Am I BU to allow my son to do this?

[ImaHogg]

Am I a bad mother? The school have certainly made me feel like one today.
My son is 16 in October. Last year he and two other friends purchased a second hand lawn mower, they did it up and went round our village (a lovely, safe village) and got themselves a few gardening jobs. This is a village I have lived in for 46 years. A few people even put on our local spotted FB group how lovely it was to see young boys earning some money and working hard.
This year they have saved up and upgraded the lawn mower. They printed off some flyers with their telephone numbers on and are planning to pop them in some doors around the village (nowhere else, just the village where we live) to get some summer money/work.
Today they took some flyers into school to show some mates. A teacher happened to see them, confiscated them and handed them over to the year head. I had a phone call today to advise me that my son and his friends should not be doing this, its a safe guarding issue and I should discourage them from pursuing this interest and I need to have a conversation with him about it tonight.
It was a voicemail message and I haven’t returned his call as I am a bit speechless tbh! I totally appreciate them looking out for the boys but it felt like they were telling me how to parent.
Both my children are fully aware of outside dangers, they would never willing go into a strangers home or take a car journey with someone they don’t know. They are aware of drug dangers etc.
They only want to make a few extra pennies mowing a few lawns and raking some leaves. We are not talking county lines drug trafficking ffs!

I remember getting ripped to shreds by a teacher for my business of producing friendship bracelets

Just so long as it wasn't by a lawnmower

What a crap reaction from the school.. very over the top. But not surprising these days, when I keep reading about all the daft and ridiculous rules in schools. Good on the boys, for being so enterprising, some smart children have been doing things like this for years..

Non of their business. Terrible teachers for not encouraging it imo

Mowing lawns is over me of the most wholesome jobs a teen could have.

My son did something very similar at this age in East London, not a lovely sounding village.

He made an absolute mint too.

I would return the call to the teacher and point out there had clearly been some kind of misunderstanding as this is perfectly reasonable behaviour. I doubt social services would be rushing round were they alerted.

@ImaHogg

The weird thing is they haven’t had this conversation with my friends who have 14 year old daughters who do paper rounds. They are out, on their own, on their bikes in the pitch dark in the winter.

But are these girls handing out flyers at school with their phone number on?

It'll be because of the phone number but agree it's totally over the top. Your son sounds great by the way, lovely to hear about such a good work ethic.

Maybe they could set up some kind of Facebook page instead of giving the phone number?

Ridiculous.

My 16 year old son is taking money in a car park from strangers and holiday makers, many of whom are abusive or argumentative.

I'd rather he was cutting grass, frankly, but this is his holiday job.

DH is a Deputy Head and says its nothing to do with the school and they have no right calling you about this.

The boys will learn a lot more from mowing lawns then they will from that miserable bunch of Cassandras.

Ott reaction they are absolutely ridiculous.

I was forced to have a job at 16 (just after leaving school) by the jobcenter, it wasnt a 'safe' job and I wasnt in anyway qualified to be in that situation lol.

The school sound insane, its non of their business if your child works given he is of legal age, I mean he old enough to join the army ffs.

It’s ridiculous, they can come mow my lawn for £10 if they want! a couple of kids in my area wash cars for £3 it’s a bargain and they do a great job. Just ignore the school, it’s none of their business...

Good lord, at 16 I was working with horses, quite often on my own.

At least hes wanting to do something to get a bit of money for himself.

If you have no problem with it and your son and his friends are comfortable doing it then I don't see an issue.

The head clearly has nothing better to do with their time.

Unless it was a really bad flyer and the business/Ict/art teacher knows they could and should have done a better job of it I can’t see what this has to do with the school. If they get dodgy phone calls they know how to block the number

I would encourage your son and his friend as much as you can in their business. We have a couple of lads in our village who do the same.
They do need public liability insurance though in case they cause damage to a customer's property.

CliftonGreenYork thanks, that is good to know.
Ds is a very sensible lad and so too are his two mates, they would most definitely block any unwanted/undesirable calls. They aren’t small lads either, they are all over 6 foot and hefty lads. I certainly wouldn’t have let them do this a few years back.
Dh thinks the school are bonkers, he was driving tractors on the farm at 14!

I would completely ignore to be honest. I would not phone them back.

Good on them for being enterprising.
I think the teacher was covering his arse in case something untoward happens (God knows what though!!), he can then say that he did warn the parents?
My own were mucking out stables and dog walking at that age so I'm completely with you.

I can only imagine how proud you are of your son for his work ethic! What a brilliant child you have raised. He's a shining example of entrepreneurship. He even went as far as upgrading his lawnmower and advertising. I don't know him but I'm so proud. As for your issue, the school can get to fuck x

The school head is bonkers and I would tell them that.

No they're being stupid. He's almost 16 and doing yard work... it's savvy and a good little earner. As long as they know not to enter peoples houses I don't see the issue. It's also none of their business tbh.

I cleaned old people's houses in my village at 15 a decade ago.

The idea is fantastic and they should definitely keep on doing it.
But they’re not allowed to advertise it in school. That’s why you can’t make and sell things in schools or sell drinks etc I don’t know the ins and outs of it but my school had a complaint from a parent that a child was selling brackets or something so running a business out of school premises and that the school is liable to be sued as it didn’t have the business insurance to cover it - I didn’t understand the legalities of it but I was just told by the head and head of year to get it shut down asap!

If I was your son I’d carry on and just put fliers through peoples doors, advertise on FB etc as I’m not sure how much business he’d get through school anyway.

He would have had a fit during Bob-a-Job Week.