what is wrong with modern kids and no motivation to shovel?

[Anonymous]

I detest people like you. YOU were the bad lot, OP, to your elder's generation. Every civilization since the birth of sedentary agriculture has stupidly whined about their teens.

And FYI, I had bands of roving teens in my neighborhood looking to earn cash for shoveling. I have one teen who also did this, before going to college, and now one teen who doesn't. I am certainly not forcing my non-shoveling teen to shovel. She is a great kid who helps out in other way, and she earns money teaching beginner violin year-round.

So go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ngl, you need a jackhammer or tamping rammer to break up the ice. And even then it’s back breaking work that will take you 2x longer than usual to clear.

My 25 walkway usually takes me about 10 minutes to properly clear when it’s just normal snow. It took me over 60 minutes to clear it yesterday - using a heavy steel garden shovel to break through the ice and then shovel the ice chunks. And yes, I shoveled my walkway and sidewalks 3 times on Sunday.

I have two young kids and now my back and arms/hands are really sore.

This must vary based on where you're located. We had a crust on top of our snow but certainly no jackhammers were needed.

We have 3 inches at least of ice on our snow.

[Anonymous]

Their lazy everything is handed to them especially in this area. Why work for anything when it's given to you?

[Anonymous]

I'm in Spotsylvania Va and my neighborhood listserve has been bombarded with teens and parents of teens aggressively trying to book snow shoveling work. Maybe you're in the wrong neighborhood 🤔

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't need money. Their parents fund their lives and expect them to get 4.5 GPA, do a travel sport, play an instrument and start a foundation.

Pathetic

Yeah, 4.5 GPA is sooooo pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Tons and tons of teenagers posted all over my MD neighborhood asking for shoveling jobs. Seems to me that there is indeed nothing wrong with the kids today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My twelve year old and his best friend have made $500 over the last two days. But, they haven’t been going door to door. They have been using the neighborhood list serv. There are lots of kids posting on there. Maybe you just aren’t seeing them because they are using new technology.

Nope, our listserv is desperate for people to shovel. Literally zero kids offering to shovel in our area.

Why do you want children to work for you? Hire adult workers like a normal person. Plenty of landscape companies make their winter money in snow removal.

[Anonymous]

Kids going door to door could get shot in the face in this society.

In our neighborhood, several teens (or their parents) have gotten on the neighborhood WhatsApp to say if you’re interested, Ted from Drury Lane is willing to shovel, let me know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't need money. Their parents fund their lives and expect them to get 4.5 GPA, do a travel sport, play an instrument and start a foundation.

It’s this, plus the fact that this was not a normal snowstorm. The sleet made it more like trying to shovel a layer of concrete. Just getting the sidewalk shoveled is a tough physical job.

Not if you were out on Sunday...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My twelve year old and his best friend have made $500 over the last two days. But, they haven’t been going door to door. They have been using the neighborhood list serv. There are lots of kids posting on there. Maybe you just aren’t seeing them because they are using new technology.

Nope, our listserv is desperate for people to shovel. Literally zero kids offering to shovel in our area.

Why do you want children to work for you? Hire adult workers like a normal person. Plenty of landscape companies make their winter money in snow removal.

Because they want to pay half of what an adult would charge and then ironically complain about how lazy the kids are these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember as a kid loving snow because it meant we could go door to door and earn cold hard cash shoveling. It was great earning $200 bucks for a few hours of work.

Now I'm reading in DC that it is a sidewalk apocalypse because no one shoveled their walkways. It is too late now because it is packed down into ice, but where are the kids going door to door to make loot? It was a goldmine opportunity if they went out and made some effort. They even had multiple rounds of opportunity for shoveling due to the hours of snowfall and days off from school. I bet they could have easily made $2000 going door to door all day.

What happened to modern kids? Parent too scared? Or are they completely demotivated because they're stuck on their screens the whole time scrolling TikTok? It is great exercise too.

