Young children are not told about this, because it is too early for them to know. The time for such conversations comes when a person is rapidly approaching the ninth grade of the school. Is it time to answer an important question in life - to go get a working specialty or continue studying at a university? During this period, the noun “path” pops up, it is almost as true as the action of any physical law. There are no parents who would not have conversations with the child about his future.
The origin of the path and the road
Let's start with the origin, because the word for the modern ear is strange. We are fortunate that it is in the etymological dictionary. So, the source claims that this is a borrowing from the Old Slavonic, in which it meant "way, road." And, of course, this is not a road in the modern sense, but any place you can go through.
That is, when parents talk about the path with their child, they insist that he choose the path in life that he will take and become a real person. But only in life they do not choose the road, but create it. I recall the novel of the Strugatsky brothers “Noon, XXII Century”. It had self-propelled roads. Life does not imply this; everything is achieved through labor and patience.
And it is also appropriate to mention the etymology of the word "road." The latter is related to “turf” and “tree” and is formed from the same basis - “dor”, that is, “cleared place”. And the ancient ancestor is the verb "holes", that is, "to tear." The latter circumstance needs clarification. Initially, roads were laid through the forest, so such a strange etymology, but if you know the story, then there will be nothing surprising in this fact.
Value
Returning to the main object of study, we need to put aside the etymological dictionary and pick up the sensible. In the latter, the following meaning of the word “path” is written: “path, road”. As you can see, the meaning of the word has not changed in the past.
It is interesting that in the literal sense the word is rarely used, it is rather the property of poetic speech, of high style. People remember the path when it comes to moral values, the choice of a profession. And for the ordinary road there are words that are neutral in expression. And path is a "festive" definition, so to speak. Moreover, the paths that were not laid by man, but by machines and created in the conditions of the technological age, can not be said so. The noun "path" is suitable for naming mountain and forest paths, rather than high-speed highways.
Calling do not choose
But in the field of philosophical issues such a modernization is not yet in sight. Therefore, when they discuss the difficulties of choosing a profession, they still use the outdated word, and immediately there is a feeling that the conversation is serious. But in fact, a person often goes out on a vocation road by accident. And sometimes he has long resisted the cause of his life. Sometimes this path itself finds a person.
Remember the movie "Lucky Gilmore" (1996)? In it, the main character for a long time refused to admit that he was a golfer, dreaming of a hockey player's career. But you need to do what the person is really good at. In other words, it’s better to be an upscale golfer than a hockey player who isn’t even worth skating. May all of us be a science in dealing with the path of life. On this and finish.