Back in May I spent an afternoon at my kid's middle school career fair - a table, a stack of handouts, a passport, a calculator and a football I was told to keep off the library floor.
The format was simple: small groups of Grade 7s and 8s rotating through every five minutes, four periods straight. A little chaotic, but it worked. Five minutes goes fast when you're telling 12-year-olds that you still don't have it figured out.
Being back in a school was the unexpected part. I'd forgotten what that age feels like. No real responsibilities, no pressure, surrounded by friends, in a place where you can be yourself. The cliques were exactly where I left them twenty-five years ago - good to know middle school hasn't changed.
The kids fell into the types you'd expect. Some took it seriously. Some were just glad to be out of class and wanted their Career Passport signed. Most were somewhere in between. I was all three of those kids at some point, so no judgement.
What surprised me was the questions. The most common one, by far: "How much do you make?" Followed closely by "Which jobs make the most money?" At 12 and 13, money was already the main lens. I don't remember thinking about money at that age. Maybe I was lucky. Maybe it's a sign of the times. Either way, it made point #2 on my handout land differently - money is a skill, not a talent. If they're going to think about it that early, they might as well learn it properly.
The props did most of the work. The passports were the hit - kids flipping through the stamps, asking where each one was from. The calculator got played with more than I expected. The football got taken off my table twice for keepie-uppies in the library. I pretended not to encourage it.
I went in with five things I wish someone had told me at their age. If you're curious, the handout they took home is here.
Would I do it again? Yes. Not sure I'd change much - maybe the framing, maybe the approach. But going back to school, remembering what it was like to be 12, was good for me. That kid had no idea what he'd become. Neither do the kids I met. That's fine. That was kind of the whole point.
— Mel · Toronto · July 2026