    Unfortunately Sarah got in the way 🙁

  • Unexpected Traveller says:
    6th April 2009 at 7:52 pm

    Reminds me of my youngest cousin – a long time ago when I was going to marry my first wife, we visited an aunt of mine to see if her 6 year old son would like to be our page-boy at our wedding.

    We sat through tea and talked and talked but my cousin hadn’t met my fiancee and shyness was getting the better of him. He hid himself in one of the inner rooms and refused to come out when asked to do so, much to my aunt’s annoyance.

    Getting more and more annoyed by the minute, she stood up and called out to him but he still refused to make an appearance. “Your cousin is here to speak to you” she tried, “He’d like you to be a page boy”.

    There was a brief pause before a loud voice thundered “I DON’T WANT TO BE A PAGE BOY”. My aunt turned bright red as he continued, “I WANT TO BE A FIREMAN!”

    🙂

    UT

  • Snusmormor says:
    7th April 2009 at 4:46 pm

    My parents thought that I should become either a teacher or a nurse. Neither appealed to me and I told them I wanted to become either a sailor or a farmer, which I was told I could not do as I was a girl. After having heard this I told them I wanted to become a boy because they had more fun. Luckily these things have now changed a bit…..

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    28th March 2010 at 4:52 pm

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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