How to get teens to work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another out of touch OP, or maybe just the same one that keeps obsessing over this and getting all the ignorant parents riled up.

DCUM is divided between the lower class whose kids tend to have jobs;

and the upper class whose kids tend not to have jobs.

A job at Giant does nothing for one's future career if the family does not need the income from their working teen.

Teens these days have already developed work ethic, teamwork, etc, in all the expensive activities and internships that they've done over the years.

This needs to be repeated on every single thread where the OP moronically complains about lazy teens not working.

- parent of non-working teen. I didn't work as a teen either. Teen jobs are not a rite of passage. Indeed, most things posters tout on this board as "rites of passage" are... simply not.

And this is not just my own teen's experience. He just graduated from high school. NONE of the teens we know work - some may have had a part-time job, like my kid (during the pandemic, something outdoors since all his usual activities closed).
Jobless teen does not equal lazy teen.
Just putting it out there because I hate these threads that always dump on teens, and call them lazy every time they aren't straight A, Ivy-bound students with jobs.

One of my teens wants a job during the school year but I’m not really encouraging it. The thing I’ve pointed out to my kids is that jobs aren’t flexible, you need to show up if you are scheduled. While my kids have good time management skills and multiple activities, with heavy AP class schedules I would rather they not commit their weekday evenings to a job. Their activities are also commitments but there is often a bit of flexibility if they need to study for a big test or finish a project. I don’t want school coming second to working as a restaurant hostess or at an ice cream store.

I get this. I worked my junior and senior years in high school at a seasonal business (closed during winter months)- so fulltime in the summer, but then in the fall and spring I was still working ~20 hrs per week, plus some extracurriculars. At the same time I started taking AP classes. It was honestly all a bit much and my grades suffered but I think at the time I was afraid to admit to my parents that I couldn't handle it, as I needed the money for college. My best friend, whose parents were both teachers, did not let her work during the school year. I will probably steer my kids away from something with regular hours during the school year too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started working at the age of 16, in Giant Food.
Now there a huge work shortage and mostly because teens are at home playing video games or doing silly Dance videos.. Parents should make kids go to work. They are now paying kids $15-17 dollars an hour to work…..my first minimum wage job I was making $1.50 an hour I will have to work 10 hours to make what they are making now. There shouldn’t be a reason why there so many people not working.

[phone] OP. I agree with ALL of this. Parents should start by not paying for the phones, cars and fancy clothes let them work for it like we did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

It’s not 1990, folks. A crappy part-time retail job isn’t helping your kid get into a good college. Sorry to disappoint.

My DH sits on a committee to hire college interns and he says they often pass on applicants who've never had any job history. I'd be embarrassed to submit a resume at age 20/21 with no employment history at all.

Same. I conducted interviews for a Big 4 firm, and they basically didn’t hire people who didn’t work. ANY job counted. McDonald’s. Camp counselor. Tractor supply store. Whatever.

You had to be beyond spectacular to get hired if you didn’t work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

It’s not 1990, folks. A crappy part-time retail job isn’t helping your kid get into a good college. Sorry to disappoint.

My DH sits on a committee to hire college interns and he says they often pass on applicants who've never had any job history. I'd be embarrassed to submit a resume at age 20/21 with no employment history at all.

Same. I conducted interviews for a Big 4 firm, and they basically didn’t hire people who didn’t work. ANY job counted. McDonald’s. Camp counselor. Tractor supply store. Whatever.

You had to be beyond spectacular to get hired if you didn’t work.

I graduated CS with a 2.7 GPA in 2001 and wondered how I got a job right after the IT bust.

After working on and off with recruiters I realized it was because I graduated in 4 years and I had an internship and a job at the school help desk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

Ok fine.
At the expense of time to study? Playing a sport? Playing a musical instrument/singing? Performing in a school theater production? Taking part in a robotics competition?

How happy will you be when your 16 year old has to miss out on family events like birthday parties, Thanksgiving at relative's house, etc. because they have to work weekends/evenings/holidays?

My daughter has 2 jobs and has never missed an important family event due to them. She also takes Taekwondo and is in Marching band and is a 4.0 UW GPA student.

Time management matters. That’s why people are saying it’s a good thing. It’s not at the expense of other things, it’s a valuable activity in its own right. I’m not saying all kids have to have a job. I’m just saying that a job can be rewarding in more ways than earning a paycheck.

"Time management" has nothing to do with it if your work schedules you to work noon-4 pm on Thanksgiving and the entire family has dinner at 5 at Aunt Carol's in Scranton.
Maybe your kid's workplace wasn't open on Thanksgiving, but many of the examples given here (like grocery stores) definitely are.

Okay. You need to stop with this very specific example. Most people don’t work on thanksgiving and kids can actually request off and they can quit if it’s an issue. You’re making an example of like one day out of 365 days. And if my kid had to work on thanksgiving I’d not be angry about it.

In the unlikely scenario that I have to go to Scranton on thanksgiving a 5PM and my child is scheduled to work at Giant that weekend, I will deal with that bridge when I come to it.

You need to stop thinking you can tell me what to do. Your daughter's situation is also a "very specific example" yet you keep bringing it up.

It's not just "one day"--most families have multiple special days, holidays, an occasions that are harder to accommodate when you work low level service jobs.

NP. *shrug*

Do you have teenagers? My kids are still little but I cannot count the number of "special days" and family events that our teenage family members have missed due to sports practices/events, theater productions, rehearsals, etc. That's part of being a being a teenager. It's not just jobs. If you're concerned about your child missing family events as teenagers, they better not get involved in pretty much anything.

