Kids say funny things without even meaning to. What seems like the most innocent question can result in the funniest – and sometimes jaw-dropping – answers when it comes to kids, especially the younger crowd.

One of the age-old questions that parents, teachers, and even siblings love to ask kids is "What do you want to be when you grow up?". Often, they get a pretty normal response, something that they'd expect a little kid to say. Fireman, policeman, doctor, artist or even superhero and princess are very common.

But, every once in a while, a kid comes up with an off-the-wall response that makes people scratch their heads. Teachers, who ask this question to their young students every year as part of their language arts curriculum, probably hear the most number of crazy responses out of anyone, and they love sharing their most memorable responses with the world.

Apparently, kids have a lot more going on in their heads than their teachers and parents realized, because many of these responses completely surprised the adults who heard them. Interestingly enough, some of these super honest responses may seem hilariously awkward at first, but they make a lot of sense.

One lesson everyone can learn from this? Don't discredit a young kid. They have way more going on up there than any of us can imagine and, if nothing else, they have incredible amounts of imagination and determination.

And, of course, they're awesome at making us laugh!

15 Hopes And Dreams

Most young kids aren't too fond of the whole boyfriend and girlfriend thing, let alone aspire to be in a relationship as one of their biggest life goals. But, this kid is obviously a little different than the rest. When asked this question in school, "Get a girlfriend" was number one on his list.

Logically, "Kiss her" is next. What's the point of a girlfriend if you can't give her a smooch right? But, the best part is number three, where the future boyfriend will "Rule the world". In his mind, all he needs is a girlfriend to stay on top of his game. Doesn't the saying go something like "Behind every successful man, there is a great woman standing behind him"?

It sounds like this kid is onto something. Or, maybe he just really wants a girlfriend to feel successful in life. Either way, we love his answers.

14 Who Else Will Be Me?

Quora user, Subha, asked her 4-year-old daughter this question, and was amazed at her response:

"'I want to be Swarnika (that's her name)'. I laughed and explained [to] her the meaning of the question with some examples, like teachers, nurses, firefighters, doctors, etc. Again, [I] asked her the same question. 'I want to be Swarnika'. You don't want to be a teacher? 'No'. Doctor? 'No. I want to be Swarnika.' But why? 'If I become someone else, then who will be Swarnika? I just want to be myself.'"

We can't say she doesn't have a point! Parents always tell their kids to be themselves rather than try to be someone else, right? It's clear that Swarnika takes this idea very seriously and is dedicated to being her true self for the rest of her life! Her matter-of-fact attitude about it is hilarious, but we also think she's pretty inspirational.

13 Animal Aspirations

We hate to break it to you kid, but being a dog isn't going to work. Still, everyone tells kids they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up, so maybe this little guy is taking it to the extreme. At least he's a good listener!

Interestingly, kids have what seems to be an innate connection with animals. If you've ever witnessed a young child's complete joy when they get to interact with an animal, you know just how well kids can interact, and even communicate, with animals, especially their family pets.

We are willing to bed this little boy has a dog that he's super in-tune with at home. He probably considers the dog to be his best buddy and wants to be as kind and compassionate to others as the dog is to him. Or, maybe he just wants to be lazy all day and have someone to take care of him. Either way, it's a pretty good goal.

12 Gender Swap

Quora user, Erin, told a funny story about her little brother's response to this question:

"Johnny was (and still is) the most boyish boy ever. He is an incredibly natural athlete even though he is not tall. He absolutely excelled in sports of any kind growing up. He was always, and I mean always dirty. There were holes in everything he owned, including his body.

So, when Johnny was maybe around 3 or 4 years old, I think it was my uncle who asked Johnny what he wanted to be when he grew up. He turned to my uncle, looked at him and was just bursting with what I'm sure he thought was the greatest idea anyone had ever thought of and yelled, "A GIRL!!"

Hahaha, the whole room burst into laughter and poor Johnny couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong. He didn't see why that wasn't a perfectly viable option. It was probably the cutest thing ever. The best is that no one corrected him. They just told him that was a great idea."

