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Little Critters sister is thinking about all the different careers she wants to have when she is all grown up.

There's that funny thing where whenever we present the adult world of work to kids, it's in terms of jobs that barely anybody does anymore, or that only a minority ever did. Police officer, farmer, mailman. I get it, of course--it's that they all want to be jobs that are present in small towns, and are easily grasped by children, and easily differentiable from each other, and portrayable as pleasant. Sherman Whatsisface in Bonfire of the Vanities showed us why "investment banker" doesn't work, all embarrassed in front of his daughter; you can imagine the contortions involved in "public relations specialist" or "telemarketer", to say nothing of, oh, "dominatrix". So I get it, Mercer Mayer, I really do, but I still can't help but feel that you're implicating me in a conspiracy to make our social org chart of professions and exploitations palatable to the very very young. Like, start early and make working look rad, and then show it in its true un-rad face gradually, as the children age and become more susceptible to the duty- and prestige- and cash-based injunctions of the disciplining centre. ( )