I do have teenagers, as well as past teenagers (adult kids in their 20s.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

It’s not 1990, folks. A crappy part-time retail job isn’t helping your kid get into a good college. Sorry to disappoint.

My DH sits on a committee to hire college interns and he says they often pass on applicants who've never had any job history. I'd be embarrassed to submit a resume at age 20/21 with no employment history at all.

Neat. Irrelevant to what I said, but neat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

It’s not 1990, folks. A crappy part-time retail job isn’t helping your kid get into a good college. Sorry to disappoint.

Not all things are specifically geared toward getting into Harvard.

Good thing nobody said anything about “getting into Harvard” then.

And, to repeat for the slow among you, this was in respond to someone hailing a job as an “EC activity.” Any idea where that phrase appears 99% of the time? Oh, right. In discussions of college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

It’s not 1990, folks. A crappy part-time retail job isn’t helping your kid get into a good college. Sorry to disappoint.

My DH sits on a committee to hire college interns and he says they often pass on applicants who've never had any job history. I'd be embarrassed to submit a resume at age 20/21 with no employment history at all.

Neat. Irrelevant to what I said, but neat.

I personally know a kid who never worked in high school or college and just graduated with a CS degree from a top school. And guess what… He cannot get a job in his field. He is working at McDonald’s right now, and that’s his first work experience at age 21. It’s important to build a work history while you are in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

It’s not 1990, folks. A crappy part-time retail job isn’t helping your kid get into a good college. Sorry to disappoint.

Not all things are specifically geared toward getting into Harvard.

Good thing nobody said anything about “getting into Harvard” then.

And, to repeat for the slow among you, this was in respond to someone hailing a job as an “EC activity.” Any idea where that phrase appears 99% of the time? Oh, right. In discussions of college admissions.

This board has proven to me that kids who have jobs in HS notoriously never get into college. It shows how poor they are and colleges only like the children of people who can get private SAT tutors and join a top swim club. If your child gets a job, their childhood is lost and they are doomed to a life of being a McDonald’s fry cook. There’s nothing to be learned or gained from working at a summer camp so they should definitely focus more on that 12th AP exam. Or they WON’T GET INTO COLLEGE and their life will be a failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stop providing things for them that are not the basics and they’ll get a job.

At the expense of time to study? Time in ECs? Volunteer work?

Are you going to be a happier parent when your 16 year old can't come to Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Carol's because they have to put in their 4 hour shift at Giant?

A job is an EC activity. It’s extra to curricular activity.

It’s not 1990, folks. A crappy part-time retail job isn’t helping your kid get into a good college. Sorry to disappoint.

My DH sits on a committee to hire college interns and he says they often pass on applicants who've never had any job history. I'd be embarrassed to submit a resume at age 20/21 with no employment history at all.

Neat. Irrelevant to what I said, but neat.

It is entirely relevant.

It’s actually the job after college that matters more than the college itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started working at the age of 16, in Giant Food.
Now there a huge work shortage and mostly because teens are at home playing video games or doing silly Dance videos.. Parents should make kids go to work. They are now paying kids $15-17 dollars an hour to work…..my first minimum wage job I was making $1.50 an hour I will have to work 10 hours to make what they are making now. There shouldn’t be a reason why there so many people not working.

What. a huge "work shortage" (whatever that means) because teens are not filling low wage jobs? you are delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started working at the age of 16, in Giant Food.
Now there a huge work shortage and mostly because teens are at home playing video games or doing silly Dance videos.. Parents should make kids go to work. They are now paying kids $15-17 dollars an hour to work…..my first minimum wage job I was making $1.50 an hour I will have to work 10 hours to make what they are making now. There shouldn’t be a reason why there so many people not working.

What. a huge "work shortage" (whatever that means) because teens are not filling low wage jobs? you are delusional.

There are plenty of young people working my local grocery store, just like I did 30 years ago when I was 15. One was just promoted to supervisor after being there a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started working at the age of 16, in Giant Food.
Now there a huge work shortage and mostly because teens are at home playing video games or doing silly Dance videos.. Parents should make kids go to work. They are now paying kids $15-17 dollars an hour to work…..my first minimum wage job I was making $1.50 an hour I will have to work 10 hours to make what they are making now. There shouldn’t be a reason why there so many people not working.

What. a huge "work shortage" (whatever that means) because teens are not filling low wage jobs? you are delusional.

There are plenty of young people working my local grocery store, just like I did 30 years ago when I was 15. One was just promoted to supervisor after being there a few years.

Yup. It’s the adults who started leaving these jobs in droves during the pandemic, because they aspired for better treatment, pay, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started working at the age of 16, in Giant Food.
Now there a huge work shortage and mostly because teens are at home playing video games or doing silly Dance videos.. Parents should make kids go to work. They are now paying kids $15-17 dollars an hour to work…..my first minimum wage job I was making $1.50 an hour I will have to work 10 hours to make what they are making now. There shouldn’t be a reason why there so many people not working.

[phone] OP. I agree with ALL of this. Parents should start by not paying for the phones, cars and fancy clothes let them work for it like we did.

Phones are literally a necessity now. Not necessarily the latest and greatest, but a basic smart phone is needed. It's not like back in the 80s-90s when you could find a payphone on every corner to make a call.
And basic services rely on people using smart phones now-public transportation in many cities, getting into any sports game/concert, etc. I hate it.