Job for 11 yr old? Help

If he can sing, he could join the local church choir - they often get paid for singing at weddings

There's a local lad with a car wash business who managed to get a great client base by posting on the town FB page. He cycles to each job with a trailer full of car wash stuff. Even brings his own water! Charges £20 for inside and out.

He's had such great reviews and people appreciate his entrepreneurship. He's making a killing!

We had a kiddy car wash down our road but never used then as I watched then dropping their sponge and then continuing and rubbing grit all over the paintwork.

I don’t think dog walking is a good idea at that age.
A dog walker really needs insurance amongst other things. DD runs a small business doing animal care but although she started it when she was 14 I always vetoed dog walking. Even if the dog you walk is brilliantly well behaved a lot of other dogs aren’t and some owners are irresponsible.
I have been in situations with my dog that I don’t think any 11 year old is equipped to deal with

Local riding school will take volunteers his age for sure!

Dog walking, gardening, lawn mowing car washing.
he could set himself up to wash the outside of cars on Sat mornings, £5 a pop.
Let neighbours know, leaflet them. Once’s he’s ‘established’ he’ll have people asking.

my kids were out washing our car ( 10 and 12) and several neighbours came out and asked if they’d do theirs for ££

My DS earned a very good amount while at college by buying clothes and selling them on. Easily as much as his friends in minimum wage jobs. It's a proper side industry for him.

It’s great he wants to work but I find it a bit concerning too. I’d really want to get to the bottom of why he’s so insistent to get a job, earn money and where he’s getting that language from. That sounds like adult influence and either from someone in real life, or he’s been watching / reading things on the internet. To be obsessed with earning consistent money to this level at such a young age is concerning.

You do need to be firm or what other age limits is he going to ignore, thinking they don’t apply to him as he thinks he’s far more mature.

My DS’s have always liked to try and make some money, but it’s been for specific things, this sounds different.

I'd have happily paid someone a generous percentage to put stuff online and sell it for me. I'm sure I'm not alone. Don't know how you'd go about it as a business exactly but do you parents, neighbors, family have things they want to sell?

If he is being intolerable about this, he needs to grow up and understand why the law states he can’t work. There are rules like this for a reason.

By the way I would also pay for car washing (and inside hoovering 😣) any day of the week

Huh?!? Why would you want to discourage a child who WANTS to work?!? 🤨

The exact words he's using worry me a little bit - there's a lot of that sort of thing, often with a side order of Andrew Tate lite, on YouTube and TikTok that he might have somehow seen?

Maybe “the majority” statistically, not sure, but my sister is works for a company that has a research team that does a hell of a lot of research with children and young people and also parents (if anyone is looking to make some money themselves…) and definitely does plenty of fieldwork with primary age children, recruited through specialist recruiters. Both child and parent/chaperone get a cash “incentive” (often £50+ for a video interview or focus group from the comfort of your sofa!)

My 12 yo is just like this too! Also wants to join cadets etc. He sells secondhand books outside our house and at nearby shopping parades and has earned quite a lot! (and has experimented with selling lollies in a cool box on an hot day, and nice used toys).

He’s like a budding Alan Sugar or something - he has his own sales strategies and loves pricing things and selling to passers by.

None of this came from us as parents, btw! And has nothing to do with our jobs - he didn’t learn sales / business from us. It’s entirely his own interest and he does it all himself. I think it’s brilliant when young people have such drive. Good luck to your son.

We have an egg round in our area which was set up originally for much the same reason and over the years has been passed on through several teenagers and is now onto the third family. Basically parents place a weekly order to bulk buy organic free range eggs. Child boxes eggs and goes round households that have registered to see how many boxes they want that week. We've watched the current incumbent grow up from a shy eleven year old whose father used to walk round with him to a cheerful fourteen year old who is now training his younger sister so that she can take over when he's old enough for something different. It's great for us too - good quality eggs at a good price delivered to the doorstep.

If he was to set up a little “business” cleaning cars for example , do leaflets for neighbours, post in local shops/fb pages etc he could find that it could be a consistent wage.. if 5 people each had a car washed every week. He’s also learning about gaining new customers and repeat business by doing a good job/good customer service skills. It’s lovely he wants to work.

Taking out and returning wheelie and food waste bins every week in local area?

I was going to suggest car boots/eBay too. He could research what kind of things/brands sell well and look out for them

Car washing? If he's near me I'd have him around any pm this week, seagulls and cars don't mix!