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How old is too old to never have a job? I started working at 17, my brother 16, and my mom was 13/14 when she started working on a tobacco farm. I'm just so shocked and disgusted at the number of twenty and thirty somethings out there that have never worked. I think it is a fundamental part of growing up and learning how to stand on your own two feet.
That being said, when will you MAKE your child get a job? At what age do you expect your kid to start working a paid job?
Last edited by JustJulia; 01-09-2012 at 09:30 AM..
Reason: snipped: no need to make it personal
My daughter has been working since she's about 5 or 6. She's done a lot of acting and modeling work. However, when do I expect her to get regular job? Probably around 14 when she can get working papers. Even if she's only working 10 hours a week, it will still teach her something. By the time she's 16, I expect her to be working 25 hours per week. By 18? 35-40 hours per week. I don't think I'll ever have to "make" her work since she knows if she wants certain things, she has to earn her own money to get them (currently, through her allowance or extra household chores).
There's no way --- barring disability or chronic illness --- that I would have a 25 year old loafing around my home, never having worked.
Some children from wealthy families don't work until they have finished college.
My parents never dictated that we worked. My oldest sister started working at 16. My next oldest sister started working at 20. I started at 14. My little sister didn't work except one job for a couple of months, but she went into the military at 18.
I didn't even talk about it with my parents. I just came home one day and announced I got a job. Then if I quit, I'd sometimes get another one right away or I'd get around to it. Once we started working, our parents stopped paying for things, like our clothes, and that pretty much motivated us to keep working. We never had to pay for gas or a car or anything like that.
My children worked when they wanted. My daughter started at 16 and has always worked since. My son worked at 15, not 16, worked again at 17, not 18, and is working now at 19 again. I have expectations but not set rules because it all depends on each child. I don't expect them to support themselves when they are college aged but he understands that he will need to cover his own entertainment expenses going forward.
My daughter has been working since she's about 5 or 6. She's done a lot of acting and modeling work. However, when do I expect her to get regular job? Probably around 14 when she can get working papers. Even if she's only working 10 hours a week, it will still teach her something. By the time she's 16, I expect her to be working 25 hours per week. By 18? 35-40 hours per week. I don't think I'll ever have to "make" her work since she knows if she wants certain things, she has to earn her own money to get them (currently, through her allowance or extra household chores).
There's no way --- barring disability or chronic illness --- that I would have a 25 year old loafing around my home, never having worked.
That is very....extreme. What if she is in high school at 16? Would you rather have her school work suffer just she can work for pennies and nickels? And at 18, don't you want your child to go to college? That will be incredibly hard to do at 40 hours a week.
I had my first job when I was 14. Worked at an ice cream parlor some days after school then on weekends. I loved him. Then when I turned 16, I worked there during school months then at Cedar Point during the summer for my last two years of high school.
I would hope my son gets a job when he turns 16 or when he gets his drivers license as he will be responsible for earning money for a car of his own and to put gas into it. If he is working and paying for gas and has paid for car, we will pay the insurance. He definitely better have a job by the age of 18 when he graduates because he will have a hard time paying expenses without cash flow
That is very....extreme. What if she is in high school at 16? Would you rather have her school work suffer just she can work for pennies and nickels? And at 18, don't you want your child to go to college? That will be incredibly hard to do at 40 hours a week.
Her school work won't suffer because she's working 20 or 25 hours per week. Most kids spend a lot more time than that goofing off or watching television. And, yes, at 18 she'll be in college. It won't be all that hard to work 40 hours a week and go to school. I did it and there are plenty of young adults at my company who do it.
Her school work won't suffer because she's working 20 or 25 hours per week. Most kids spend a lot more time than that goofing off or watching television. And, yes, at 18 she'll be in college. It won't be all that hard to work 40 hours a week and go to school. I did it and there are plenty of young adults at my company who do it.
It depends on what she majors in college and what classes she takes in high school. I couldn't work forty hours a week while going to nursing school. Very few people in my class do. I think 10 hours in high school is more than reasonable. Studies have shown anything more than 15 hours is usually detrimental to one's school work.
How old is too old to never have a job? I started working at 17, my brother 16, and my mom was 13/14 when she started working on a tobacco farm. I'm just so shocked and disgusted at the number of twenty and thirty somethings out there that have never worked. I think it is a fundamental part of growing up and learning how to stand on your own two feet.
That being said, when will you MAKE your child get a job? At what age do you expect your kid to start working a paid job?
It really depends on what else the child is doing, what their long term goals are, and how much the family can support the young person.
My kids are very busy in school. My oldest son (18 next month and still in HS) has played 4 sports per year in high school (football, wrestling, lacrosse and weightlifting). He is also an excellent student taking the most challenging courses offered at his school and earning mostly As with a handful of Bs. As long as he has something productive to do with his life we give him money for gas and entertainment during the school year. He worked during the summers.
He has built a solid college resume with his academic and athletic accomplishments. He will be entering college in the fall. He will be at US Naval Academy so he will have a job. Midshipmen are considered active duty Navy and earn a small paycheck.
My middle son (15 and a sophomore) is not as good a student as his brother. He is a good student while his brother is an excellent student. He does take the most challenging classes in his school but he is more of a B student. He is a member of marching band in the fall, jazz band in the winter/spring. He plays in the school musical, as well as the orchestra. He was also asked to accompany the chorus in the last concert. He is very busy with productive things during the school year so we give him money for entertainment. He worked last summer for the first time. He will work this summer. My husband is an attorney so he has a place to work in the summer.
My youngest is 12. He doesn't work. However, as long as he does well in school and has productive activities we will give him money for reasonable entertainment as he gets older.
I think that if kids have ambitions to do things past high school besides work they may build a stronger resume for themselves with school activities than folding jeans. However, if my kids did not have interesting things to do after school I would absolutely insist that they worked at around age 15 or 16.
Last edited by JustJulia; 01-09-2012 at 09:31 AM..
Reason: removed reference to deleted comment
My daughter has been working since she's about 5 or 6. She's done a lot of acting and modeling work. However, when do I expect her to get regular job? Probably around 14 when she can get working papers. Even if she's only working 10 hours a week, it will still teach her something. By the time she's 16, I expect her to be working 25 hours per week. By 18? 35-40 hours per week. I don't think I'll ever have to "make" her work since she knows if she wants certain things, she has to earn her own money to get them (currently, through her allowance or extra household chores).
There's no way --- barring disability or chronic illness --- that I would have a 25 year old loafing around my home, never having worked.
Actually, I don't know where you live, but many states have labor laws that will restrict the # of hours a child in school can work....
I use to work in Hotel mgmt. and I know as the Director of Ops, we had to be very careful about the # of hours most of our employees worked ( bell staff, lifeguards,etc...). They also were not permitted by law to work past 9pm at certain ages. This was in NYS.... And I know the laws were fairly similar in PA too.
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