Many people are apparently not keen for their children to take the same career, but why would you tell your offspring to avoid your job?

Doctors beget doctors. Lawyers beget lawyers.

Throughout European history it has ever been thus. People with a trade or a craft or a shop or a farm have traditionally handed it on to one of their children to continue the family business.

The instrument-maker Antonio Stradivari passed his business on to his sons, the cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale passed his on to his eldest boy.

And yet in the modern world with a vast cornucopia of new jobs, and dramatic changes within many careers, the process by which parents gently steer their children into the same career is under threat.   When I was young it was like the Wild West - now it's like the Wild West got worse

Taxi driver Nick Townsend

Your views: Family careers

A survey by Hudson recruitment consultancy this week suggested that one in four people would not like their children to follow in the same profession. Male lawyers were the most despondent, with one third saying they would not want their children to do the same job.

But it's not only those in white-collar professions that no longer feel the need to pass on the family business.

Too stressful

Nick Townsend, 46, has been driving a black cab in London for 20 years. His father, Albert, despite being 73 and a published author, still occasionally ventures out in his own taxi. 
The London cabbie's "knowledge" has often passed from father to son

Having started out as a technician in the film industry, Mr Townsend found himself looking for a stable career with good earnings and found it in his father's trade. His father was proud. And yet this line of cabbies could be about to end.

Mr Townsend has enjoyed his time as a cabbie but believes things have changed too much for his 12-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son to consider taking up the trade.

"You hear a lot of people saying it used to be good in the 1960s," he says. "There is a sense of community but not as strong as it used to be.

"It is hard to keep up with costs. A lot of guys are in their 40s and their heart gives up with stress."

And as well as fierce competition from private hire cabs and rising costs, life for taxi drivers venturing out at night has also become more dangerous.

"When I was young it was like the Wild West - now it's like the Wild West got worse."

Steady job

Another who can't recommend his career to his child is Chris Swain, from St Helens, who spent 27 years in the RAF before taking redundancy last year. His stepson George, 17, has identified the armed forces as his likely career path. 
"Now this is what I call work experience, dad"

"I thoroughly enjoyed it but times have changed," says Mr Swain. "While it could be great for his training, it is very dangerous now."

Having served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and spoken to many other service people who have encountered danger, he feels compelled to urge caution on George, despite his own love for service life.

"He realises it can be a great life. He has researched what it can do for him as a career. Kids see a relatively good standard of living. And in the present climate any steady job is good. But I'm trying to steer him towards an apprenticeship."

Happy at work

And both the older and younger generation are thinking differently about the whole nature of work, which could explain the fracture in the inherited trade.

"The whole idea that work should be fun is something that was invented by the baby boomer generation," says Jenny Ungless, a career coach at the Monster recruitment website.

Even half a century ago, career choice was completely dominated by economic and geographic considerations. Now young people will be considering work-life balance, fulfilment levels and even making ethical choices.

There are often also more practical reasons why trades cannot be passed on, such as changes in the apprentice system.

Jim Pauling, a long-serving river pilot on the Mersey, followed in the footsteps of his father, uncle and grandfather.

"When I was a child I never asked my father what he did. I didn't question him about ships.

"I basically did it because I knew I probably wasn't going to get to university. I knew we had a nice life and were comfortable and a bit of the same would do for me. I've had the best working life."

But by the time his sons were nearing adulthood, the structure of the profession had changed. From an apprenticeship system where each candidate was guaranteed a job should they successfully serve their time, now jobs are advertised.

In the end, all three of Mr Pauling's sons chose to be doctors instead of turning towards the deck of ship. "I'm not despondent none of them did it," he says.

And in this era of choice, it seems strange to many parents that they would even consider steering their offspring into particular careers.

Children are expected to be independent, understanding their own priorities and following their own path.

 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7501553.stm