How to get teens to work?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll who just wants lower paid wage slaves to exploit. Teens should work to learn, not to drive down wages.

Wow. This is so incredibly dumb. I’m sure you think you’re like really empathetic or something. And yet, you have no awareness that many teens work because THEIR FAMILY NEEDS THE MONEY.

What is the point of this? OP was talking about teens who choose not to work and insinuating there’s some nationwide moral failure occurring. Obviously the teens who have to work to feed their families aren’t included because they’re already working.

Moreover, I hope we can all agree that it’s better if teens don’t have to work to avoid starving. Yes, some do, but that’s not a good thing. In a better world, their families would be able to earn enough to feed everyone without the kids having to work.

The children yearn for the mines.

[Anonymous]

It’s fine if teenagers want to work and there are plenty of good reasons to do so, but there are plenty of other productive ways for teens to spend their summers.

The notion that the US economy relies on child labor is ridiculous. If businesses can’t function without teenage labor then they should not exist. How many fast food joints do we actually need as a society?

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

We live in CCDC, kids with multiple teens and I can't think of a single friend of theirs without a job. None are Ivy bound or attending. Ha! Mine that just graduated is working as a camp counselor with a bunch of friends. Parents educated and with money and still make their kids work. I really don't blame the teens, they are lazy by nature. But it is lazy parenting to not insist your kids know what it is like to have a crap job with a crap boss and crap hours.

[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.

Wow, OP, you are pretty naïve (along with several other posters). Places that say they are hiring are not always (usually) hiring. They love understaffing and making current employees do as much as they can to maximize profits. When customers complain, they cry about labor shortages, and then customers tolerate substandard service. Then their corporate partners on Fox news tell boomers "Oh, teenagers are so lazy and playing vidoegames. That's what's wrong with our economy!"

I have an 18 y/o and every single one of his friends is working this summer. The problem is not teenagers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These jobs are not good for career they should be doing tech or legal work or something related to their future

Making money is directly related to their future. As someone who hires recent college grads a lot. I always look for the ones that haven't done all internships. Have you worked outside all summer? Have you worked in a non office job? Have you had a service job? Worked with the public? Those tell me a lot more about someone's ability to be flexible and communicate then a kid who spent all summer sitting in an office because their parent has a connection for an "internship."

You are using "internship" to mean something specific that isn't what "internship means".
Internship can be paid or unpaid, real work or sitting around, purely educational or purely labor.

Unpaid work can be volunteering or sitting or learning.

[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.

We live in CCDC, kids with multiple teens and I can't think of a single friend of theirs without a job. None are Ivy bound or attending. Ha! Mine that just graduated is working as a camp counselor with a bunch of friends. Parents educated and with money and still make their kids work. I really don't blame the teens, they are lazy by nature. But it is lazy parenting to not insist your kids know what it is like to have a crap job with a crap boss and crap hours.

I think never is enough.

[Anonymous]

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?

If you don't *need* the job, then you can set your own hours and don't care if they fire you for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like my teens want good jobs handed to them, ones where they can basically sit around and get paid, and they don't want to struggle to find or keep the job. But then that's what they see on social media, so I really can't very well tell them how important I believe the struggle is to their long term character building. They'll just say I'm old and out of touch.

It does seem like many kids aspire to grow up and become YouTubers and TikTokers after watching Mr. Beast and other social media stars. What they don't see is often the YEARS of hard work it took to create interesting content, on an almost daily basis, promote the channel, get sponsors, etc...

Not saying ALL kids, or even a majority of kids do this, but I think many here on DCUM would agree that an excessive amount of social media use can contribute to distorted perspectives on what it means to "work".

"Kids should have ambition to do great things and get rich so I can brag to my friends."


"OK we'll try."

"No, not like that. Scrape the grease off my dishes".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll who just wants lower paid wage slaves to exploit. Teens should work to learn, not to drive down wages.

Wow. This is so incredibly dumb. I’m sure you think you’re like really empathetic or something. And yet, you have no awareness that many teens work because THEIR FAMILY NEEDS THE MONEY.

I think PP is referring to the fact that the law allows employers to pay teens less than adults and can be used to dilute the hours of adult employees so they can't work enough hours to get overtime.

Not just that also basic supply and demand. Leas labor supply => higher hourly wage.

[Anonymous]

I have a younger teen and they make bank pet sitting.

[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.

Live footage from OP's ring camera:
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/497289c5-9a7d-4565-950d-01581c92a0b6

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These jobs are not good for career they should be doing tech or legal work or something related to their future

Making money is directly related to their future. As someone who hires recent college grads a lot. I always look for the ones that haven't done all internships. Have you worked outside all summer? Have you worked in a non office job? Have you had a service job? Worked with the public? Those tell me a lot more about someone's ability to be flexible and communicate then a kid who spent all summer sitting in an office because their parent has a connection for an "internship."

+1 I work closely with college interns and entry level employees. And I can always always always tell those who have never worked a service job. (It's not a good thing.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These jobs are not good for career they should be doing tech or legal work or something related to their future

Making money is directly related to their future. As someone who hires recent college grads a lot. I always look for the ones that haven't done all internships. Have you worked outside all summer? Have you worked in a non office job? Have you had a service job? Worked with the public? Those tell me a lot more about someone's ability to be flexible and communicate then a kid who spent all summer sitting in an office because their parent has a connection for an "internship."

+1 I work closely with college interns and entry level employees. And I can always always always tell those who have never worked a service job. (It's not a good thing.)

Confirmation bias is a helluva drug.