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?

Its been very challenging to find work under 16. A few bits here and there only last summer when he was 14 for the first half.

Over 16 the opportunities open up so hoping he gets a regular job somwhere.

I had a long rural paper round from 12, was babysitting regularly from 14, spent a summer working with racehorses at 17, then spent the next 3 summers picking salad crops by day and working in the village pub on a night. It’s not really a life that I want for my kids, but I do also want them to know the value of money. DCs have sold eggs for about 6 years, and saved 20% of everything they have made. Both now have a strong saving ethic, and are keen to make money where they see an opportunity. DD is just finishing her GCSEs and wants a job after that, but we live rurally, is still only 15, and very few local businesses will take on someone of her age even if she could get there. So she is looking at setting up her own Etsy shop. DS is still selling the eggs and also is very opportunistic, will wash cars or do ironing (not just for us!) for a fee. He is 12, and has invested some of his earnings in shares already which have doubled his money.

While on the one hand I don’t think kids should be heading out down the mines or up the chimneys any more, I do think being switched on about money - where it comes from and what to do with it once you have some - is a valuable life skill. And picking fruit/veg, whilst hard work, is actually also quite enjoyable (well, I enjoyed most of it.) Then again, the environment I worked in was quite old fashioned (over 30 years ago) very Darling Buds of May, but I could see in some growers how it was becoming more commercialised and pressurised.

My ds 17 has had several jobs, retail and hospitality, which he found on Indeed. Most of his friends have part time jobs/weekend work as well. It didn't seem to be that difficult to find work for any of them. We live in the south east so maybe there is more work available here. I'm glad he has work as teenagers social lives are expensive 😄
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DS is finishing his GCSE's and wants a summer job. Unfortunately he's going to be very restricted as he has food allergies so can't work with food and we have a couple of short breaks in August and some places won't take anyone with holiday booked.
I was wondering if he could get something in a warehouse temping.

Not at the moment. He's 15. I'd rather he concentrate on GCSEs. But when he goes to college I think a summer job would be good or some volunteering.

Nowehere around here ie hospitality etc will accept anyone younger than 16. She has school until lunchtime every Saturday anyway so she really needs Saturday evening + Sunday to unwind. Once she moves into 6th form however and has fewer classes then yes I would expect her to get a Saturday evening job doing waitressing/bar work etc.
She can work in her primary hobby from 13 although it is unpaid so that's what she will be doing as she has a good friendship group there whilst gaining work experience.

It’s difficult getting a job for under 16s around here, labour laws don’t help. But once in 6th form I have strongly encouraged my DCs to get jobs, I think it’s a great life experience for them and does provide good pocket money. I am quite mean with pocket money which I’ve found encourages job seeking. Again, I do expect my uni age children to get part time jobs, I expect them to at least start paying their own way at 18+, though we are still subsidising my uni age DC a lot. I was teenage in the early 80s and had a part time job from 15 and paid my mum a third of my wages until I left home at 18. But it’s a different world now and I wouldn’t ask my DCs to contribute in that way, I’d rather they built up some savings and got savvy with their money. We are a bit better off than my parents too.

Absolutely! I’m in my mid 30s. I had a job in a shop over the summer when I was 14. The following summer, and for the weekends thereafter, I worked as a care assistant in a nursing home… then more shop
jobs. Always for the summer and weekends.

I worked in retail from 15 and it involved nude tights and a tabard 😂. My 16 year old “non qualified” babysitters ( of which I’ve had a few) all have other jobs including one at M&S and one waitressing at a restaurant. One also played an elf at a garden centre for Christmas. I’ve had fliers from teenagers looking for odd jobs and I commend them for being proactive. You’ve got to go in and ask in places and utilise any contacts you have.

I had a paper round at 13, 6 mornings a week - I wouldn’t expect that of my DC. I then worked in shops and cafes from 15 onwards. My own DC have all had p/t jobs since they were 16 - it’s taught them a lot of valuable life skills. We live in the suburbs of a city so plenty of opportunities for work though.

Jobs are generally only available from age of 16 nowadays.

Holiday jobs are difficult to get in my town, not a big tourist town.

I encouraged my dc to get a part-time job, but not at the expense of their hobbies, which I felt were more important.

We have this situation happening right now.

