I was a child like this.
I was interested (okay, this is an understatement) in veterinary medicine from the time I could talk. (Seriously interested-- not the way some little girls go through a cutesy 'animal doctor' phase).
My parents weren't exactly sure what to do with me. Neither of them were in the least mathy/sciencey people. They kind of left me alone and let me enjoy the obsession, assuming (as noted above) that it would change with time.
Not really.
Well, I discovered genetics in middle school, so that altered things a bit. But I still worked at a prestigious animal hospital all through high school and later became a tech prior to leaving for college. I planned (at that time) to major in biology as an undergraduate and attend grad school for genetics. (I'm old enough that there were literally only about five places in the country that offered a full genetics program when I graduated from high school.)
When I took organic chemistry, however, I was HOOKED. Omigosh. It was beautiful. I loved the instrumentation, I loved the puzzle-solving aspects... I just LOVED it.
So I majored in chemistry. Too.
Okay, where am I going with this?
Even though my parents didn't really push me, they still retained that "our daughter, the aspiring veterinarian" as part of my identity, and it was part of my identity as a young woman. I was the kid that wanted to BE a veterinarian before I could SAY veterinarian (and I talked early, by the way). My employers thought that I should become a vet. I have the touch. Animals love me, and my surgical skills are fantastic. I have that "whisperer" thing with animals which really can't be taught, and did even as a tiny child.
It seemed like betraying my destiny when I opted to pursue neuropharmacology and bioanalytical chemistry for graduate school. Why did I do it? The intellectual stimulation was extreme in that field. In vet-med, okay, it was like drinking coffee. Better than water, certainly. In analytical chemistry, it was like my brain had access to rocket fuel-- it allowed me to truly test my brain and find out what it could REALLY do.
It was like thinking all along that I had a nice Mercedes and was going to drive it on the Autobahn, only to learn that, no... really my brain was a 12 cylinder Lamborghini and was starving for MORE.
As long as parents understand that some of the personal mythology of childhood creates its own gravitational pull on us as adults making career choices... then I think that it's fine to encourage those interests. But be sensitive to, and encourage, exploration beyond them, too. Maybe even INSIST upon it.
Understand that changing your destiny to follow your heart's desire isn't easy, and it gets even harder when you feel like you're changing everyone else's expectations, too.
Multipotentiality is really a curse in some ways. It means choosing to be HAPPY and in love with your occupation rather than 'most successful' or 'best fit for my abilities.'
