Opinions sought about son's future....

My 17 year old son has matured right before my eyes. In the last several months he has made one great decision after another. He recently told me, "Dad, whatever I need to do to be successful and be a good provider, please tell me. I want your input and I'm ready to take you input seriously." Wow! What an honor to have a son like that!

So we started talking about careers and options that we had discussed in the past. He has a strong interest in nursing and possibly physical therapy in the future. He agreed to leave his private school and come home in late December. Since then he has gone from a low B high school student to an amazing college student. He has knocked out 23 credit hours through SL and NMJC.

His private school allowed him to "homeschool" until next fall and then come back to graduate this December. He will graduate in May with an associates degree as well. He has knocked out a great deal of the prerequisites for nursing. His plan is to start nursing school next summer and leave home as an RN, debt free at the age of 19.

Anyhoo, going into his senior year with the football season starting he has had offers to play college football at a few schools. I can see the twinkle in his eye...football has been his passion since he was 11. Still he maintains that he wants to continue to nursing school and skip football. He has always wanted to play college ball and has worked extremely hard over his lifetime on his body.

Here my delimma: his lifelong dream of playing football is right there in front of him. After May he will have 5 years to play 4. 1 redshirt season and 4 seasons to play on scholarship. With an associated degree he would have 5 years to earn a bachelors degree plus a masters. Nursing school is not an option while he plays college football. Right now I have a great deal of influence in his life, so I have been treading carefully - laying out the pros and cons of all options and trying to let him decide with his choices - letting him know what I am willing/able to do financially for him along the way.

I wouldn't say he is immovable as far as skipping football in favor of getting his career going. I'd bet I could convince him to change his mind but I don't want to do that. Lol, even though I am the head coach at the high school that he plays. I love football but I am somewhat relieved and equally sad that he might not play. Th is of his body taking a beating for 4-5 years is not all that exciting for me. This is not about me though. I just want the kid to have a great life and no regrets going forward.

Should I leave him alone or explain what an opportunity that he has before him? Personally, I do not care which way he goes. I just want him to go the best direction for him.

 

What's wrong with him getting a bachelor's degree and then going on to another medical profession that requires a master's or doctorate such as physical therapy, pharmacy, occupational therapy, optometry, audiology, podiatry, physician's assistant, etc?

 

I can totally identify with this comment. I played rugby in this country and took a battering, but didn't mind at the time. I am not so sure now. The body pays in the longer term. There is no free lunch.
My grandson is now playing in junior high school and the other guys are a lot bigger. I like the game, if only he wasn't playing it. I am not sure what you can do. I guess present him with the pros and cons, then step back. It sounds to me that he is on a winner whichever way he goes. Nursing is a great career and the football opens up the options as well. I wonder how many fathers wish they were in your position?

 

Well, I guess nothing is wrong with it.

Maintaining a high enough GPA while playing football might be a challenge. College football pretty much owns you while you are playing.

 

Sorry for the typos and grammar in my original post. A late night ramble on the iPad is a dangerous thing.

 

What are your thoughts on striking while the iron is hot? He's is obedient and highly motivated. He is highly motivated start a career asap.

I'm thinking that there are huge advantages to him being home an finishing early. After that he has a lifetime to make other career choices.

Again, I don't want to misuse my influence here.

 

They'll always be time for a career and work. Why not enjoy some football in college and all that it has to offer? He has the rest of his life to work and have a "career".

I'm all for responsibilty and what not, but ask any honest guy in his 40's what he would have done and most would say "play football". Stuff the career talk for a while and enjoy his young life.

Good luck, what a great dilema to have. I have nephew's who's only choice in life is do they get high first and then play XBox? Or do they wait until later to smoke weed cause porn is more interesting when you are high.

You should be proud.

 

Let the kid go play football. Tell him to get a bachelors in a science field that will look good for medical related masters degree programs. Unless he is playing at a D1 school in a major conference he should have the ability to get a degree in a science field. That said, if this is some powerhouse football school his coaches will steer him away from "challenging" majors. i had a friend at Auburn that came in as an engineering major, during his visits he expressed that is what he wanted to study and the coaches seemed supportive. As soon as he got on campus the coaches started steering him away from it. They will try to push him into "soft" majors like communications, education, or possibly business because those majors tend to require less time outside class to pass.

 

I think you maybe I gave the impression that I may be steering him away from football. That is not true.

I am simply trying to toe the fine line of steering him where he wants to/is called to go. Of course, since he's 17 he may not fully understand that.

What I don't want to do is steer him towards football or towards nursing because my influence is heavy with him right now. He'd probably jump either way depending on my persuasion.

Personally I lean towards early education and a career over football. He could become an RN and then have more options (one of them is not playing football) in life after that. In football I see no possibility of nursing getting done and possibly lowering that GPA. Football pretty much consumes your life year round while you are playing. Only the specially gifted maintain at high GPA in the sciences and play football. I wouldn't put him in that category. He works his butt off HARD for good grades.

 

Aaaand as I typed this my son was doing his A&P II final...

Cha-ching! He finished his course with a 90.7. GPA glory bam!