Cost of living. Teens with no jobs

[monkeysox]

The whole COL crisis is exacerbated by huge supermarket chains (one example) who are making huge profits. They don't employ as many young people (automation) so the cost of the kid's needs falls on the parents who have huge bills themselves.
I always had a Saturday or evening job.
Businesses aren't hiring nearly as much as 30 years ago.
Aibu?

You said your parents paid for your uni accommodation.

I could not move away for uni as my parents could not afford to do that. I guess that means they should never have had me.

Did you miss the part where I said I worked from 14! I did out out of choice, I saved etc. it wasn’t an expectation. I speaking to those who think a teenager needs to earn to contribute to family finances.

Yes they did, i was lucky I know that. They saw that as their responsibility. If they couldn’t have afforded it I would have gone to a local uni and lived at home.

Nobody has. Posters have said it alleviates finances as they can pay for extra themselves.

Alleviating family finances is the same thing!

And some family finances go through a bad patch, and any extra money coming in helps.
A lot of my family were poor when I was growing up, and leaving school and getting a job and paying towards the household was normal.

I had a part time job as a 16-17 year old but it was money for fun stuff, I wasn’t paying rent or anything. I think too many parents spend a fortune buying their kids the latest make up, clothes, tech etc. and that’s why it’s a struggle.

Extras are extra and not necessities. If my kids want uni, school trips, the odd family holiday etc they have to realise that individual extras are extras and if they want them they’ll need to pay for them. They can’t presume we’ll fund extras. As they’re currently not working we help a little however as soon as they get jobs that will stop thus alleviating our finances.

Why is anyone expecting their teens to work to contribute to family expenses? Odd!
Its a parents job to pay for family expenses, surely everyone knows when you have kids they cost bloody money!!

A school trip isnt extra!! Its a bloody school trip, something everyone expects to pay for when having kids.
An adult decides if they go on a family holiday too, adult job to pay!
Sponging of your own kids is beyond me. Did you have kids to get benefits too or a council house?

When I had kids you didn’t need to pay for uni, you got child benefit( we lost ours for a while), there was no cofl crisis, mortgages were cheaper, we didn’t know we’d experience a redundancy, we didn’t know we’d have to spend ££££ on private therapy, medication and treatment for our children or school transport …..

I don’t expect my kids to contribute to family finances. I do however expect them to fund extras if they want us to fund other things. Nobody can guarantee an income or that life struggles won’t happen.

If you lost child benefit then I presume you are on over 50k... possibly got it again when the limit went up.
But essentially you just didn't think having kids through, and that you were going to be immune to the ups and downs of life and now you just want to sponge of your children as soon as you can. Got it.

I beg your pardon. Ours secondary schools charge hundreds of pounds for trips that frankly are not necessities. We paid for the history which was very expensive and one supposed language trip that was pointless and equally expensive as zero speaking of Spanish was engaged in. After that I’m sorry but none of the extortionate trips were necessary at all.

Newsflash many many families can’t afford school trips. And as for your benefits comment what a nasty ignorant thing to say. Bar one disabled child on PIP we both work full time, have our own house, are nearly mortgage free, have never been on benefits and are supporting all our dc through uni at great expensive whilst providing private treatment for one child who should be covered by the NHS that isn’t.

We frankly do not have the money for extras and do a very good job of supporting all our children. Support is about a lot more than money and certainly isn’t funding an endless supply of extras.

So yes it can help families out. My 13 year old keeps asking for money so she can go out and meet friends. Monet for the bus and food basically. She gets pocket money and I’ve told her she needs to socialise within her budget and can take food from the house. I am a single parent and the extra money she’s asking for isn’t always affordable. And it’s not basics. I buy her clothes, pay for extra curricular, buy her toiletries and feed her. Looking forward to September as I’m on UC which means she will get free school meals so that saves me each month. She did go and ask at the newsagent about a paper round. A lad she knows has one but gets £14 something a week for his 3’days so not great money but would give her more to spend. I already work full time and not in a job that offers overtime.

