Not to throw the topic too far off kilter, but do folks know of summer camps in Maryland (Rockville/Bethesda ish) that will hire 15 year olds? I also have a 14 yo and I don't think it's feasible to get hired as an actual counselor at that age. But I was encouraging her to try to CIT at a place that pays counselors from age 15... if she works hard, she would be in a good place for an application next year...

OP--I'm trying to figure out something similar, not knowing my kids' schedules. I've pretty much decided to schedule family for late August. Most summer camps (counselor or CIT) end after about the first week in August. Most summer 'experiences' are in June/July. I figure that my kid can tell employer they can commit to any schedule through August 15 or 20 (haven't really planned much, yet) so this would mean no actual vacation days, just ending the employment a bit before the end of summer. This also means I can wait a bit before scheduling the actual vacation, to see if things are a bit firmer over the next couple of months and I can plan around that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah no you can’t take a week off every 3-4 weeks from your summer job.

Are you an actual employer? It’s a tight labor market, and anyone willing to employ teens knows their families are going to take summer vacations. You work, you get paid. You don’t, you don’t. My kids haven’t had any issues with getting time off from part time summer employment.

I'm an actual employer, and if a seasonal employee wants to leave in the middle I tell them to make a choice: stay and work the season, or leave for your vacation but don't come back and don't apply again and don't expect to get a good reference from me.

I can find a dozen kids with my eyes closed who will work hard the entire season - no need to hire a rich kid whose family goes on three vacations in one 12 week period.

My lifeguard was required to work specific busy days like July 4th and was older before being hired.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah no you can’t take a week off every 3-4 weeks from your summer job.

Are you an actual employer? It’s a tight labor market, and anyone willing to employ teens knows their families are going to take summer vacations. You work, you get paid. You don’t, you don’t. My kids haven’t had any issues with getting time off from part time summer employment.

He'll probably have a hard time finding work at 14 or even 15. It seems like most employers want them to be 16.

Mine was able to be a Helping Hands person at Wegmans. The person who takes the carts in from the parking lot, sweeps the front of the store, carries groceries, etc. It was good because they had a lot of them to rotate between during the summer when each kid would be gone for a few weeks.

I know Subway and Sweet Frog say you have to be 16 to work there.

My DD was a lifeguard and the rule was that you had to work two of the three major holidays (Memorial, 4th of July, Labor Day), you could only have one weekend off each month, and you could only have a total of 15 days off for the whole summer.

The expectation for seasonal employment is that you are available for the entire season. The employee is filling a necessary role, and no employer has payroll room for redundant employees or the patience to make a series of 2-3 week-long hires throughout the summer. Maybe your kid could work a county camp that only lasts a few weeks, like a soccer clinic for younger children.

Yeah no you can’t take a week off every 3-4 weeks from your summer job.

Anonymous wrote:My 14 yo wants to work for the first time this summer. We have no idea what kind of a job he'll get, we're still researching options. Meanwhile, can we book trips in the middle of summer, or will any job require him to be available for months at a time? The way we usually book trips, we'd only be in town 3-4 weeks at a time. Is that a problem? Zero experience with this.

Have you ever worked?

Summer jobs are just like any other job a commitment. If it's not a camp job then no can not just take off for two weeks or a month at a time. Think of it from an employer point of view..

Camp jobs usually work the best for summer jobs if vacations are more of a priority than the job, because a person can work for sessions, ie 4 weeks only if they want. Or two week sessions. Some camps have mandatory time periods.

Vacation does not trump working hour schedules.

Anonymous wrote:At the county park my kids work at, they have to agree to work 2 of the 3 holiday weekends and can request no more than 16 vacation days off. But they also had a trade board so it was always easy to swap or give shifts to someone who wanted more hours.

+1 My kid works at the same place!

OP, I think you should expect that your kid will need to be in town except for one or two weeks. But, it really depends on the job. If he/she is a CIT at something like RecPac (school based summer activity camp), they only have 6 weeks of sessions, so that means 4 weeks could be free. Having a job means being available to work when they want you to work. If your kid is a volunteer (as some CIT positions are), then you typically have more flexibility -- of course, the trade off is that you don't get paid.

Will your kid be 15 this summer? My 14 yr old couldn’t find any jobs last summer and ended up volunteering at a day camp. Same issue with our 15 yr old neighbor but he did find a few hours a week at a snowball stand halfway through the summer. Just an FYI that many “real” jobs prefer kids 16 and older because they have fewer work restrictions. It’s not really worth it to hire a kid who is only available for a few weeks in the summer.

At the county park my kids work at, they have to agree to work 2 of the 3 holiday weekends and can request no more than 16 vacation days off. But they also had a trade board so it was always easy to swap or give shifts to someone who wanted more hours.

Depends on the job he gets. If he's a camp counselor, they won't be able to let him leave in the middle of camp. If he's working retail, they will want someone reliable. If he's a mother's helper it would only work if the parents are going away at the same time you are. If he's mowing lawns for neighbors he can just tell them he won't be available for the next 3 weeks or whatever and they'll deal.

My 14 yo wants to work for the first time this summer. We have no idea what kind of a job he'll get, we're still researching options. Meanwhile, can we book trips in the middle of summer, or will any job require him to be available for months at a time? The way we usually book trips, we'd only be in town 3-4 weeks at a time. Is that a problem? Zero experience with this.