I have a 16-year-old son. I’m in my early 30s (had him very young) and a professional footballer. My son also dreams of becoming a successful footballer (he’s been playing since he was 6), but he’s just… not great. He’s good, but not great - and in this extremely competitive industry you need to be at least great in order to even stand a chance. So I told him, as someone who’s been doing this for a very, very long time & is active in this sphere, that he should find another, more attainable dream. He took it as me not believing in him, but I’m just objective and realistic.
You need to have a sit down with him. He’s 16 so he should be able to be take in whatever you’ll say. Don’t degrade him, don’t talk down to him or anything.
But tell him that he has a future ahead of him, whatever it is but futures also have different pathways to choose from. The wrong futures are the kind of futures where no matter how much devotion, ambition and time spent it is to drive towards a particular future, it isn’t that path. And that’s okay because the world isn’t over for him yet. The only thing your son is going to regret the most, is not trying more things while he has the youth and the time to do so.
That is key, is to try many things and see what really sticks.