Should teens have a job? What about during the school year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my favorite phone interview questions is "tell me about your first job". Candidates who talk about internships or entry-level professional jobs go in the "no" pile.

I think teenagers should work, at least in the summer, but that seems like a pretty short-sighted policy.

It's been pretty effective so far.

What kind of jobs are you interviewing for?

Association staff.

New poster. CAE, for that matter. I think it may be a little shortsighted to reject a candidate just because the candidate's first job was an internship or entry-level professional job. As evidenced here, not all children would be able to get a job because of the lack of a parent's willingness to support it. And your policy completely disregards any athletes or band/chorus/drama enthusiasts whose extra-curricular activities would probably make holding a contemporaneous job unwise. This includes college where athletes and other talented students are 'working' 20-30-40 hours a week on refining their talents outside of the classroom. Just a thought for you to ponder ...

You can play sports, and participate in the arts and still hold a summer job. I never said they had to work FT during school.

And frankly, I wouldn't hire someone whose parents prohibited them from getting a summer job. I really don't want to deal with an employee's mommy whenever things don't go junior's way.

But look, if you think your child is above menial work in the summer, by all means, get him an internship at your college roommate's firm. I'm sure he will go on to a great career, just not at my organization.

I think you make some large and illogical jumps in 'logic' in your rebuttal.

First, there is no way to equate a parent not wanting to drive a 14 year-old to a job and back as being similar to you being an 'employee's mommy whenever things don't go junior's way'. Second, I in no way connoted or said that 'my' child is 'above menial work in the summer'. Where did you get that from?

You're an embarrassment to the profession of association management and I really hope that you are not a CAE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's sort of low status to assume a brainless part-time job gives your kid grit, maturity, time management, whatever. Many of the biggest screw-ups I knew in high school always had jobs. Potheads had jobs ... perfect puritans had jobs. Jobs can be great but stop pretending scooping ice cream or washing lettuce or wiping a table guarantees is going to transform your immature prick.

+1 The potheads had jobs because they needed the cash to buy more weed. Hard to see how that is very admirable.

[Anonymous]

I think teens should work at least in the summer but during the school year it depends on balance with studies and 14 seems too young for anything beyond babysitting or if some local small retailer would hire her for a regular weekend shift. Personally, I started working the summer I was 15 as a mother's helper, babysat regularly until I turned 16, worked that summer in fast food, and then started an office helper job but found it was too much with a heavy junior year AP load so I had to quit. Senior year schedule was lighter so I took a different office job that year, 2-3 hrs a day after school.

My DS had his first "job" last summer when he was 13 -- it was a volunteer staff role at a summer camp and he was there all day for 6 weeks. He'll do the same thing this summer at 14 and he's looking forward to being paid staff when he is 16. While the camp doesn't pay for these volunteer roles, DH and I do pay DS for the job as encouragement to continue and because his desire to do this means we aren't paying for some other activity to occupy his summer.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure who would hire a 14-year-old to work 20 hours per week, but good luck to her.

My DS will be a rising junior this summer, but won't be 16 until late September, so I'm a little concerned about his job prospects for the summer (and no, not every kid is suited to lawn mowing and babysitting). No one can drive him to a camp to be a volunteer (and the only camp he has connections with wouldn't allow him to be a counselor in training until next year). I'm hoping a grocery store within walking or biking distance will take him for bagging and re-shelving. My older DC had trouble getting a retail job before age 17. If he doesn't find anything this summer, he as an online FCPS course to take and can study for his SATs and get that out of the way.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe how negative these posts are. I would love if my 14 year old wanted to work - it's a life requirement, basically, so start now and see what she likes. I agree it will be hard to find a job. My 14 year old babysits and I'm so proud he wants to earn money and get out in the world. I also know a 14 year old that tutors but no idea if other jobs are available. Let her find out! You could also say she has to wait until first semester freshman year to make sure she can handle high school workload.

[Anonymous]

20 hours seems like way too much and I wouldn't be surprised if your daughter feels that way too once she starts working. It seems like an arbitrary number to go from no job to 20 hours/week and definitely someone a kid would think up. Absolutely nothing wrong with working at that age--I had my first job at 11 and actually got let go when the manager was reminded child labor under 12 is illegal. I kept up odd jobs (mostly babysitting and pet sitting) until I got a "real" job at Panera at 15.5. I think your main job here is to steer her towards smarter hours and help her pick a job that makes sense for her skills and interests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's sort of low status to assume a brainless part-time job gives your kid grit, maturity, time management, whatever. Many of the biggest screw-ups I knew in high school always had jobs. Potheads had jobs ... perfect puritans had jobs. Jobs can be great but stop pretending scooping ice cream or washing lettuce or wiping a table guarantees is going to transform your immature prick.

