Is it worth kids doing a levels getting a part time job, or would you prefer your schedule to concentrate on their studies ?

[GingerKittenTail]

? The balance of a teen wanting to earn some money
but also having a lot to do work wise

what are your thoughts ?

You literally have no clue.

No, I would not. Just as we don’t know about the OP. Best not to give a hoot about other anonymous posters and just post your thoughts / views and move on.

shop work is the main one (lots round here)
my dc have done:
phone shop (selling and then repairing phones)
Clarks shoe shop
Dominoes
kids soft play centre
Toby's carvery

(of those Toby's is one of the best jobs. They stick to the hours they say, they do proper breaks and some Saturdays dd get £20 extra in tips)

Relationships don't tend to blossom on beans on toast whilst wearing holey jogging bottoms andvwatching Netflix every night.

I feel very sad that you've lived so long but never experienced true love.

My first year with my first husband: we lived on sugar sandwiches on yellow-stickered white bread, played computer games on an old console we'd been given, and fucked a lot. A lot. No idea whether his jogging bottoms had holes in them - I was more interested in what was inside them.

First year with my second husband was similar - wandering the streets of London, going to free museums and galleries, walking along the river, living off the cheapest reduced food we could find (and very little of it). Again, so passionately in love and crazy in lust that we couldn't have given less of a toss about how much money was in our wallets.

How empty and sad to go through life believing that love is dependent on expensive clothes and pretentious food.

Sorry, you allowed your teenage daughter to be flown alone at someone else's expense to a Middle Eastern country and you thought this was OK?

How old was she when you did this?

CaronPoivre

honestly you make me laugh.

I wonder what the average income the children who were encouraged to prioritise work over work experience and study actually earn or are expected to earn by the time they're 30?

My ds got three As at A level, has gone to a top uni and is getting a mix of 1st and 2:1 marks on all his uni work.
He worked at a part time job all through his A levels, and in the holidays. He has also worked all through uni, to fund his very expensive clubbing and drinking social life. He worked to fund his driving lessons and buy and car and insure it. This summer he worked to go on holiday. But he also studies hard to get the long term future he wants
He plays hard and works hard.
You really can't see that for many kids that is a possibility?

I know several people who employ graduates. They are interested in kids who have done something more than just school. They really don't mind if that is MacDonalds or sailing in Switzerland. Unless the work is very specifically teaching skills for that particular job (highly unlikely), the point is not what they did but what they learnt about themselves and the personal skills they aquired.
Your examples of swanning off overseas is in many ways LESS interesting than someone who did eg a customer facing role for 6 months and learnt to deal with people.

It isn;t for every child, some alrady have a lot on their plate, but it really is a good thing to do if it is possible.

I've lived in the Middle East.
This was very high risk, and frankly stupid thing to let your dd do.

I honestly don’t believe that’s real. No one would be daft enough to send their teen daughter off like this. I had the misfortune to once read an article linked on here about young ‘influencers’ off to the Middle East 🤢

She was sixteen. We did appropriate checks via British Council and people who had worked for, or with the organisation. It was not a market stall in a rural location but a huge international organisation in a modern capital city. We were quite familiar with several arab nations. Flights arranged through business accounts rather than an individual account. It was a brilliant opportunity and helped her realise she didn't want to study Arabic at university.

Our children have flown along since about 13 years. It's generally safer than hanging around in gangs on estates or in parks.

Oh you are so melodramatic.
So the only options are
hanging round in gangs on estates or parks
or
flying aged 16 to the middle east.

I lived in Saudi growing up, and as an adult in several asian countries.
I have flown a lot since I was small, often unaccompanied.
I am not a helicopter parent, my kids ahve travelled on their own as teens to visit relatives and friends.

Because I know a lot about Arab society, I would not have let my 16 year old do this alone.

Your choice.

Not a chance.
A levels so stressful

Get a job. Every time. Kids who've never worked a p/t job tend to be more immature than those who've worked as teenagers. And it's never too early to learn that everyone, barring disabilities, should work and pay their own way.

Sixteen??!?

Crack is safer than heroin, but I wouldn't want my 16-year-old daughter doing either of them.

That would be such a superlatively stupid and dangerous thing to do, and such appalling and neglectful parenting, that I find it very very difficult to believe that this happened.

😂