11 She Has A Point

Lisa shared this story about her 4-year-old daughter on Quora:

"Her class teacher did an impromptu Q&A of this question recently, with each child answering around the circle. The usual answers came in: astronaut, teacher, doctor, even farmer (we live in a rural area). Then it was my little girl's turn. She didn't hesitate in answering, apparently: 'Tattoo artist.'

The teacher said she'd never heard that one before! None of the family is tattooed either, yet both my daughters (the other is 9) seem obsessed with them. I asked why and my 9-year-old said, 'You get paid to draw on people and they pay you lots of money for it!' Apparently, they're going to open their own studio."

What kid doesn't love drawing? At least it's a respectable job for a creative person, and the girls have big dreams of being more than tattoo artists – they want to be entrepreneurs! There seems to be no stopping these two.

10 The Single Life

So, there's one kid who wants a girlfriend to kiss and then rule the world as part of his future success plan. Then there's this kid, who apparently wants to sit upon his throne all alone, basking in the glory of the single life. Seriously, that doesn't look like a regular chair. It's totally a throne fit for a king.

"I will never get married" is this child's greatest goal in life. We wonder if he or she is just that much against the prospect of having a boyfriend or girlfriend, or if maybe there's a deeper meaning here. It's possible the kid has so many future goals that he simply can't see another person fitting into his life. Who knows?

His answer his hilarious, though, and we're sure his teacher and parents had to have gotten a kick out of it. Hopefully, Mom and Dad hung it on the fridge for years to come.

9 She Obviously Studied Up On Salaries

Quora user, Philemon, remembers a friend's 5-year-old daughter giving a hilarious, but very well-researched response to this age-old question:

"A friend's daughter said she wanted to be a Doctor. Nothing different about that, but the reason why she wanted to be was hilarious and actually realistic. Her mother asked her why she wants to be a Doctor. Her daughter said, 'Duh, Mom. They're like the highest paid people in the world! Money, money!'.

Now, this girl is going places. Not only does she realize what it takes to earn a high salary, but she also understands that money makes the world go 'round. Of course, for the sake of all of her future patients, we hope she develops a much deeper love for the professional than just the money it provides. Still, we can't help but be impressed with her knowledge of top-earning career salaries. She definitely had to have done a little research.

8 Head Warmth Is Important

Wouldn't you love to know what goes through some of these kids' heads, even if only for a few minutes? Some of the responses are so out there that it really makes you scratch your head and wonder why these aspirations seem so important to these kids at the time.

Like this child, whose biggest goal in life is to "get a hat and put it on" when he grows up. Hats are definitely important. They can keep our heads warm, protect them from the sun, and even cover up our crazy hair on a particularly bad hair day. They can even make us feel a little more stylish than going without. But, why exactly is wearing a hat so important to this kid that he longs to make it his lifelong career?

Hopefully, he gets lucky and lands a job in fashion. And maybe, one day, he can explain his drawing too, because there doesn't appear to be a hat anywhere.

7 She Should Probably Be A Farmer

We don't know how old Alina is, but she definitely sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders. She knows how to spell, form well-written sentences, and she can even count to 100! Plus, she loves tomatoes, vegetables, and soup. Who can possibly argue with a child who loves tomatoes, vegetables and soup? Especially when her goal in life is to buy vegetables and soup!

Alina sounds pretty awesome. But, we just have one suggestion. She says she wants to be a customer in a store when she grows up so she can buy vegetables and tomatoes and then turn them into soup when she gets home. Maybe Alina would be better off as a farmer? Then she can grow her own vegetables and tomatoes and live off her own land. She can have all the soup she desires and have more time to make it because she'll spend less time at the store. Dream big, Alina, dream big!

6 Hey, It's Logical

It's easy to get stuck when answering a question. Even as adults, we get brain block that just doesn't let us answer things the way we want to. A tough day at work can affect everything else for us that day.

So, for this child, maybe it was stress. Maybe it was anxiety. Maybe it was a long day at school. Maybe the prospect of deciding on a career was just too much at the moment. It's a lot to consider, after all. And, a lot of parents and teachers remind kids to make smaller, attainable goals that are easier to reach, rather than long-term goals that can set them up for failure.