No you haven’t got it. We did think kids through. We’ve nearly paid off our mortgage and are funding \ about to fund our kids through uni and one through private treatment. . We’ve had to scrape though at times as we couldn’t foresee the future. We lost CB when it was the unfair rule of losing it if one earned over £50k came in for a while. By the time it changed our kids were no longer eligible.

🤣at sponging off our kids. We support our kids and then some. We just don’t/ didn't fund extras and expect them to. We only help out when they can’t/ couldn’t get work. They are hugely better off than many kids in this country.

DD has had a job in hospitality since 15, with plans to transfer for uni. Pocket money stopped when she had a higher disposable income than me!

I would plan for all continues.

School trips are definitely an ‘extra’ in this house and in the houses of all of my friends. We are fortunate to be able to afford them but even then we don’t consider them a given and neither does school. I know quite a few parents who don’t send their kids on them simply because they don’t consider them value for money. Plus loads of families can’t afford to pay for them. Weird to be so isolated from reality that you think they are not an extra!

Exactly! I’m wondering what fantasy land some of these posters are living in . For many families it’s the choice between a family holiday or a school trip with very dubious educational value.

Finding a job as a teen is hard enough - keeping one is tough too.

My DD got lucky at 16 and found a job at a local cafe that employees lots of young people. It's a tourist attraction that is quite weather dependant so hours are not guaranteed. She soon realised that the boss would take on lots of 15/16 year olds every year and then the 18 year olds would be let go or just not be given any shifts.

At the end of the last summer season - after she had worked there for 18 months she got a text simply saying she was being let go. She knew it was because she would be 18 by the time the next summer season started and more
expensive to pay. The 15/16 year olds were getting all the shifts.

She got another zero hours job at another cafe but it has been struggling so she barely gets any shifts. She is still on the books but only got one shift last month.

She took on a second job in April at a restaurant and two weeks ago it closed down with no notice and the boss didn't even reply to her calls when she was trying to find out why they were closed - she doesn't even know if she will get the money she is owed.

Thankfully she got straight on Indeed, got offered an interview at a cafe and events venue the next day and got the job.

I can't believe she has had 4 jobs already and she's only just 18. I'm 56 and have only ever had two jobs.

Remember when my child applied for fast food job when doing A levels and was devastated not to get it. Now they are highly paid after getting a top degree. Another was six months out of work turned down for several menial roles after getting top degree too. It’s the way it goes. So many applying for jobs keep going and one will turn up.

My kids have managed to get jobs. DS15 has done a paper round for 2 years. £25 a week cash in hand 7 days a week. So a horrific (and illegal I suppose) hourly rate but he doesn't spend much and has saved £2.5k plus it shows resilience/reliability on his CV.

DD18(art student) went round the town centre with CVs targeting independent shops and art galleries aged 15 and got lucky with an ad hoc job with a local artist who pays her minimum wage to run his gallery shop at weekends.

DD19 started babysitting at 14 for people who knew me, with some experience, level 3 childcare qualification and good references, she's continued getting babysitting work and now does school holiday nannying as well as her uni course.

I don't think parents should force their children to take a weekend job during their GCSE/A-Level years. When are they supposed to have any respite from 5 days a week at school/evening revision/any extra curricular activities?Nobody would hold an adult to this ridiculously high standard of not having a single day in week to recuperate and socialise with peers. As teenagers, we were always assured that our studies and futures took precedence over working minimum wage in a shop.

agreed you’ve chosen to have a child it’s your responsibility! When I was a teen my Saturday job money went either into savings or for optional extras like new clothes or going out with my friends

If they need “respite” from their extracurricular activities then why are they doing them in the first place?

A part time job is a choice: if they want money to spend on luxuries like expensive clothes and make up then they can earn it by working. It’s good to get some experience of the workplace and it can help with job applications later on if they’ve already got something to put on their cv.

Honestly, too many parents here treat their children like fragile snowflakes who must have their every need catered for and not be subjected to even the tiniest amount of stress.