To expect my 16 yr old to get full time work for the summer?

[whatthewhatthewhat]

At least 8 weeks until they go back to school for A-Levels. I worked full time at that age. AIBU to think they should get a job for the summer?

Full time seems harsh but a part time
Job sounds good. Depends where you live and what sort of work he can get.

My DCs used to babysit a lot - they made good money and it was easy and flexible work. One of them was often paid £10 per hour which was ridiculous but meant she had a lot of money saved for when she went to Uni.

Minimum wage for 16 year olds is dire.

I always enjoyed working at that age but depends on the child. I did babysitting and weekend shop work so still
Had loads of time off.

Absolutely, Dungeon. Which is why I keep referring to being enterprising to fill in the gaps. Finding something that you can do as and when you have the time.

You are suggesting things that either pay a very low wage (e.g. paper rounds) or jobs which are already taken by adults in many area (e.g. mowing lawns) or are done on casual contracts where the employer controls the hours rather than the employee (e.g. cafes).

DontMakeMeShushYou

Nobody is suggesting they can't try to seek different ways of earning money. I'm not sure why you're claiming to be so enlightened and accusing others of having a narrow viewpoint.
Having a couple of casual jobs, gigs on the side, etc, is not new. Young people have been doing it for many many years. It's becoming more of an issue now because it's affecting adults who want greater job security. But that's a whole other topic and is not really relevant to this conversation.

You are suggesting things that either pay a very low wage (e.g. paper rounds) or jobs which are already taken by adults in many area (e.g. mowing lawns) or are done on casual contracts where the employer controls the hours rather than the employee (e.g. cafes).

We're talking about a 16 year old. How much money are you expecting them to earn? My 15 year old has earned £2K (c. £300-£400 per month) so far this year doing exactly this sort of thing alongside the fete stalls I mentioned earlier. And he's at school full-time. I guess some people are just hell bent on seeing the negatives.

Sakura has a point. A 16 year old's version of being enterprising and the gig economy is much more likely to look like babysitting where they can get it and maybe a part time job or zero hours, rather than a full time temporary role for the holidays as OP seems to want. The latter is very unlikely, and the odds of them making a whole from it aren't especially high either.

My only just 16 year old daughter works in a chippy 2 evenings a week...shes paid £10 an hour cash and takes home £70 a week plus a free meal each shift...she and I are more than happy with this.

My mum made me do this. At her work. I also had a Sunday job at a local nursing home. At 16 I only had one day off a week in the summer holidays. It was shit. They didn’t need the money. I was still treated like a child with a 9pm curfew and was explicitly not allowed out during the week.

Unsurprisingly, I rebelled and ended up pregnant and running my own home (because I resented having to pay for myself and not have the freedom) by 17.

So, careful what you wish for.

I did get a factory job at 17 for £2 an hour (late1990's) that was just about enough for pocket money and a couple of text books. No way was that a living wage. Factory shut after NMW came in.

Temp agencies are inundated with people looking for summer jobs every year & as there's such a large pool of applicants to choose from they insist on experience and & an interview for even menial filing stuff now . I wouldn't think your teen will walk into a temp job tbh.

YANBU it is character building and they will learn so much for the future.

YANBU it is character building and they will learn so much for the future.

From doing some work, yes. But being forced to work full time at 16 and have no summer? Seems pretty miserable to me.

Thankfully for the poor kid, they're extremely unlikely to find full time work for just 8 weeks anyway.

Experience of work at a young age is a great thing, but the world has changed a lot in the last 20 years since I walked into a shop with my CV and got the job at an interview 3 days later.

There are too many people desperately lapping up the hours on zero hours contracts to create a need for the tradtional Saturday work of the past.

Work opportunities for teenagers are very thin on the ground these days.

A job in a café could be one of the 'gigs'. They might be lucky but most cafe owners will either want someone from Easter to mid September or willalready have uni students on their books

As could mowing the neighbours lawn Possible if you have any neighbour who pay to get their lawns mown. Those I know who do employ a proper gardener, most people I know do it themselves

doing a paper round Less work in paper rounds over the summer as people cancel deliveries going away on holiday. Most local paper shops round here are closing. everyone reads online these days

or coming up with a game and booking stalls at every local fete and fair over the summer. Very few of these out of term time but assuming there are some then the teen would require public liability insurance and hralth & safety/risk asessments to be able to book a commercial stall

We're talking about a 16 year old. How much money are you expecting them to earn? My 15 year old has earned £2K (c. £300-£400 per month) so far this year doing exactly this sort of thing alongside the fete stalls I mentioned earlier. And he's at school full-time.