It seems that this child was really taking that advice to heart and settling for a goal she could definitely reach. She's seven now, so technically, when she is eight she will "grow up". It's not wrong; in fact, it's a very logical answer. The teacher may not have seen it the same way, but you can't deny that this kid at least knows what she's talking about.

5 It's The Little Things

Ruth is a Quora user and a mom of two boys who decided to share this hilarious story of one of them explaining what he wanted to do when he gets older:

"When one of my kids was about 8 someone asked him what he wanted to do when he left school. He thought about it intently for a little while and then settled on 'I think I'll just go home and have my tea.' Same kid, now aged 12 in the back of the car as we were driving down to London to visit family, [says] 'Mum I think I know what I want to do when I leave school.' Me (inwardly hugely relieved at the first hint of ambition or future thinking): 'Oh, what's that, honey?' Him: 'Grow a moustache.'

At least he really gave it some thought, right? Four years of truly thinking about this question made him come up with growing a moustache. It may seem insignificant, but this kid has an awesome ability to reflect on what matters most to him. Apparently, that moustache is important, so we hope he achieves it.

4 Just Like...Mommy?

You've likely seen this one circulating around the internet. Kids get these papers all the time, asking them what they want to be when they grow up and having them draw a picture to go with their answer. This little girl said she wants to be just like mommy when she grows up. Apparently, her mommy has a pole and has several men waving dollar bills at her. Interesting!

But, you may not have seen the response that her mom sent to her teacher after realizing just how damaging the picture may seem to an outsider. Here is Mom's response in an attempt to do damage control:

"I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic is was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out of every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more."

So, little girl just wants to be an awesome Home Depot saleswoman! Whew, that was close.

3 What A Pessimist

You can always tell the optimists from the pessimists in the group, even in little kids. Optimists are all sunshine and rainbows. These are the kids who love colorful cupcakes, drawing flowers, dancing around to their own beat, and aspiring to be ballerinas or race car drivers.

Then there's the pessimists. They see things a bit differently, albeit realistically. Like this kid, who was very clear that he didn't really care much about the assignment at all, let alone what was going to happen to him after high school. It's years away, so why worry about it now right? The best part is that the assignment is entitled "My Future Looks Bright", yet this is what the kid decided to write.

We hope he doesn't have some weird foreshadowing abilities. We can only imagine what the "For fun, I will…" answer would have been. Collect garbage? Eat tofu for the rest of my life? Watch puddles dry?

2 What Is That, Exactly?

This kid went all out for his project! Not only did he aspire to be some pretty cool stuff in his younger years (that's 'Dad', 'Toy Designer', and 'Video Game Maker', if you find it difficult to read his writing attempt), now that he's the ripe old age of five and a half, he aspires to be a 'Ninja Chef'. What is that? Who knows? We don't know about you, but we think it sounds pretty cool.

But, that's not all. The kid wants a very specific work schedule for his Ninja Chef career. Monday through Thursday, he's going to be a Chef. Saturday and Sunday, he'll take off. And naturally, on Friday, he'll be a Ninja. He'll probably need that full weekend to recover from his packed schedule.

It's always great to have goals, and this child clearly has them. Whether or not the rest of the world understands what exactly he wants to do with his life is beside the point.

1 Morbid Fantasies

Wendy shared on Quora this part-hilarious, part-creepy story of her younger brother answering this question when his teacher asked on Career Day. The teacher went around the room asking what each child wanted to be, and getting fairly normal answers you'd expect from younger kids. One boy said 'a fireman', a girl said 'a dolphin trainer', and so on.

Then, she came to Wendy's brother, who promptly said 'a grave digger!'. Wendy explained, "She discontinued reading the class Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer thereafter. I guess the scene where Tom and Huck encounter the graverobbers in the graveyard really made an impression on the little guy."

Well, at least Wendy's brother was paying attention, right? If nothing else, the kids sure did have some good reading comprehension skills. But, maybe someone needs to work with him on the whole reality and fantasy thing before stuff starts getting really weird.

Sources: Imgur.com, Reddit.com, Quora.com, Yahoo.com