By Savvy Auntie Staff Writers

While the Labor Day holiday may signal the official end of summertime for most nieces and nephews (and Aunties, too!), the first Monday of September is also a day to remember the working men and women who made workplace equality and decent wages a basic expectation for all Americans.

This Labor Day, take a little time out from your cookout or other activities to talk with your nieces and nephews about their futures. What would they like to do when they get older? What would they need to study or where would they need to go in order to do that? What are their reasons for wanting to pursue their chosen career? You may even uncover more information by asking your nieces and nephews about what they do not want to do when they get older.

You can chat about what their working life would have been like if they had been born 100 or 200 years earlier in order to demonstrate the volume of opportunities open to them now. A British television series, History's Worst Jobs, followed English comedian Tony Robinson as he performed some of the least glamorous work people did centuries ago. The series is comical and kid-friendly; it's a good starting point for imagining what occupations were like back then, and what the division of work was between men and women. Your niece or nephew may want to rethink the whole "If I could do whatever I wanted, I'd just sit around all day!" thing once they see this series!

You may want to take about twenty minutes together and watch Mike Rowe, the host of Dirty Jobs, and his compelling TED Talk on how hard work and so-called "dirty jobs" can lead to big opportunities for some future workers here in America.



As for older kids looking into present-day career ideas, the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics has a wonderful site geared toward teens and organized by subjects in which they may be interested. Spend some time with your niece or nephew perusing the site and help them find out more about their prospective field.

Finally, and if possible, use your professional connections to find mentors for your niece or nephew if you aren't involved in their field of interest.

Their future selves will thank you, Auntie!

Melanie Linn Gutowski was the SavvyAuntie.com Associate Editor in 2010. This piece was edited, updated and republished for 2016.

Image: Wavebreak Media Ltd
Edited, updated and republished: August 31, 2016