Do you expect your teenagers to get a summer / weekend job?

[Chocchops72]

https://twitter.com/charlottecgill/status/1667846464683245569?s=46

I’m 50 now, so was 13 in 1985. By then I’d gone to ‘the berries’ for at least 3 summers, and earned money picking fruit, cash in hand. At 14 I got a weekend job in a cafe, Saturdays and Sundays, and did lots more days in the summer holidays. At 16 I went back to the fruit picking, but this time in the packing shed getting an hourly wage. At 18 I got a summer job cleaning in our local psychiatric hospital, which i did every summer through Uni.

it wasn’t even a question of whether I’d do it or not, my parents were happy to provide bed and board over the summer but everything else came from my jobs, there was no pocket money.

Do you expect your teens to get a summer job? Did you have one?

By the mid 90s (apart from a paper round) you had to be 16 in my hometown to apply for a job. I then had a summer job each summer (Saturday school meant no Saturday job). I expect the same when my DC are old enough…although anecdotally from friends with older DC there are fewer jobs pre 18 than was once the case.

I expect my teen to get a summer job, trying to get him to actually get off his backside and do it however is proving an uphill struggle.

Very sadly it's extremely hard to get a job under the age of 16 these days. It is a shame, I have worked since I was 13/14.

I live in a seaside town with lots of summer jobs. None of them take until 16 and have sat their last GCSE

I didn't have a job as a teen and nor did any of my friends. I didn't work until I was at uni. But I do think it was probably a missed opportunity so when DS gets old enough, I'll encourage him to get a job.

I never had one. By the time I was 14, we lived very rurally (no buses) so it would have meant my parents ferrying me about.

I got a weekend job at 16, in 1994, younger than that there just weren't any jobs that would take you on. Even more the case now. Very few jobs available for under 16s unless they are very casual cash in hand. Paper rounds are like hens teeth because so few people get papers now. My son would be happy to work but there's nothing for him. My 16 year old has been babysitting for a couple of years but has found it hard to find a regular job. She applied for Aldi but got turned down, presumably due to lack of experience. The first job is the hardest to get as everywhere wants experience.

I started working the weekend after my 15th birthday in a cafe, washing dishes all day Saturday and Sunday for about £2.50 an hour. Late 90s.

We've got two teen nieces (15 & 17) and they both have summer jobs, in fact the older one has two and is training to do a more responsible role in one of them. We're in a touristy place though so lots of casual summer work about in hospitality and seasonal businesses.

Summer jobs also depends where you are. In seaside towns or touristy areas there may be more demand for workers over the summer but otherwise there isn't so it's not that easy.
As mine has babysitting experience she's hopefully going to work at a kids day camp over the summer but that wouldn't suit everyone.

DGD, 16, has a part time job in a restaurant, will increase her hours once her GCSEs are over. No pressure from her parents, she decided.

Not during secondary school, as hardly anwhere will hire under 16s and I don't think its necessary when that age. Still young and I would rather she focus on school and have a good balanced social life.
College age and above, yes if they want extra money on top of what I would normally provide they should work for it. At that point I think managing the responsibility is helpful. There would be no repercussions from me if they wanted to quit though.

Both my sons got weekend and holiday jobs at 16. They work in restaurants/wedding venues.

Below that age the only jobs they could get were paper rounds really

I had a regular baby sitting gig age 14. I did a week picking potatoes aged 15 for my summer holiday money. I got a job aged 16 in local takeaway and did that for 4 summers, and I had a job in the local boutique for 2 of those as well. Once I left the boutique, I had a Friday job cleaning holiday cottages in a park near us, and I was good enough they asked me in the much smaller crew to do Mondays as well (some but far fewer changes then).

I had got a job as a glass girl in a pub but parents wouldn't let me do it. And I had various summer jobs while in uni, including a lab job in a chemical manufacturer and another cleaning job in a hotel where I sometimes also did KP or the bar in the daytime (did night housekeeper a fair bit).

And went straight into a FT job the Monday after I left uni.

But I was unusual in my family - I went out and found jobs, which were relatively scarce locally, and wasn't afraid of physical hard work.

And it stood to me, I've had the grit to keep going in adversity in my career.

Dd was an assistant sailing instructor last year for about a month and has a full summer doing sailing instructor this year, aged 17. She also got herself a number of weeks during the year with different groups as ASI, and a Saturday job driving a speedboat for a racing group. Jobs are very scarce for teens here and she was on a training programme for the provincial team in her other sport the last 3 summers, which was almost a full time commitment in itself.

No I dont
If they want to I will support it but I don’t expect it.
DD is having a gap year and has a pt job organised from August which I WOULD expect though

Both ds had jobs at 15, just pot washing etc. ds 16 has a job and will work 4 shifts a week over the holidays. Elder ds started pot washing then went on to bar work. Using pay to buy a car and driving lessons.

Both of my children had ways they could earn extra money from the age of about 14. But I could still afford to give them an allowance, so I did. Because in my (admittedly unusual!) the jobs should go to the kids who need them, not to the kids whose parents think it's a "learning opportunity."

I would prefer my DD has time for her studies.
As many have said already, lots of places won't consider under 16's and depending on where you live, transport could be an issue.
DD finishes her GCSE's soon and has been thinking about how she can earn some money over the summer. It won't be fruit picking though as there isn't any grown locally.

I've worked since I was 12 (in the 90s) but I lived in a small town where it was easier to get a job through knowing people.

Where we live now it's almost impossible to get anything until after gcses, and even then a lot of places are 18+ only. So I would like dd to work as I think it would build her confidence and she'd get a lot from it but I also understand its much harder to get one.

Had a big long discussion with DD about this last night, she claims there are no jobs and that her allowance (of £140 to cover everything a month) is in no way enough to cover the long post GCSE summer. I said well get a job to which my nearly 18 year old said it's nigh on impossible - we're London suburbs.

I just can't work out if there are no jobs for them or they're just being too picky with what they'll do - I'd been working and babysitting since 14 as my parents couldn't afford to give me much pocket money

I find it very hard to believe there are no jobs in the London suburbs too. Has she even looked?
You often have to be quite proactive with weekend/summer jobs - they don't drop in your lap.

Most jobs are 16+ for legal reasons. A fair few employers around here will not even hire a 16 year old unless the summer holidays have started/the child has left school.

I did but god getting my DC's to was/is impossible. We live very rurally so they need a car, no money to buy a car so they can't get anywhere to earn money, it's a vicious circle.

I'm all for my DD getting a summer job after her exams. But I'll be honest, I have no idea how she would actually go about finding one! Any pointers from those who've been successful? We live in a big town with a local shopping street.

We didn't expect dd to get a job while training for her sport, but we did expect her to get one this year. Many of her friends have only got 1 or 2 weeks as there's a big racing tournament this summer impacting on kids courses. But she went off and got herself a job for the entire summer in the city centre - and had an offer for most of the summer with 1 group not impacted by the tournament.

Most of the other kids her age either have a couple of weeks instructing, doing horrible hours in a couple of shops and cafes, or childcare. Covid has made it hard, on top of labour laws changing around employing u16s (only family members in family business) or 16-18 year olds (restrictions on hours, lower minimum wage etc) so it's much harder to get jobs than when we were teens.

But living int he city rather than in the depths of countryside (where DH and I both grew up) does give more opportunities.

I used to babysit but now people don’t tend to let local unqualified teens babysit. My brother’s delivered the local paper, that isn’t delivered anymore so there isn’t much they can do.

I like mine to enjoy their free time there is plenty of time for working and you’ll never get back the summers of youth carefree.