Stranger moved by father’s response to son wanting to be garbage truck driver

Most parents want the best for their children, but sometimes that manifests itself in the form of excessive expectations. Whether they see their child become a doctor, attend an Ivy League, or turn professional, they put immense pressure, intentional or unintentional, on their child.

However, not all fathers do that, as one man discovered when he heard a father’s touching response to his son’s dream of becoming a garbage truck driver.

A stranger was touched by a father’s response to his son, who wants to be a garbage truck driver when he grows up.

A man was buying some food at a fast food restaurant when he came across a sweet moment between father and son. He shared what he heard on Reddit in the “It made me smile” forum.

“I heard a father at Panera ask his son what he wants to be when he grows up, and the boy said, ‘Maybe a garbage truck driver,’” the man said.

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Some parents may not react well to hearing this from their children. After all, being a garbage truck driver It is not the most sought after career in the society in which we live. But that wasn’t this man’s reaction at all.

“Instead of immediately saying, ‘Why not a doctor or a lawyer?’ “The guy said how important that job was to keeping the city clean, and then he asked the boy what interested him about the job,” he shared.

The man continued, “The boy talked about how cool the truck’s mechanism was and how people always waved at the garbage men.”

He was impressed by this father’s open-mindedness and willingness to accept his son’s unconventional dream.

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“It was really nice how the father encouraged him instead of following the standard response you would expect from people,” he concluded.

Fair or not, some jobs are considered higher status than others.

Farah Mohammed examined the belief that some jobs are more prestigious than others for JSTOR daily.

“How a person’s work is perceived can have a huge impact on how others and even themselves view them,” Mohammed said. “Sociologist Everett Hughes referred to a person’s job as a ‘combination of price and calling card.’”

“We have come to think of prestige as an inherent quality,” Mohammed continued. “We feel that certain jobs are worth more than others, without being able to determine exactly why.”

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Prestige is something we now simply assign to jobs, whether it’s really good or not. Some consider themselves higher than others simply because they are. This, in turn, allows us to classify the people around us.

A study conducted in 2012 by Tom W. Smith and Jaesok Son sought to classify different occupations according to the social prestige they had. In the study, participants were given a list of occupations and asked to rank them on a scale from one to nine, or from least to most prestigious.

Garbage collectors obtained an average score of 3.8 on this scale. While many jobs scored lower than that, it’s not particularly high.

The job of garbage collector may be considered less prestigious, but it is essential.

During the pandemic, we all got used to it the concept of “essential workers”.” For a time, these were the only people allowed to go to their jobs when everyone was supposed to live in isolation.

Many jobs with more prestige and higher salaries were not on the list of essential workers, but garbage collectors were.

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According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics“janitors and cleaners” were an essential part of the public health and safety industry. Unfortunately, their salaries did not reflect this, as their “average annual salary” was only $27,430.

While some jobs may be more respected and sought after than others, that does not change the fact that all jobs are necessary for society to function properly. Being a garbage truck driver is a perfectly valid dream and It’s good that this father encouraged his son. instead of tearing it down.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango covering entertainment, news and human interest.