Every day is Future Day!

Michael Restin

13.11.2025

Translation: machine translated

The National Future Day is a great opportunity that is often underestimated by children. So the parents - who themselves tend to overlook the fact that their day-to-day attitude to work is much more important - take care of it.

While you're reading this, I might be sitting at the reception desk of a university hospital. There, my child is being shown a future for a day that probably won't be his. Which is perfectly fine, because at the age of 10, 11 or 12, who knows exactly where their professional journey will take them.

National Future Day is an attempt to give young people, who have the superpower of living mostly in the moment, a taste of a future that they imagine in a completely different way.

On the one hand, because it is difficult to get a taste of typical dream jobs. On the other hand, because the ambitious goal of Future Day is to change sides: girls and boys should gain practical insights into atypical professions. Of course, it would be cool if the boys lent a hand in rows in the daycare centre while the girls stood on building sites wearing fluorescent waistcoats. That's the theory. The practice is usually different. Parents pave the way for the future.

Lesson 1: Vitamin B in primary school

Everyone uses their contacts because their own professions are often considered boring by the next generation. This is partly understandable when parents work full-time in calls in front of screens and explain to their children part-time that they shouldn't look at screens so much. Even if many companies go to great lengths and organise an extensive programme, a day with mum or dad is usually not what the kids have in mind.

So they make deals and ask around their friends. Everyone does their best and helps to open doors as much as they can. In the hope of still finding a place for the child that at least awakens a spark of anticipation. It's a shame, but unfortunately true: Future Day is also an anticipation that everything is better with vitamin B. Who ends up where is often down to the parents' network.

Lesson 2: Learn what you don't want

Parents shouldn't overemphasise Future Day, the children certainly don't. There's nothing wrong with landing somewhere without great expectations and simply spending a day immersed in the reality of work. Not every company has the opportunity to turn itself into a kind of Disneyland for eight hours. Perhaps the children will learn what they don't want to do while being bored. Or that they should think a little more in advance next time.

I associate my first taster day with the sweet taste of envelopes, which I licked and sealed together with a school colleague. Stapling, stapling, faxing - the finest 90s office atmosphere that time has fortunately passed over. The only thing that has stayed with me is a feeling. Just like during an internship in a local newspaper editorial office, which was typing its way towards its own demise with maximum disgruntlement.

Learning that something is not right for you and that your future lies elsewhere can be valuable. Just like the experience of unexpectedly becoming enthusiastic about a topic. When people who are passionate about their profession take time for their children on Future Day, the spark can be ignited. And that should make all parents think. Because throughout the year, we shape children's image of what work is - a pleasure or a burden?

Lesson 3: The other 364 days are more important

If you start every working day with a sigh and fall onto the sofa in the evening «totally exhausted», you shouldn't be surprised if this attitude carries over. I admit that I don't do somersaults every Sunday evening full of anticipation because the working week finally starts again tomorrow. But basically, I really enjoy doing what I do. I think it's important to pass that on.

What we parents can do on National Future Day: Thanking those in the companies who agree to make it an interesting day for the children. What we can do every day: Show children that work doesn't have to be an imposition and can be enriching, not just financially, but in general.

Michael Restin

Senior Editor

Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.ch

Simple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.

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