Maybe you can get a well paid paper round where you live but in my area they are generally done by 13-14 year olds for a couple of hours a week. I would expect a 16 year old to be paid more than and in fact they have to which is why they employ younger children. Other things you mention e.g. lawn mowing are done by adults for a low amount. There is no need to employ 16 year olds. I'm not sure what you mean by "fete" stalls. Do you mean craft market stalls? I can't see that a 16 year old would make much money from doing that in my area.

I guess some people are just hell bent on seeing the negatives.

I'm not "seeing the negatives", I'm just being realistic. Whether or not there is 16 year olds depends very much on where you live. Just because your child can make money easily where you live doesn't mean it is easy everywhere.

couple of hours a week

Couple of pounds a week.

A job in a café could be one of the 'gigs'. They might be lucky but most cafe owners will either want someone from Easter to mid September or willalready have uni students on their books. Guess my 15 year old is just 'lucky' to have a washing-up job then

As could mowing the neighbours lawn Possible if you have any neighbour who pay to get their lawns mown. Those I know who do employ a proper gardener, most people I know do it themselves. My neighbours seem to like having their cars washed.

doing a paper round Less work in paper rounds over the summer as people cancel deliveries going away on holiday. Most local paper shops round here are closing. everyone reads online these days. More work in paper rounds during the summer since other delivery agents go away on holiday and their rounds need covering. Works for my son.

or coming up with a game and booking stalls at every local fete and fair over the summer. Very few of these out of term time but assuming there are some then the teen would require public liability insurance and hralth & safety/risk asessments to be able to book a commercial stall. Lots of these over the summer where we are. Public liability insurance is not particularly expensive (easily made back after one stall). Risk assessments aren't particularly onerous and once you've written it, it's done.

As I say, some people do like to dwell on the negatives.

I would suggest a weekend job where they can do more hours during holiday times. I worked every weekend when I was 16 and did more when I wasn't at college. Temping work wouldn't be hard to find, just get him signed up to the local agencies. Getting a part time job is not going to do him any harm.

I'd say that in many places its difficult for 16 year old's to get a part time job.

Supermarkets and other companies that employ under 18's regularly will already have staff, and usually have a lot of 6th formers desperate for hours before uni.

As said seasonal employers have usually hired their staff by now.

The suggestion of "coming up with a game and booking a stall at every fete over the summer"? Lots of barriers to entry there too.

Car washing? You'd have to be competitively priced with the valet places that are all over big cities or the auto washes are relatively inexpensive.

Lawn mowing? Possibility, but again, its not the same as a regular job, even to match part time hours, you'd have to find 8 or more people a week willing to have their grass cut, and maybe return in the summer once every 3 weeks? That's 24 different households in a community.

They are 16, this is the longest summer of no responsibilities and no work that they are ever going to have.

Let them enjoy it.

Oh and the killer time for applications to supermarkets and other traditional employers of young people is late August/early September, just as the kids that are off to uni start to leave.

Your 15 year old's employer is breaking the law if she is being employed in a commercial kitchen which includes a cafe or restaurant. It's one of the areas of work prohibited by law to those under school leaving age.

Where I used to work a 16 year old kid fell off the scaffolding opposite working cash in hand for a builder. It was awful to witness. Yr 11s can’t do any construction site or factory work until July. Protections are in place to protect those still at school (your child isn’t classed as minimum school leaving age yet even if they have finished exams) and under 18s. Due to extra requirements decent companies are very reluctant to employ under 18s.

DontMakeMeShushYou People aren't "dwelling on the negatives". They just don't live in an area where 16 years olds can make money as easily as your 15 year old seems to and they keep explaining why not. You seem unable to comprehend that work opportunities are not the same everywhere. All the things you have suggested are done either for an extremely low wage by 13- 14 year olds (e.g. paper round) or by adults (e.g. lawn mowing or car washing). The "local fete" you keep mentioning don't exist either except for ones by schools and churches run by volunteers raising money for charity.

Yes, for just a few pounds I can get my car throughly washed by people who have got insurance and all the proper equipment (long enough hoses etc at one of the valet car washes.

I live in a city. The nearest local newsagent (I don't count the co-op as they don't deliver) is in the next town.

If you don’t need the money can I second the ‘do something to make them employable next summer’.

I have a summer birthday and even in the 90s couldn’t get a summer job because of that (university town and I had Saturday school both of which did not help). So I was sent off to typing school. I was marginally peeved at the time (none of my friends had summer jobs!) but very grateful later as it made it much easier to get temp work.

Those willing to employ kids illegally or not comply with their legal responsibilities are not somewhere I’d want my child working.

Dixie - I work for a construction firm, most sites we work on don;t even allow under 18's these days. Even a 21 year old is not allowed anywhere on site without a CSCS card and having done a days induction and first aid training. (At a hefty cost to us)