She wants to be a singer. You think she should go for a long-term career with job security and eventually retire with a good pension (退休金). But a new report suggests that in fact she’s the practical one. Why do parents make terrible careers _________?

Today’s 14 and 15-year-olds are _________. They look at their working future in a different way from their parents’. A job for life is not in their vocabulary; neither is a dead-end but secure job that is _________ but pays the bills.

In the past, this might be considered as _________ news. Certainly, when I was 15, my guidance mentor _________ my plans to become a writer. I’m glad I didn’t change my plans to suit them. But the world has changed. The global economy is not _________ to yesterday’s diligent and dependable worker. The future belongs to quick-thinking people who are resourceful, ambitious and can take the _________. This means that a 14-year-old who sees her working future as a kind of _________ is not necessarily being unrealistic.

_________, she has to have the training and guidance to help her develop the right skills for today’s market. Many young people __________ that downsizing (裁员) and freelancing (自由职业) are all part of modern working life, but no one is telling them how they might be able to turn the new rules of the __________ game to their advantage. This is what they need to know if they are to make a life for themselves.

So what is to be done? A most important step would be to __________ the way in which schools prepare young people for adult life. The education system is becoming less flexible and sticks more to traditional skills at just the time that the job market is going in the __________direction.

What, then, can we as parents do to help them? The best thing is to __________ all the advice that your parents gave you, and step into your teenager’s shoes. Give them the courage to follow their dreams—however strange they might sound now. In a world that offers economic security to almost no one, imagination is a terrible thing to __________.