Joey M.D.

My husband and I are both doctors. We sometimes bring our little boy to clinic where he’s teasingly called “Dr. E, the junior doctor” by the staff. We think that’s cute and we also call him “Dr. E” ourselves.

Knowing how hard it is to become a doctor, would we want our kid to be one?

The answer actually depends on him. It’s pretty tempting to have someone follow your footsteps in the future. It would also be a lot easier for him to go the same path we did because we’ve already blazed the trail so to speak.

But the bottomline is, will he be happy with being a doctor? I know a lot of doctors who fall into depression because after endless years of training, they realize that this kind of life is not for them. Will he be passionate enough about doctoring that earning money will actually be unimportant?

The problem with most students here in the Philippines is that they take courses which are perceived to be “practical”, money making courses, or a course which will make it easier for them to find employment abroad, whether or not they are truly interested in the course. This is mostly encouraged by well-meaning parents and relatives. Like now, the “in” course is Nursing, since it’s one of the fields that are very much in demand abroad. I’ve had a few friends or relatives who have asked me if taking up Nursing is a good choice. I would always say that it’s a good choice if you took it not just because of the earning potential, but it is because that’s what you truly want. Employment patterns may change, the position that is in demand right now might not be so in a few years. If that’s the case, would you still be happy if you have to settle for a local employment with a much lower pay? If you say yes, you’ll still love the job even if it doesn’t pay that much, that the pay is just bonus, then I’ll say go for it!

As for me, I would not push my son into Medicine just because I want to have someone follow our footsteps. I’ll not push him to take up an “in-demand” course just because of the perceived money-making potential.

As parents, we have the responsibility to guide our children, and to support them in their eventual choice of career. I believe that means that we have to see where our children’s talents and passions lie, and guide them to what you think may be the best course that will make use of his talents AND make him happy. The money comes later. If you love your work (like how I love Medicine, and Ophthalmology in particular), you’ll take the good things and the bad, you’ll adjust yourself to the situation and you’ll persevere at it, and you won’t mind if you don’t really earn a lot.

So if my son has a talent in the arts and wants to make a career out of art or music which is a course usually perceived as “poor” choices, I’ll support him all the way. If he wants to be a doctor just like mommy and daddy, I’ll let him know all the pros and cons and let him decide for himself, and support him if he still wants it.

BUT, whatever he decides, I’ll probably teach him to make investments even at an early age so that he would make money work for him and not have to worry about making money by working. For it is still a fact of life that we DO need money for our everyday needs, and I don’t want my son to be too poor to support himself or his family in the future.

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This is my official entry to PPBC 5 hosted by Guardian Angel: What would you like your children to be when they grow up, and why?