‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’

Having been asked this question more times than I care to quantify, I’ve started to have some fun with it. Sometimes, I’ll tell people that I want to be a hobo, a Buddhist monk or even Paris Hilton. The reactions are mixed. Some people don’t get that I’m messing with them, other people simply aren’t amused.

When I do give a serious reply to this exhausted inquiry, I am greeted with one of two responses. I’m either told that I’m very ambitious and dreaming big, or I’m asked when I’m going to have time to get married and have children. It’s as if they’re telling me I can’t do both.

Women today are taught from a young age that they should work to achieve as much power and professional success as men do, yet at the same time are still expected to get married and stay home with the kids. And when we do seek these ambitious careers, it’s implied that we can’t do that while still fulfilling our ‘natural’ roles of mother and housewife. Why can’t we do it all?

After I’m finished with my schooling, I’m going to join the workforce and seek the best position I am capable of. But at some point, I’d like to get married and have children. Shocking, right?

Whenever people hear that I want both a successful career and a family, they’re skeptical. Well, for those of you who are curious, I am planning to take time off from work when I have children to raise them. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem all too far-fetched from where I’m standing.

But is it possible? Are we able to take a break from spending more than 40 hours a week behind a desk to live life and nurture a family?

Most of us are going to work hard to get where we want to be in life, and that isn’t something taken for granted. But why is it that a job title designating one as a ‘professional success’ has taken precedence over family? It may have something to do with the way society snickers behind the backs of women who step away from fruitful careers in order to have a family. But why is that stopping us?

Yes, it may be a bit ambitious to say that we can all have everything we want. The perfect job, time off to raise the perfect family and then a smooth transition back to our career. But what’s so wrong with dreaming big? Isn’t that something we’ve been taught to do since the days of Barney?

Hey, we might find out we can’t have it all. Maybe we won’t all be able to get our perfect job back after taking some time off. Maybe that’s the next challenge we’ll have to face in life. And what’s so wrong with that?