Career Day: I am a YouTubber

This Monday marked the start of Spirit Week at Little Lewie's grammar school; his very last day of first grade is next Wednesday.

Spirit week is new for us this year.  His kindergarten and preschools hosted a pajama day in the past--but not a full week of adventure (mismatch day, career day, dress like you're from another decade day, school spirit day, etc.)  Yesterday was Career Day, and Lewie proudly announced that he wanted to be a "YouTubber."  A YouTubber? I asked myself.  What type of profession is THAT?  Is it even a career?

The reality is that over the past several years, Lewie has developed a passion for watching YouTube videos and tutorials.  I still remember the transition like it was yesterday.  Around age 4, Lewie loved trains.  Daily, I would search "trains" under Google Images, so he could see a variety of train pictures. His little imagination raced furiously as he viewed the train pictures, made train sounds with his voice, and swirled his hands around like they were wheels.  (It was seriously the cutest thing to watch...)

One day, he clicked on one of his train pictures, and he found out it was a video.  Well, train pictures might be pretty awesome, but train videos (as I would soon learn) are seriously the coolest secret on earth.  Before long, Little Lewie started requesting train videos, and so the passion for almighty YouTube began...

Here are some of Lewie's favorite "YouTube" sensations:

Eric Siegel from Eric's Trains - a series of video tutorials about his "3 Rail O-Gauge and O-Scale train adventure"

Ramahfool - a series of funny Thomas the Train Trackmaster Videos  (Thomas the Trackmaster Show is funny if you're into this kind of boy humor)

Now that Lewie is "into" video games and Minecraft, his favorites have become EthanGamerTV, TheDiamondMinecart // Dan TDM, PopularMMOs Minecraft (known as Pat and Jen),  and FGTEEV (The Family Gaming Team).  (All of these are watched under supervision, of course.)

YouTube has replaced TV, and if I don't plan extracurricular activities, Lewie can easily spend the whole afternoon watching video after video.  Of course, now he's been watching videos on how to create his own website and make his own YouTube channel.  With him being only 7, I still feel he has a long way to go before he starts doing this (people can be mean); still, I won't discourage him when he's old enough to handle the responsibility...

Okay, back to my beginning paragraphs... Now choosing to be a YouTubber is not as admirable as say choosing to be a doctor or a firefighter, but I am certainly in no position to judge.  If we had Career Day at school circa 1982 (which we didn't), my seven year-old self would have certainly wanted to dress up like an MTV star with funky colored hair, bangle bracelets, and a pleather skirt.  I certainly wanted to be anything that would make me famous--an actress, model, singer, dancer...

So, my point in all this?  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  Lewie, have fun rocking your YouTube shirt on Career Day.  You never know where this crazy life journey will take you!