At what age would you MAKE your child get a job? (weigh, rates)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My parents made both my brother and I get jobs as soon as we were 15. I worked at a local card store, my brother as a lifeguard. Both of us worked about 10-15 hours a week (generally 2 days after school and one weekend day). It taught me how to manage a work environment/boss and work with others as well as how to be independent. By 18 we were both promoted to management where I was managing the store 2 nights a week and on Sundays (I was a senior in HS) and my brother was managing the pool deck. We both graduated HS with high GPAs and went on to good colleges where we both worked part time and, again, got good grades. That management experience was invaluable. That leadership experience (it continued during college breaks) actually helped me get my first full time position. Obviously, I had other experiences from college that were more important, but my boss actually commented on the fact that from 15 to 21 I had worked at the same store and managed to work my way up to management during my interview. I do believe working consistently through high school/college coupled made me a stronger candidate after college.
Of course, if a students grades are suffering because of work commitments, grades take priority over work. Honestly, most kids are more than capable of doing well in school and working part-time. Many students play sports after school and manage to do well. In my experience, work takes up less time than sports.
Anecdotally, the friends I have who worked part-time jobs through high school and college are now 2-3 years out of undergrad and employed full-time at great jobs whereas the friends of mine who never worked during high school are still struggling to get their footing.
If they were in school & doing well, I wouldn't MAKE them get a job, I'd hope they'd be self motivated to do so. However, if by age 17-18 they didn't at least have a part-time job for spending money we'd be having a Come to Jesus talk.
No job, no school, they'd be OUT by age 18. Period.
Most probably learned some humility. You're young, you'll get there some day. You seem to have done well so far but you may have a hard time in the future if you have an opportunity to work for someone else but don't know how to. By that time your peers may be far ahead.
I'm 32, so trust me, I've learned humility over the years through a lot of hard work and successes and failures both. I wouldn't want to work for someone else and by this point, no, I would not make a good employee. I like to do things my way and am heavily invested in my company. I wouldn't be working for anyone else no matter what in the future. That's not a financial concern of mine, thankfully. I really enjoy running my own business.
I'm 32, so trust me, I've learned humility over the years through a lot of hard work and successes and failures both. I wouldn't want to work for someone else and by this point, no, I would not make a good employee. I like to do things my way and am heavily invested in my company. I wouldn't be working for anyone else no matter what in the future. That's not a financial concern of mine, thankfully. I really enjoy running my own business.
You sound lucky and successful, but so are a lot of people who work regular jobs in HS. Your way is not the only way.
Well, I'd start out by giving them little jobs to do when they were about four. Then keep working up to bigger and less supervised jobs until they were in their early teens. By that age, they should be able to start earning some pocket money doing baby sitting, delivering newspapers, lawn mowing or some such around the neighborhood. Once they get to be a junior and senior in high school they can start summer jobs. After they graduate high school, if they're not continuing school, then they'd better find employment since how else will they afford rent? If they're continuing school, then they'd still probably want at least a part time job to make some money to offset school costs, too.
There is a downside to pushing kids to get a job that I have seen a few times as a teacher now. Most kids work a part time job just fine. But there exists a real, and IME, substantial subset who cannot manage school work and a part time job. Additionally, many of them become so used to having their own money that they will choose the job over their school work. I am always surprised when we have to call in parents of seniors to tell them their child is in danger of not graduating because they aren't completing their work and the parents seem to have no idea how much the job is interfering with school work.
This year one of my seniors is work both weekend days (at least 8 hrs) and 3-4 nights a week. When asked why the assignments aren't coming in or his test scores are dropped he says he doesn't have time to do them. This is an upper middle class family. He doesn't need to work, and he certainly isn't learning much from the restaurant job towards his professed field (engineering) but he has turned down internship opportunities that likely would have gotten him an edge on college apps in order to keep the perceived independence of what is in reality a dead end job.
I think it also undermines the notion of delayed gratification. It is hard to walk away from what seems like a decent amount of money, to study in order to go to a better college to make a more substantial income.
There is a downside to pushing kids to get a job that I have seen a few times as a teacher now. Most kids work a part time job just fine. But there exists a real, and IME, substantial subset who cannot manage school work and a part time job. Additionally, many of them become so used to having their own money that they will choose the job over their school work. I am always surprised when we have to call in parents of seniors to tell them their child is in danger of not graduating because they aren't completing their work and the parents seem to have no idea how much the job is interfering with school work.
This year one of my seniors is work both weekend days (at least 8 hrs) and 3-4 nights a week. When asked why the assignments aren't coming in or his test scores are dropped he says he doesn't have time to do them. This is an upper middle class family. He doesn't need to work, and he certainly isn't learning much from the restaurant job towards his professed field (engineering) but he has turned down internship opportunities that likely would have gotten him an edge on college apps in order to keep the perceived independence of what is in reality a dead end job.
I think it also undermines the notion of delayed gratification. It is hard to walk away from what seems like a decent amount of money, to study in order to go to a better college to make a more substantial income.
Is this a educator judging family financial wellbeing based on appearances, or a teacher who has private information about it? In any case, is the poster sure it is the job that is taking the student away from his studies or is that the easy answer for the common case of senior burnout? Some kids just don't have the motivation for schoolwork after four years of being a drone.
Certainly the poster also realizes that school and work are not the only competitors for a kid's time, why so quick to blame the job?
Is this a educator judging family financial wellbeing based on appearances, or a teacher who has private information about it?
Private information as I am close with his older sister who graduated 10 years ago.
Quote:
In any case, is the poster sure it is the job that is taking the student away from his studies or is that the easy answer for the common case of senior burnout? Some kids just don't have the motivation for schoolwork after four years of being a drone.
Certainly the poster also realizes that school and work are not the only competitors for a kid's time, why so quick to blame the job?
He works for over 30 hours a week, no longer participates in any extra curricular activities, etc. so to be clear, this particular student is spending as much time at work as at school As a teacher for well over 10 years I am familiar with "senioritis" and can differentiate between the two. Nearly all seniors get some version of senioritis, especially as beach weather approaches. This is not the same thing. For one thing, the decline coincides with either the job or an increase in hours spent at the job. Finally, he admits that the job is preventing him from both doing extracurriculars he enjoys and getting his work in.
Private information as I am close with his older sister who graduated 10 years ago.
He works for over 30 hours a week, no longer participates in any extra curricular activities, etc. so to be clear, this particular student is spending as much time at work as at school As a teacher for well over 10 years I am familiar with "senioritis" and can differentiate between the two. Nearly all seniors get some version of senioritis, especially as beach weather approaches. This is not the same thing. For one thing, the decline coincides with either the job or an increase in hours spent at the job. Finally, he admits that the job is preventing him from both doing extracurriculars he enjoys and getting his work in.
He is working way more than most research shows to be beneficial for High Schoolers trying to maintain grades. This is where parental guidance SHOULD step in.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
