How early is too early to begin life career planning? The importance of the elementary school years

The relationship of early and middle childhood experiences to life career p lanning is discussed. Life career planning is presented as a life skill beg inning in infancy. The authors present five premises on which they have bas ed their discussion: Life career development is a life-long, spiraling proc ess; Life career planning includes a series of sub-skills; Career awareness and career exploration form the foundation for effective life career plann ing; Idiosyncratic factors influence the decision-making of each person; an d Child development theory (e.g., Erikson, Piaget and Vygotsky) and career development theory (e.g., Super and Gottfredson) are interrelated. Implicat ions for practice are included.