Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:30     Subject: Re:s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I started working in restaurants at 16. Nothing wrong with a high school job as a server.


+1 I have a 17 year old daughter and wouldn’t think twice about her working as a server. Don’t you have to be 18 to serve alcohol though?


Yes
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:30     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:Lots of child trafficking happens in restaurants.


Better keep your kids at home within your sight forever.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:29     Subject: Re:s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:I started working in restaurants at 16. Nothing wrong with a high school job as a server.


+1 I have a 17 year old daughter and wouldn’t think twice about her working as a server. Don’t you have to be 18 to serve alcohol though?
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:29     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Lots of child trafficking happens in restaurants.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:27     Subject: Re:s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Nobody should work in a restaurant if you don't want them doing drugs and drinking after close.

Jobs that are appropriate

lifeguard
golf course
summer camp
yard work
grocery store check out




That’s ridiculous. My teen worked at Outback and was fine. He knew some of the kitchen staff had ankle bracelets because he told me. He’s close most nights he worked (I sat in the parking lot waiting to pick him up). All of the closers walked out together and were allowed to leave before the kitchen staff.


Sure, your son never blazed with the kitchen staff during a shift.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:25     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op, what do you think?


I'm the bad mother from the other thread who's letting her college-bound 17 year old wait tables. So clearly I cannot be trusted to have an opinion on this.

I do know that I would be deeply worried if my kid wanted a job working with power tools, or in isolation with unknown adults. I won't say I wouldn't allow it-- she has to grow into her own self somehow-- but I was very careful when she started babysitting. They checked her references, I checked theirs.


You allow her to work in a restaurant but using a drill is where you draw the line?


I don’t consider restaurants that safe. Mine lifeguard. All the staff have background checks.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:25     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
You don’t know what safe and what’s not. We found out later that my brother’s innocent job at the little neighborhood store was where he got into drugs in HS. Think along the lines of a mom and pop miniature golf place with teens. He didn’t tell my parents until he was an adult that people would come to buy drugs there too and it’s where he first tried them. None of us had any idea. It seemed like the most innocent and best job a kid could have.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:25     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
My DS is a cashier at a grocery store. He’s 16.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:23     Subject: Re:s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
I started working in restaurants at 16. Nothing wrong with a high school job as a server.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:20     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
I worked at TJ Maxx. The maximum for the minimum!
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:20     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op, what do you think?


I'm the bad mother from the other thread who's letting her college-bound 17 year old wait tables. So clearly I cannot be trusted to have an opinion on this.

I do know that I would be deeply worried if my kid wanted a job working with power tools, or in isolation with unknown adults. I won't say I wouldn't allow it-- she has to grow into her own self somehow-- but I was very careful when she started babysitting. They checked her references, I checked theirs.


You allow her to work in a restaurant but using a drill is where you draw the line?


Yes. I worked in restaurants starting the day after I could drive myself there.

Two guys from my HS were killed at summer jobs involving poorly maintained power tools and total lack of training.

I taught her how to use household power tools myself. But (as I'm sure you have no inkling) a professional grade weed whacker is a very different device from the $50 battery powered ones we all use to trim the treebox.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:20     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op, what do you think?


I'm the bad mother from the other thread who's letting her college-bound 17 year old wait tables. So clearly I cannot be trusted to have an opinion on this.

I do know that I would be deeply worried if my kid wanted a job working with power tools, or in isolation with unknown adults. I won't say I wouldn't allow it-- she has to grow into her own self somehow-- but I was very careful when she started babysitting. They checked her references, I checked theirs.


I know you know, but you're not a bad mother and your daughter is not a fragile snowflake. For all workplaces, it can very much be luck of the draw.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:18     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
My now adult son walked our neighbors' dogs and did yardwork when he was a minor. Now he's employed at a STEM camp. My high schooler teaches her instrument to younger beginners, and cat sits.

I wouldn't push for minors to get "real" jobs, unless their families and themselves really need the money.
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:17     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Op, what do you think?


I'm the bad mother from the other thread who's letting her college-bound 17 year old wait tables. So clearly I cannot be trusted to have an opinion on this.

I do know that I would be deeply worried if my kid wanted a job working with power tools, or in isolation with unknown adults. I won't say I wouldn't allow it-- she has to grow into her own self somehow-- but I was very careful when she started babysitting. They checked her references, I checked theirs.


You allow her to work in a restaurant but using a drill is where you draw the line?
Anonymous
Post 07/18/2025 15:14     Subject: s/o What are "appropriate" jobs for older teens
Anonymous wrote:Op, what do you think?


I'm the bad mother from the other thread who's letting her college-bound 17 year old wait tables. So clearly I cannot be trusted to have an opinion on this.

I do know that I would be deeply worried if my kid wanted a job working with power tools, or in isolation with unknown adults. I won't say I wouldn't allow it-- she has to grow into her own self somehow-- but I was very careful when she started babysitting. They checked her references, I checked theirs.