AIBU to think our 18 year olds should work instead of wasting away weekends?

They have the rest of their lives to have to clean, do admin, build furniture at weekends. As long as they are grateful and pick up around the the house I would let them. They will never have this time ever again, let them look back fondly if it’s financially ok.

@reluctantbrit looks like they have to do some volunteering as part of the course

Why does it have to be a paid job? DD volunteered with the Scouts since she was 14. She was a young leader and is now a proper leader for a Beaver group.

I am sure that she gained plenty of experience dealing with a variety of issues, meeting preparations, meeting planning, she spent weekends on camp with them.

I preferred she was doing something which gave her a variety of skills but kept it flexible during exam and mock periods instead of working for money and neglecting her studies.

My Dd has had a pub job from year 10 and will carry on till end year 12. She’s going to stop when she starts y13 as she will have lots of ucas prep to do and we are going to start paying her an allowance then to help her. I’m happy to do that as she’s been earning her own money for three years.

if your twins have never had a job then I think it would be great for their development, if it still leaves time for their academic work.

How did you fund your social life?

Mumsnet really tends to begrudge young people having even a day off a week and not working. If I had parents like that I'd have jacked in A-levels or uni and just got a full-time job instead. At least if I was working 40 hours a week I might get left the fuck alone on the weekends.

Competition for jobs is crazy, I wouldn’t say not hang a PT job at 20 as a FT student is lacking work ethic, truly.

Have they ever had jobs?

It sounds wonderful OP, it’s great that they’re enjoying being 18!

Op you sound miserable. They’re only 18. What job do you expect them to have.

I did the IB all be it a fair few years ago and I had a part time job. I think I worked on Wednesdays and Saturday evenings and maybe some Sundays in Sainsbury’s

im so surprised how many say YABU. I worked since I was 14, and I did IB, and loads of hobbies. I would stop giving them any money, they need to work. They’ll be so spoilt otherwise and no work ethic, although seeing these responses Im not surprised current young adults are like this.

You agreed that they shouldn’t have jobs. So why are you complaining that they don’t have jobs!

This. They’re hardly slacking off the rest of the time, just let them enjoy their lives!

And how old are they? Things have changed a lot in the last year or two. What was true just a few years ago, is not the case now.

This thread is full of people saying how hard it is for sixth form students to get jobs. When my DD started sixth form 3.5 years ago, people in her year who wanted a job all had one, and were chopping and changing between jobs at will because there was so little issue in getting one. Not the case now.

I'm curious to hear what you've done this weekend... I hope you worked, studied or otherwise spent your entire weekend doing productive things, instead of wasting it away.

Why would you ever need to relax, have fun or socialise!

I am surprised how anti-18 year olds working everyone is on this thread.

My DC are 18 and 16 and they and a large number of their friends have part time jobs. They are doing A Levels, not IB, I admit, but I think it's important for young people to learn the value of saving up for things, earning their own money to spend how they like, and not indefinitely expecting their parents to pay for their social lives.

That said, I wouldn't be suggesting students about to start a big exam season should now be looking for a job.

You don't know how fortunate you are to have raised such happy, popular young people with interests they can share with friends and confidence that must support their enjoyment of life so effectively. My DCs would have loved to have been like yours at 18, but were all at the shy end of the scale and struggled to trust others or themselves in friendships. You are very lucky. Enjoy their happiness. x

Clever children often spend too much time studying to get uber uber top grades. It does them a disservice imo as later on they have more trouble forming and maintaining friends and partner relationships. I’ve seen it playing out many times.

The brain apparently can’t manage to develop across the board at once, and being able to deal well with people is, after a certain level of intelligence is reached, the main skill that determines success imo.

So in this case, I’d encourage socialising.

So they are already at school/college 30+ hours a week, presumably having to study some evenings and weekends, but you want them working too? Are you a Victorian Mill Owner? Teenagers are allowed to have fun sometimes.

Thats not been the experience of my 3 dds.

Every year I have some Y13s who are going to work full-time over Easter. Drives me nuts.

The trouble is that, things are so hard now, you can't get a uni job unless you have had a sixth form job, and you can't get a summer placement without work experience, and you can't get a "proper" job without having placement experience.

Plenty of time for that.
Doesnt have to be at 16 in a pt job.

Yeah my dd has a PT job since she was 16yo, she worked alongside her college studies.

I think it’s important for them to earn their own money and it teaches them really important skills about the world of work.