My 16 year old doesn't want to get a summer job - not sure what to do

[tobeforgotten]

my 16 year-old worked for eight hours yesterday as a one-off making £45 and does regular chores in the house for which he gets £5/week.

He has said that he doesn't feel the need to get a summer job. That when he feels productive he would rather study calculus (this is true, at least in the sense that he lies around reading Fermat's last theorem).

I am torn, to be honest. My instinctive reaction is "it was good enough for me and your father, go down to the shops and get a job". But I'm not actually sure why.

He is kind and charming and can make friends and impress teachers very easily.

On a side-note, we are also slightly unsure how you go about getting a summer job in 2016- as I say we used to pace the high street.....

Does he need to work to earn money or can you afford to help him out?
He has plenty of years ahead of him to work. Mundane pointless cheap labour jobs are t going to give him much of headway in life.
Good experiences with family and a great education will.

I guess these young people who shouldn't consider a part time job are just too good for 'mundane pointless cheap labour jobs' Good experiences with the family and a great education then straight into a fabulous well paid job. This really is MN at it's best

@bobbiebrewster

Exactly what I was thinking 🤣

bobbie well that's the view of someone who doesn't like teenagers much, or doesn't happen to know very many really nice, hard working ones...

It isn't entitled to not work when you don't need to. Speaking as a parent who is fortunate enough to be able to fund my DDs not working in their holidays, I'd much rather those precious and hard to find summer jobs went to young people who needed them.

And it's a bit much to assume that teenagers who don't work summer jobs for NMW 'expect' to walk into a fabulously paid job as an adult. That sounds like projecting to me. Most of the teenagers I know expect to have to work bloody hard at school and then at whatever further education they do, and then start at the bottom and work their way up.

The problem is it’s harder to get a summer job now than it was for you. I lived in North London 9 years ago when I finished my GCSE’s. I went round the local high streets with my CV to be told by near enough every shop to apply online! It may be different in smaller areas with more local shops.
As an aside if he already isn’t a saver I wouldn’t give him free access to thousands! Keep it for driving lessons and a car/insurance.

Also if someone is in school 8am until 3pm and then work 5pm until 10pm 4 nights a week for example, that leaves very little time to actually do coursework let alone downtime.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that though.
My dd (who is at the end of Yr12) works as a lifeguard. About once a fortnight she does a shift from 6 - 10. About once every 3 weeks she does an 8 hour shift at the weekend. It is money that pays for her driving lessons and her 'spending money' without exhausting her or taking time away from studies. Indeed, I think it helps with time management - balancing when you can and can't work, around your studies. In the holidays she works more shifts. I don't mae her - she wants to save up - she doesn't know what for in particular, but likes the idea of having money in the bank.

I wasn't allowed to work and I had a fantastic summer after GCSE's and A levels, A levels in particular. I was literally never bored. I'm still not now other than at work! 16 seems very young to be working to me, they are still at school or just left not adults.

I let my dd have the summer off after GCSE's. She spent the whole summer with friends and had a lovely time. She said it was the best summer. The one friend that was made to work is often bitter and resentful and no longer her friend. Most of them have only just got jobs recently.

She got a retail job at the start of this year, she is 18 in December. She finds it hard juggling her hours whilst doing her A-levels.

Her tutor has said no more that 12 hours from September, and if her work can't stick to that I'm happy to support her until she has finished her A-levels next summer.

Think I would have died of shock if my DS worked from 5pm to 10pm when studying for A levels .

He did have a break from p/t work in the last few months of A levels but he has had a number of p/t jobs since he was 14, starting with a paper round, and now works in a pub.

I agree it is a very indulgent attitude to think that young people need so much time to ‘rest’ and ‘relax’, it is perfectly possible to have a p/t job and still have loads of time for a social life etc.

I used to work in graduate recruitment & applicants who had some form of work experience nearly always came across as much stronger candidates than those without.