Teenagers (under 18s) and part time jobs

[Fancynancyclancy2]

Normally I very much agree that once a teenager is 16 that getting a part time job is important to teach them about money. However with everything that has happened due to COVID and unemployment getting higher with it expected to increase even more I’m taking a different view that these jobs should be given to those who now find themselves unemployed.

It just doesn’t sit comfortably with me that jobs just got for a bit of pocket money are competing with people who are trying to just keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

I have a DD who is almost 16 and I don’t think I will be encouraging her to get a job but to earn money around the house but wider family have disagreed with this view.

AIBU?

Well yes but every we could probably all recount similar anecdotes that ‘prove’ the opposite.

Working part time can help with confidence, various skills and of course money. I wholly accept that.

However, let’s be honest, it can also lead to a loss of confidence if the job or the people in the job don’t take kindly to a student doing it part time. Skills, depends on the job - I’m not convinced that running round IKEA’s warehouse at 6 in the morning was particularly life enhancing. Money absolutely but that’s why I hope I’ll be in a position to help DS. I’d really rather he focused on his studies.

I've just remembered where I've heard a similar argument before- when I was a child, there was a period of high unemployment and there was a lot of moaning and sneering about married women working. I can't remember who was doing most of the moaning, probably my parents and their friends. They thought that married women "didn't need" to work and they should leave the jobs open for men with families.

Some people will compete and some people will moan. The young people in question can't really win- either they get moaned at for "stealing" work, or they are despised for not working.

I’ll encourage mine to do voluntary work as a cv filler but not paid work. They need to focus on their a levels.
It's incredibly hard to find voluntary work at the moment. DS has volunteered at the local hospital and helped out with Cubs since he was 13 and hasn't been able to do either since March.
There's barely anything for him to do but focus on A-levels his college is a week in and a week on-line from home so he's pretty isolated. For him work is a welcome retreat, he really enjoys the social aspect of it.

Yes, I should have added mine are tinies I’m thinking forwards!

I don't think any child in full time education should have to get a job.

They can choose to but I dont think parents should rely on a childs income or refuse to pay for luxuries while a child is in education.

The childs education takes priority, they need time to study, decompress, socialise, sleep, spend time with family as well as go to school/college.

Which is all very lovely for those of us that can afford it @Nottherealslimshady , but surely you can't really believe that is the case for all families ?

@11MrsLuther

YABU and in a very fortunate position. In any case, 16 year old can be paid a lot less than 25 + year old so there will always be jobs for 16 year olds. Ds20 has worked in a variety of jobs and it means he picked up temporary work when sent home from uni in March very easily due to his experience. Dd17 has worked all through the pandemic in a care home, alongside her a levels. Its given her great life experience, confidence and time.management skills. She is also a valued member of staff earning twice the minimum wage for her age.

Don’t you have to be over 18 to do care work??

@Fancynancyclancy2 I actually agree with you, but really interesting thread, my DS is 16 and I've been telling him for ages to get a PT job but I had the same thoughts about him taking a role someone else needs. So I've said wait until he's 17.

We can afford to support him and pay for his driving lessons and it means he can settle into his a levels get used to the course work as well.

I want him to gain the pride in earning so he's started selling some of his art to people online, and is getting small income from that instead.

I voted YABU although I see your point to an extent, and it was something I considered when ds went for his supermarket job.

But you know what, he really wanted it and he was so persistent in his application, chasing them up on the phone every day until he got an interview. I was really proud of him and it taught him a great lesson. He's now working 16 hrs pw around college, earning and saving, learning to get up early and go to bed early , managing his time better etc etc. All essential life skills which I don't think he should be deprived of just because the employment situation for older people is also poor. It's not his fault.

It's our kids who are going to be clearing up this fucking mess for decades to come, I think we have a responsibility to encourage them to earn, save and work if they want to.

YANBU to feel this way. I completely get you.

However the reality of unskilled, zero hour contracts is that employers want under 18s to fill them as they can pay a lot less. At least, I assume that’s the case as DH has had no luck with any job for over five years now

Actually I think running round IKEA at 6am in the morning is an incredibly useful life experience,

My teenage DS did a very tedious but physically challenging job in the summer, just for a month. He earned good money for it but the experience made him realise why he is at University and the benefits of studying ... I understand the argument about talking jobs away from adults who need to feed their families etc. but the reality, in his case, was that these jobs were very hard to fill. As Fast says, the experience of getting up on time, getting yourself to work, understanding you can't just slope off for a coffee when you want, working as a team, saving and budgeting the money you earn etc etc are all essential life skills.

I got my first summer job at age13 and always had a job all the way through college until I got my first job out of university at age 21
I have worked in;
A B&B- serving breakfast and helping with housekeeping
A hotel - serving bar food and in housekeeping
A High end restaurant/boutique hotel- service and housekeeping.
A well known high street clothes chain.
A supermarket- bakery and cashier
A crèche.

Then when I left college I walked straight into a global pharmaceutical company. I have worked in pharma ever since and took a few years out to work abroad and also to have my dc.

Working part time is great for building skills and knowledge.

My teenage DS did a very tedious but physically challenging job in the summer, just for a month. He earned good money for it but the experience made him realise why he is at University and the benefits of studying ...

This ^

the experience of getting up on time, getting yourself to work, understanding you can't just slope off for a coffee when you want, working as a team, saving and budgeting the money you earn etc etc are all essential life skills.

and this ^

When you teen "needs" money for something, and you give it to them, they have no concept of what that is equal to, in the same way as they do when they've had to miss out on a night out because they were working, or get up before dawn cracks because they are on an early shift, or go straight to work from school for an evening shift when it is dark and raining and they'd really rather not; or if they are doing something that isn't particularly pleasant.

ds's 2nd job was cleaning in a butchers - including getting shut in the freezer to clean in there . He then went to work at what he thought would be a far better job, working in a shop in the City Centre. Now, whereas the work was much nicer, they would often give him a 4 hours shift, which took 6 - 7 hours out of the day, with travel, and cost him 1.5hours wages, in train fare to get there. So he lost 6 or 7 hours of his day for 2.5 hours on minimum wage. The previous job he had, he could walk to and be there in 10mins at obviously no cost.
Sometimes you have to live these things to "get" them.
Doing it when your life doesn't actually depend on that wage coming in, is quite a good thing, I think.