What will he be?

When I was in my teens, I took a test at school that was designed to help me determine which career I would be most suited to pursue.

I have absolutely no recollection of the name of the test, but its conclusions were that I would find the most satisfaction (or was it success?) by pursuing a career as an actor, a teacher, or something in marketing.

At the time, these options seemed pretty implausible.

Yes, I had been in a few school plays, and had been recommended to attend the London Theater School one summer (I declined), but what the heck was 'marketing'?

And who of a school age actually thinks that a TEACHER is something worth being? Wasn't the whole point to get OUT of school as quickly as possible? Not to spend your whole life there.

Anyway, here I am today...a marketing professional, persuasively educating journalists and bloggers for a living; creating stories, helping 'actors' to recite those stories, and occasionally performing a few lines myself. Wait a minute. That pyscho/socio-profiling stuff doesn't actually work does it?

I caught myself wondering what William will be when he grows up today.

Based on his key driving passions, he will surely be a train driver or a professional food taster (specialising in ice cream), or he will possibly be a sprinter (he enjoys running "fast daddy!").

Based on his personality (his is thoughtful and bookish, and not hugely sociable in large groups) he'll be a historian, a journalist, or maybe a management consultant.

All of that said, I'd like to think that his choice of favorite toys is the best indicator.

On this basis, he will be a civil engineer (LEGO towers are increasingly a forte) or a designer (or perhaps pilot) of aircraft (he doggedly and repeatedly insists that daddy helps him draw 'Concorde' or a 'helicopter').

Parents and friends...Am I watching the right signs? Do you have any other suggestions for  behaviors I should be encouraging that will ensure William makes tons of cash when he's older so that Emma and I can enjoy a disgracefully decadent retirement?