+1 The potheads had jobs because they needed the cash to buy more weed. Hard to see how that is very admirable.

Yep. I was so proud of my teen working summers and on weekends in the school year until I found out he was buying tobacco and marijuana with his earnings. My parents made me deposit my job earnings into a savings account I couldn't withdraw from. Seemed too controlling, but now I know why.

[Anonymous]

My kids aren't old enough to work yet but I imagine I'll follow the same rules my parents had when I was a teenager. I was only allowed to work in the summer when I was in school because they felt my #1 job was to be a student. I only worked between 20 and 30hrs a week when I was 15 and 16 lifeguarding at pools. When I was 17 I started guarding at the beach and only had one day off each week in the summer which was just shy of 50hrs/week. That was a lot but the money and scenery were great and when you're watching hundreds of people the days tended to fly by. In college I was a competitive swimmer so with practices twice a day it wasn't really feasible to do anything but occasionally sub at our campus pool.

[Anonymous]

My kids play travel sports that take up a ton of time so started working only during the summers when they were 14 at our local pool. Now one works 2 or 3 shits during the school year and also babysits occasionally. She earned $3500 last year! My DS works as a sub so picks up occasional shifts but volunteers 3 hours each weekend. He earned $2000 last year. They are both so proud of having their own hard earned money.

[Anonymous]

Ps All funds are auto deposited into the kids savings account (except babysitting money) and the kids talk about what they want to buy but have yet to ever dip into the savings because it was hard earned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What HS kid in the DMV with decent grades in honors and aP has 20 hours a week. If it wasn't an economic necessity, I would let a 14 year old babysit, pet sit, or do something like PP's son who runs a scoreboard. Summers, fine. Junior year, I would allow up to 10 hours a week, depending on schoolwork and extracurriculars. But a HS kid's job is, first and foremost, schoolwork. Then, spending some time with the family and some amount of social time and extracurriculars. If all this happens and there is extra time, sure. Paid work is good. But in this area, it is hard to find that extra time.

OP here, and this was one of my concerns. My daughter seems pretty serious about wanting a job, though, because she's done quite a lot of research to show me her suggested schedule, which looks like she could make this work. She's only in 8th grade now, so she has no real idea about the difficulty of HS classes, but she's never earned less than an A minus in her current classes (taking honors in all cases where it's an option) and is therefore taking almost all honors next year in 9th grade as well. She says she's spoken to friends' older siblings who have taken those classes, and claims that based on what they reported she most likely will have 2-3 hours per night of homework next year. Given that, and the fact that she is interested in two extracurriculars offered at the high school, both of which seem to meet one afternoon per week plus occasional Saturdays, she suggested a schedule that would allow her to do 4-hour shifts three weekday afternoons and one 8-hour shift on a weekend day, per week, leaving 2 weekday evenings for ECs and extra homework, plus one or both weekend days for extra socializing. She also offered, entirely unprompted, that if any quarter grade was less than an A minus she knew I would require her to cut back hours or quit entirely because it would show she couldn't handle all the responsibilities she chose to take on (she's definitely right about that, if I even let her work at all).

I think the schedule she intends for herself is too demanding, and honestly I'm not sure if any local shops would hire her for as many hours as she wants, but if she's this passionate about the idea I'm slowly becoming more inclined to at least let her try applying at least. I suppose there's something to be said for encouraging motivation and allowing her to find her limits herself, as long as she's aware that it's a trial basis contingent on the fact that the job is not overwhelming her ability to meet other commitments.

OP, why does she want to work (since your family doesn't need the $)? I think this matters a lot - if it is just for $$ to buy or do "stuff" I am not sure I would encourage it beyond a few hours per week, and might actually suggest she find a place to volunteer instead, either follow a passion she has, or giving her exposure to something she has no experience with at all. If she has the time, volunteering can be a way for her to expand/deepen her experiences and build more community.

If she has a set goal - like college savings, or buying a expensive item to further an existing hobby (musical instrument, etc), or something that is useful beyond just the object itself, I think that is a god reason to get an job early - it teaches broader lessons like settling goals, impulse control, and money management.