How does your teenager EARN money?

[Spidermama]

DD will be 16 in September. DS is 14. They're both DESPERATE for money all the time. At 14 I had a Saturday job in a toy shop but there don't seem to be the jobs these days.

What do teenagers do to earn money. DD does a bit of babysitting but its not enough.

Thanks.

The Ref idea is brilliant and DS would be great at it BUT it clashes with his rugby.
Why oh why does both rugby and football have to be played on Sunday mornings. It means people are unable to do both.

Spidermama - I don't know if it's the same across the Country, but in my area a lot of the girls leagues play on Saturdays, and the boys leagues play on Sundays, so, if he's playing Rugby on a Sunday morning, he could still do girls' football on a Saturday - plus all the end of season 'trying to catch up with fixtures, midweek matches'.

Here the younger boys and the girls play Saturday morning - another league has all their ages groups play on Saturday morning but it's slightly further away. (Think there are some youth matches on Saturday afternoon). The 9 aside and 11 asides play Sunday afternoon with KO 14:00/14:30.

I would suggest having a chat with your county FA and seeing whether it is feasible.

Awks - I would say that your daughter is quite lucky. Minimum wage for an under 18 and over school leaving age is not much more than that. I imagine there are some place paying a lot less than that

£3.50 an hour! That's awful.

I had a cleaner but lost her last year. Dd (17) asked to take over, so I agreed. She has exactly the same duties and the same pay (£20 for 2 hours). Now she's in the swing of it, she's almost as good as the cleaner and the knock on effect is that she keeps the house and her room much tidier/cleaner during the week as she now appreciates the effort that goes into it.

16 year old DD works in American Apparel. Part time around her A levels, full time in the holidays.

Dd 14 works helping a teacher with little ones on Saturdays and 1 evening per week she also sells uniform in the uniform shop. She also does tapes for non English speakers to learn English.

How has she got into that, Running (the EAL tapes) ?

I pay my niece to clean for me too - it's win, win. I could teach her the way I like things done, I get a 'much cheaper than an agency' cleaner. She gets paid more than she would be anywhere else, and I'm happy to be flexible about when she comes if she has other stuff going on in her life. Might be worth asking about colleagues / neighbours if they fancy someone to do even some 'ad hoc' cleaning.

Tapes are through her agent. She also haggles for a discount when buying things. Proud mummy, I have taught her well.

Yes Backforgood, a neighbour offered her £40 to clean her house from top to bottom while she's away next week!

DD17 (18 next month) assistant coaches in sport/dance. She's also recently passed her lifeguard qualification so is awaiting a start date at the local pool. For coaching she gets £5 per class, plus a free class, which keeps her dance costs down. I'm not sure what she will get lifeguarding, but I suspect minimum wage!

DD16 assistant coaches too, and does babysitting. She's off away to dance school for sixth form in September though so won't be able to work then.

DD14 doesn't have a job, but we pay her (and the older two) from time to time to do odd bits of admin, as I'm self employed and hopeless with keeping on top of filing etc.

Can you give them a bit of start-up money (£10-£20) and see if they can cobble together their own money making scheme. A friends son leafletted his neighbourhood offering to clean cars and mow lawns ... he earnt more than he would do with a paper round.

Mine aren't teenagers quite yet but work on the same farm I work on and DD works in the stables for a bit of spends. My friends DD works in the café in the village but shes older than DD at 13.

My son had a paper round from 13, once a week freebie paper. He is now 16 and dd is 15, and they have both managed to get jobs at local soft play place. Minimum wage (£3.72 an hour), but they are both enjoying it. Ds has been trying really hard to get a job since he turned 16, but has severe dyslexia and really struggled. He was chuffed to get this one!

My 12 year old DD is thinking about busking. Has anyone's children done that and how does it work out for them? I'm not sure how well her voice will carry without a microphone, which I don't think you're allowed unless you have a licence.

Theherbofdeath

You need a buskers license full stop. If not, the police will just move you along.

Oh, and it's illegal for under 14s to busk.

Floop

My neivve started busking at about 14, I asked her dad (police) if it was legal and he said yes. Do you need a busker's licence everywhere or just in some cities?

I suppose she'll have to wait another couple of years. Very frustrating for her. Just looked up busking on local council website, and appears to be illegal here unless you audition and are then awarded a licence. But generally there's no need for a licence - depends on the local council. I have seen young children busking around here though - primary age - so I guess they just hoped they wouldn't get caught.