The best thing you can do for your teen (babysitting, teens, baby)

[bobsmith]

This comes from personal experiance as well as observing dozens of people I've worked with in the past few years.

There is one thing that may just be the crucial deciding factor between your child growing up to being successful, confident, and world-wise; and becoming a confused, underachieving burnout.

I will impart this on your now: Make sure your teenage child gets a JOB!!!

I'm not just talking about babysitting here. I mean an actual job they have to put on a uniform, clock in, etc. Something like working in Retail, waitressing or working in a kitchen, anything that involves good solid hard work. Interacting with customers and other employees, while managing the tasks of their job and following the orders of a boss who does not see your kid as special (as a parent would), but merely one of many employees. (This is important)

The amount of experience, people skills, world-wariness a teenager gets from a real job is invaluable, and will help them immensely after they are done school. This will help them in college immensely, and even more when they go to get a "professional" job because they will understand the working world. If they don't want to go the college route, they can become assistant managers at age 18 if they are good workers, and contrary to popular belief retail managers (expecially GMs) make good money.

I think the earlier the better. There are places that will hire your kid at 14 or 15. I'd say 12 or 13 is best, but that might not be feasible. 16 is okay, but 17 is late and 18 is WAY too late. Anything after 18 and you might as well forget about it.

So do yourselves and your child a favor and push them to get a job before the age of sixteen (or right after their 16th birthday at the very latest). Not only will it help them make a better future, but it will also help you as they will have some money and therefore use less of yours, plus they will be much less likely to be living at home in their 20s because they will much more likely have their life together.

Thank you for reading, I hope you consider what I've had to say.

[drjones96]

Totally agree. Especially if they want to earn the privilage of driving.

[Hopes]

It's important to limit the number of hours the teen works though.

Statistics have proven that teens working too many hours increases the likelihood of dropping out of school and/or hating work as adults.

I forget the cutoff. It's somewhere between 10 to 15 hours per week, but closer to 10.

[maciesmom]

ITA but in all honesty, right now it is just not as easy as it used to be for teens to find jobs....DD worked from about 15 on but still could not find a summer job after returning from college for the summer. DS will be looking for a job this summer too. Many retail stores (which used to be where all the teens worked) won't hire under 18. Unless you have connections, it is a lot harder than it used to be.

[JustJulia]

Getting a job might help some teens, but I don't think it's the "best thing" we can do for them, and it's far from the "crucial deciding factor between your child growing up to being successful, confident, and world-wise; and becoming a confused, underachieving burnout." Case in point: me. I got my first real job after I graduated high school (I was nearly 18), and I turned out fine. If getting a job in my early teens was all that critical, I'd be a mess, wouldn't I? You said 18 is "WAY too late."

Yes, getting a job teaches responsibility, how to be an employee and all that, but it's not as critical as you make it out to be.

My opinion is that the most important things we can do for our children is to be involved in their lives, to give them boundaries and discipline, and to teach them to be thoughtful, responsible people.

[drjones96]

Bagging groceries and stocking shelves at the local grocery store....that's a job I see a lot of kids doing.

[maciesmom]

Well "THE" best thing is a bit of exaggeration I'll agree......but in general, I do think that having job responsibilities is a good thing for most teens. And working for mom and dad isn't really the same thing.

Bagging groceries - sure, if one can get a job doing that - great. I'm not that picky about what they do...until they drive though, it has to be something I can get them to or they can get themselves to. Since his dad and I both work and we don't have a 3rd car - that can be an issue.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by bobsmith

This comes from personal experiance as well as observing dozens of people I've worked with in the past few years.

There is one thing that may just be the crucial deciding factor between your child growing up to being successful, confident, and world-wise; and becoming a confused, underachieving burnout.

I will impart this on your now: Make sure your teenage child gets a JOB!!!

I'm not just talking about babysitting here. I mean an actual job they have to put on a uniform, clock in, etc. Something like working in Retail, waitressing or working in a kitchen, anything that involves good solid hard work. Interacting with customers and other employees, while managing the tasks of their job and following the orders of a boss who does not see your kid as special (as a parent would), but merely one of many employees. (This is important)

The amount of experience, people skills, world-wariness a teenager gets from a real job is invaluable, and will help them immensely after they are done school. This will help them in college immensely, and even more when they go to get a "professional" job because they will understand the working world. If they don't want to go the college route, they can become assistant managers at age 18 if they are good workers, and contrary to popular belief retail managers (expecially GMs) make good money.

I think the earlier the better. There are places that will hire your kid at 14 or 15. I'd say 12 or 13 is best, but that might not be feasible. 16 is okay, but 17 is late and 18 is WAY too late. Anything after 18 and you might as well forget about it.

So do yourselves and your child a favor and push them to get a job before the age of sixteen (or right after their 16th birthday at the very latest). Not only will it help them make a better future, but it will also help you as they will have some money and therefore use less of yours, plus they will be much less likely to be living at home in their 20s because they will much more likely have their life together.

Thank you for reading, I hope you consider what I've had to say.

I think that it is important for teenagers to learn how to be independent and to do things that they may not like to do. A job is one way to do that, but not the only way.

I think that whether a 14-18 year old has a job during the school year really depends on the child's life goals.

For instance, my son is a college bound student. His unweighted GPA is 3.9 and he takes all honors and AP classes. His goal is to attend the Naval Academy. In order to do that he needs to show leadership, community service, and academic achievement. He plays 4 varsity sports, coaches youth football and lacrosse in addition to attending to his schoolwork. He needs to continue with his sports and community service because every kid applying to the Naval Academy has good grades. My son needs to distinguish himself in some way and working at McDonalds does not really distinguish him from other candidates. He has plenty of opportunity to work later in his life.

He did work last summer though. He worked in an office being an "office boy". He did have to dress up every day, interact with customers and other employees and report to work on time. I think it was a valuable experience for him and he has been asked back for next summer.

I think work is valuable for some kids, but parents need to consider their child's life goals before having a child abandon his school sports and activities to make a couple of dollars.

[maciesmom]

I think work is valuable for some kids, but parents need to consider their child's life goals before having a child abandon his school sports and activities to make a couple of dollars.

Where did the OP say kids had to abandon sports or activities? Or that it was to make a "couple of dollars"? Or that it couldn't be a summer job?....The point he was making was that working builds character - being an employee with firm responsibilities and expectations is valuable experience....no matter what your child's career path is.

ETA - Having had several friends attend the Naval Academy - they all worked at some point and they now expect their kids to work too.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by maciesmom

Where did the OP say kids had to abandon sports or activities? Or that it was to make a "couple of dollars"? Or that it couldn't be a summer job?....

Certain sports make it almost impossible to have a job. My son's practices were 4 hours a day, year round. Summer jobs are the hardest to obtain because employers want someone who will stick around during the school year. My son quit sports to work. I think it was a mistake. Work isolates children from their peers and force them into working with some rather low life adults who do drugs. The ideal situation is a job where a teen can still maintain a social life with people the same age.