# What did you want to be when you were six years old? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710 "2002-08-07T01:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/21 "2002-08-07T07:43:57Z")
Astronaut. Specifically, I wanted to live on the space station then being proposed. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/22 "2002-08-07T07:44:15Z")
I wanted to be a dustman. I though astronaut was a bit optimistic. I actually ran away from home to join the dustman – I could have been anywhere from three to six, I suppose. I could hear their lorry in the street behind the park behind my house. It was a hot day, the front door was open (we lived on a quiet cul-de-sac with no traffic) and the phone rang. When my mum was distracted I toddled off to join them. While my mum phoned the police distraught, the bewildered dustmen spent the day driving around the entire town holding up a reticent child to bemused parents to see if I belonged to them (I wasn’t going to say, I was enjoying it). ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/23 "2002-08-07T08:01:56Z")
I wanted to be Andy Gibb’s wife and mother to his children (which would magically happen when we kissed!) ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/24 "2002-08-07T12:15:39Z")
I don’t remember when I was six, but when I was 7 I wanted to go work in George Lucas’s creature shop. Hell, I still do. Stupid “Nova” specials. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/25 "2002-08-07T12:18:05Z")
7 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/26 "2002-08-07T14:16:08Z")
I dunno about six, but I have a book called “The Whole Kids Do-it-yourself Scrapbook” that I played with when I was eight. It’s one of those books where it has pages of stuff for you to fill in “What’s your favorite color?” “Paste a picture of yourself and your best friend here” etc. etc. There’s one whole section on what you want to be when you grow up. My answer? “A computer programmer” Bah. After 10+ years of programming, it’s the last thing I want to do. But hey, I guess I was a kid with a purpose, eh? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/27 "2002-08-07T14:26:28Z")
I remember wanting to be an archaeologist, a mommy, and the first woman president. Preferably all at once. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/28 "2002-08-07T15:07:50Z")
I really really really _really_ wanted to be an albino elf. I wanted to have pinky-white skin, white hair, red eyes… and be very little and have pointed ears and magical ways. I was _convinced_ that someday I could live my dream! And since my brother doesn’t read this board (heh heh), I’ll say that when he was about 3, he wanted to be a window washer (y’know, for really tall buildings). He planned on doing that until he reached retirement age, and at that point he’d be a policeman. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![crazy4chaucer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@crazy4chaucer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy4chaucer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/29 "2002-08-07T15:45:04Z")
IIRC, I wanted to be a Barbie doll. go figure ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/30 "2002-08-07T16:01:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\*A paleontologist. \*\* Wow…I thought I was the only one… ---
**Author:** ![KalliopeCU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@KalliopeCU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KalliopeCU)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/31 "2002-08-07T16:02:30Z")
I had lofty goals when I was 6. I wanted to be in the mafia. I believe, more specifically, I wanted to be a hitman in the mafia. (Not yet understanding such high-handed concepts as “death” and “murder” and “jail time.”) What can I say, some little girls played with Barbies and watched “My Little Ponies.” I got to watch the first two **Godfather** movies, ad nauseum. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/32 "2002-08-07T16:15:03Z")
Another wannabe astronaut here. I’ve made it as far as the first syllable. ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/33 "2002-08-07T16:22:48Z")
I think age 6 was the year I declared that I was going to be a nurse. My parents asked me why I didn’t want to be a doctor (as I could be _anything I wanted to be_, being a girl shouldn’t stop me!) and I said that doctors had to deal with icky nasty blood and nurses didn’t. Being a nurse was perfectly fine with me. Good thing I switched to my chemist phase before I found out everything that nurses have to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/34 "2002-08-07T16:23:55Z")
A vampire. I was a big fan of old horror movies when I was a kid. I longed to wear a cape, turn into a bat, and slink around biting people on the neck. Even now, the sight of a woman’s neck, right there under her jaw, where you can see the pulse, holds a special appeal to me. “The children of the night…what music they make.” ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/35 "2002-08-07T16:54:26Z")
**Sublight** , my soulmate! I too, wanted to work in a gas station. I loved the smell of gas, and wanted to be able to use the credit card machine (the old non-electronic ones where you pull the thing back & forth over the card). My mother was so proud. And she was mighty happy when I decided at 11 that I wanted to be an orthodontist instead. scout, Sr. Budget Analyst ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/36 "2002-08-07T16:56:09Z")
Only people who grew up in Atlanta and who used to watch Officer Don on “the Popeye Club” will understand this answer: A cameraman ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/37 "2002-08-07T17:04:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Labdad \* > \*\*Only people who grew up in Atlanta and who used to watch Officer Don on “the Popeye Club” will understand this answer: > > A cameraman \*\* Oh, oh, I was on “The Popeye Club” a couple of times. Ahh, the thrill and excitement of the oooey-gooey bag, the skill and cunning of the stuff-crackers-in-your-mouth-and-try-to-whistle-game, and of course the little bag of goodies from Colonial Bakery that you got on your way out! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/38 "2002-08-07T17:09:37Z")
I wanted to be one of the garbagemen that put trees and branches in the big, loud shredder. Did I mention that Fawn Hall makes me hot? ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/39 "2002-08-07T17:41:10Z")
A firefighter (“but girls can’t do that”: remember, this was way back when…). ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710/40 "2002-08-07T17:51:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lyllyan \* > \*\*Oh, oh, I was on “The Popeye Club” a couple of times. Ahh, the thrill and excitement of the oooey-gooey bag, the skill and cunning of the stuff-crackers-in-your-mouth-and-try-to-whistle-game, and of course the little bag of goodies from Colonial Bakery that you got on your way out! \*\* Then you’ll recall if it was your birthday you got to sit with Officer Don and he asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up. If you said a cameraman, he’d take you up to the big camera on wheels, and you got to climb up on the platform and look through it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-you-want-to-be-when-you-were-six-years-old/122710.md?page=3)