It would be interesting, if only for a moment, to see the world through a 6-year-old’s eyes. We all did once, of course, but that view is faded if not lost. First-hand descriptions are available but unreliable. A child’s vocabulary goes only so far. Reality outstrips it. It outstrips ours, too.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a good way to start a conversation with a child. Even the youngest children have thoughts on the subject. Kuraray, a manufacturer of synthetic leather for school backpacks, has been putting that question to Japanese first-graders since 1999. This year the top pick among boys was police officer, topping athlete for the first time.
Girls, too, though less eagerly, feel drawn to police work. It came in sixth with them, well behind pastry cook, the perennial favorite, but ahead of doctor, teacher, beautician and nursery school teacher.