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?

@Seymour5 "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."

Ah, yes. I'd forgotten the feckless working classes sitting around watching their flat screen TVs......

DD2 is 16 and just finishing GCSEs. She's vaguely talked about getting a summer job and of course I'm supportive if she wants to, but TBH I would rather she didn't as she'll need lifts (we're rural) and it will limit other activities we can do over the summer. DD1 didn't get a job until she could drive and take herself there and back.

well for those who can’t find jobs for their under 16’s they could approach neighbours re cutting grass and cleaning cars or other odd jobs. I’ve also paid a neighbours teenager to come and feed my cat while we were away for a weekend.

I started 8 hour Saturdays the month before I turned 14, and did a paper round for a bit before then. Worked one day every weekend until I went to Uni, also extra shifts in the holiday. I wanted to do it for the money, but none of my friends had weekend jobs that young, although others started at around 16. Babysat a couple of evenings a week too from mid-teens.

I'd rather DS didn't do the same at weekends, anything like as young. Teen years are important, studying is hard. It didn't leave much time for extra curricular, and just relaxing. Holiday jobs are a different matter though, but not too many hours.

Yep got a job at 16 working in a restaurant. All those I know who did the same learned the value of money and having to work for something. I was never just handed pocket money as a child, I had to earn it. Those I know who were handed out money from their parents for doing nothing turned out to be lazy scroungers who have no intention or financial means to move out of their parents house in their mid-30's. The rest snorted mummy and daddy's money up their nose.

I will be teaching my children that they will have to work for money like I did. Even though they will be brought up in a more privileged household than I was they'll be brought up the same as it instilled a good work ethic in me from a young age.

We're a bit out of the way so transport can be an issue. My older teen volunteers so. I've not pushed for a job as building up employability skills through volunteering. Also babysits for occasional cash. However I will be expecting a post GCSE job hunt.

I figure that so long as doing something useful and building skills why rush? The have their whole lived to be constrained by annual leave and so on. I'm happy to let them relax and be able to do things at weekends opportunistically.

I would completely expect it. Ive worked happily since age 14. It’s so important for learning life skills and being independent

I would, especially now there's a COL crisis.

And for those saying "ohhhh my child's studies" is priority. There is plenty of time to study, have a part-time job and have fun. I managed to do all three and come out with good grades! Don't make excuses!

Yes. I worked from age 14 in various part time jobs. DS coached in a couple of sports from age 14 and from 16 worked in the summer. We're lucky to live in a seaside holiday destination though and he's been able to turn a hobby into a lucrative job. So fun on the beach and making money. Beats the coop deli job I had!

DD got a job after her GCSEs but quit after a few weeks at college to concentrate on her college work. Her teachers were saying there's a lot of evidence to show a high correlation between hours worked in a part time job and poorer A Level grades. A Levels are a full time job.

My childhood was similar to OP's. From the age of 13 on I always had some job on the side ;FT fruit picking in summer, Saturday shop girl, babysitter, washing up in restaurant across the road; hotel cleaner, then entered a phase where my mother tried to persuade me nursing would be a great career ( hospital cleaner, ward orderly, dogsbody in old folks home ) all of which had exactly the opposite effect. At 17 I spent a whole summer in France as an au pair with total strangers.
At university I worked in restaurants, hotels, cafes; more fruit picking. etc.

By the mid 1980's my rural teen sons were all hungry for weekend and holiday paid work; they found plenty on local farms and country estates. Like me they cycled miles to their jobs. By the time they were at university they worked in bars, building sites, Xmas postmen, lambing, lift boy in department store, kids summer camp in USA, on farms in UK and Europe etc. It's not just about earning money; it's about widening life experience and social skills.