This question is a very relevant one to my own family and a subject I have pondered over quite recently. We know that children are meant to be children for as long as possible, but I do think it healthy for early teens to start considering their career options, or at least research career possibilities as soon as possible.
There are of course the lucky ones among us who are born with a talent, spot that talent early on in life, enjoy the talent given to them and end up in a career involving that talent. For most of us this is not the case and having someone by our side to help us explore and identify possible career options is extremely important. I would suggest that you have the initial conversation with them as they might not have the vocabulary to quantify what they would like to do. While they probably don’t know what they want to do as yet, it’s certainly advantageous to get them thinking about it and starting the cogs turning.
However, before you do and to make the conversation engaging, familiarise yourself with career options. Take an interest and become somewhat of an informal career guidance resource when your child asks the question. If they are really unsure, why not suggest careers to them based on the skill set that you know they possess? This could be I.T., game development, teaching, medicine, trades, sport or people orientated careers. At this stage it’s not about picking the career but more to get the mind ready to choose.
I would much rather my son or daughter take a compulsory 10 minutes out of their day, and instead of constantly looking at YouTube, playing XBOX or PlayStation, to take this small amount of time and start researching what they would like to do when they leave school. Reward them for taking an interest, listen attentively to their ideas and let them explain why they are interested in this specific career, but remember, this will change many many many times, so be patient!