We have them in our Virginia suburb. Lots of them.

Perhaps your issue is living in DC?

Also, in spite of everyon calling themselves "just middle class" most people in this area are quite wealthy. Rich kids are lazy and don't know how to hustle. If you ars in a "just middle class" (ie rich) area of DC, your and your neighbors' wealth creates lazy kids.

[Anonymous]

My teen spent 6 hours clearing our own driveway with my husband. Our neighbor had three teens on hers and it took them longer than 6 hours. This is really hard to remove.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids were busy helping us chip through the ice dam at the foot of our driveway. They then went and helped a couple of our neighbors for a bit. But then they were exhausted as were all the adults out chipping away at the ice.

This. It's a lot.

Also some teens have probably dealt with the cranky entitled boomers who live around them who think that paying them $20 for multiple hours of back breaking work is great "pocket money". Hell no. Raise your price and you'll find someone willing.

The boomers in my TH neighborhood were the most generous to my 12-yr-old kid, especially when they saw him showing up multiple times on Sunday, rotating between houses, clearing and salting, and making his last runs as the sun was setting. What were initially supposed to be $20-40 jobs, I sent him out on his own on Saturday to discuss terms and process with the "clients" who'd emailed me to see if he was available during the week. He let them all know that he would work throughout the day on Sunday to stay on top of it. They offered $20-40 for just clearing steps and sidewalks, as well as clearing snow off cars. At the end of the day, when he went to collect just before sunset, no one paid him less than $75. He spent no more than an hour or so on each house. The snow and sleet were easy to move on Sunday, because both were so dry, the sleet, like nothing I've ever seen, was like little dry ice pellets, they could have been blown away with a leaf blower, hardly back-breaking at that point. But they saw him showing up throughout the day, and when he was there, he hustled. I got several emails that evening praising his commitment and diligence.

So much is about perception and relationships: showing up early (he started at 8 am), showing initiative, and working hard even when you don't think anyone is watching. My DC doesn't have a cell phone, so no one saw him standing around scrolling when he was supposed to be working. He was polite, reliable, and worked independently and steadfastly just as he said he would, which means a lot to Boomers and GenXrs.

I checked with him when he came in, made him a sandwich and some hot cocoa, and when he headed out the door, I reminded him to apply snow melt before he finished a pass, but I otherwise left him to it.

He followed up with the same customers on Monday, shovel in hand, to dig out cars that had a layer of plowed snow behind them, nothing major, and not expecting additional pay. Because he'd thrown down snow melt the evening before, he was pushing slush, not ice, from their stairs and walkways. It wasn't back-breaking.

For this, he received extra payments of $50-$100. Boomers and GenEx'rs have the money and often the actual cash around the house. And they know, appreciate, and reward hard work and initiative when they see them.

[Anonymous]

My two sons (high school and college) took hours to do our shoveling. They did it twice on Sunday and all day on Monday due to the ice layer.

They shoveled the next door neighbor (for free).

Then my high schooler and 2 friends went over and took care of the single lady across the street. Again, for free.

Perhaps get out and get to know your neighbors? Everyone was working together on our street.

I helped both days in our yard. It was backbreaking work and took 4 hours for 1 adult female and 2 young adult/teen men to clear everything. Any kids who were shoveling were not likely able to work as quickly as they do for normal snowfall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don't need money. Their parents fund their lives and expect them to get 4.5 GPA, do a travel sport, play an instrument and start a foundation.

It’s this, plus the fact that this was not a normal snowstorm. The sleet made it more like trying to shovel a layer of concrete. Just getting the sidewalk shoveled is a tough physical job.

Not if you were out on Sunday...

We shoveled twice on Sunday. Once before lunch, and a second time around dinner.

It took the 3 of us, including 2 healthy fit young adult men, over 4 hours to break through the ice and remi e the sleet that hit in the evening and overnight.