DD finishes school this week.
She wants a summer job, not getting much luck.

She isn't 16 until the end of August.
GCSE results 24th August.

I'd like him to get a job at 16 as I believe the confidence boost from working really helped me at that awkward age. Having some experience would help him get summer work in university as well. And I'd also like him to have some of his own money to learn to manage.

But if there's a reason a job doesn't make sense in his situation, I wouldn't force the issue. Plenty of time to work in later life.

I had a weekend job in a newsagents at age 15. I really enjoyed it.

It's a real shame that it's so hard for under 16s to get a job now. I have a DD aged 15 who is neuro diverse and doesn't get on at school at all. A weekend job she enjoyed would probably really boost her confidence. Unfortunately there isn't anything available at that age. Even arranging work experience for under 16s is increasingly difficult.

It's no wonder many teenagers take a while to grow up. The system holds them back.

Actively discouraged ds getting a paid job while he was at school, especially exam years. I preferred he concentrated on school, study - that was his "work" and he balanced that with having fun with friends. He was never that expensive as they preferred being outside and kicking a ball about.

A week before finished his final school exams he had organised a job and was working PT, saving for uni. He is still working paying his way through uni. He didnt need a maintenance loan in 1st year, hasnt applied for one for next year and even paid for a holiday with friends this year.

I dont think he has missed out on anything by not working while at school.

all of mine got jobs under 16,
paper round
local company waitressing
aside from my ds asking me to ask the paper shop, which i did, they all chose to work

they can wash up in a pub at 15

I had a job at 16, as did most of my friends. Just part-time retail/restaurant/cafe type things on weekends or evenings. This was 2007ish.

it was difficult to get work under 16 then and still the same now.

At 16 yes. They still had pocket money but were expected to supplement it with work too. If they’d refused, the pocket money would have disappeared.

Summer jobs at uni if they can’t manage on the equivalent of a full grant.

No.

If they’re in education then that is their job and I want them devoting all of their time to that.

DD17 just finished her A Levels and is looking for a part time job but almost everywhere wants 18+ and she isn’t 18 until the end of august! She’s only found two jobs to apply for so far so it’s not that easy!

Mine were also told they could keep their lunch money if they made themselves a packed lunch, to booster their coffers.

DGD doesn’t need to work. She would have everything she needs without it, but she was motivated. Sadly, many of those who really need jobs may not have the same attitude, for all sorts of reasons, including never having seen the rewards working can bring.

I had various Saturday jobs (including in the late lamented Woolworths) but it was quite difficult finding a summer job in the early 90s though I had a few work placements. I worked from 15 as you could then.

DS has done some work as a lifeguard and I will expect him to get a job this summer when he comes home from university.

Yes - my DS (now 22) was doing a paper round at 13 - only once a week for a 'local' newspaper but that gave him some money on his own and a strong work ethic. He then got various hospitality jobs from pot wash to waiter and then serving drinks. He's had all sorts of paid jobs, a lot through personal contacts (including rat catching ). During lockdown he went round knocking on doors and washing cars.

He likes earning his own money - has worked Christmas Days in hotels on a couple of occasions.
But I agree it's much harder for under 16s to get jobs ..even paper rounds don't seem to exist anymore.
In my role at work I can (in theory) take on volunteers under 18 but the paperwork and supervision (quite rightly) is very involved so I often have to say 'sorry, no' - even to volunteers.

Yes - absolutely. DD's almost 14, and is also expected to do various jobs at home to get pocket money. Some weeks - no pocket money as jobs not done. She hasn't picked up weekend work yet (we're in NZ and there's no minimum age, which I still have trouble getting my head around) but has baked & sold biscuits to subsidise herself.

I had my first part-time job at 13 - only a couple of hours a week - then worked in the holidays from 14 (parent's workplace), then in the town library on Saturdays (all friends had Saturday jobs), then as a waitress, and in a factory over the long summer holidays. Babysitting, volunteering - can't remember what else.

IMO it's so important to understand what having a job means - turning up on time, doing what you're paid to do, being polite to customers (!), and getting on with tasks that you may well not like. DD's twat of a father has a hopeless work ethic (moves to places where work is not available in his field) which makes it even more important that she understands that work is not optional. Slightly concerned that I sound a bit Victorian 🤣