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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]What HS kid in the DMV with decent grades in honors and aP has 20 hours a week.[/b]  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. [/quote]

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. [/quote]

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