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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Do most 17 year olds who are in college have part time jobs?

48 replies

Nameideas · 05/04/2017 16:54

DSS lives with us full time. Sees his mum every few months (their choice- mother & DSS). He is at college full time. He hasn't shown any interest in getting weekend or summer job. Do most 17 year olds who are at college not have jobs or show interest? He gets pocket money every week which is spent on junk food/ sweets. He doesn't help much around the house (does his own laundry and sorts the recycling when reminded). I'm interested in what other 17 year olds get up to.

He has already said he wants to attend local uni so he can stay at home and not have to pay rent. I was rather looking forward to him going away to uni as all he does all day (when he's not at college) is lock himself away in his room chatting online with friends and playing video games. Please share what your children at this stage are doing or did.

OP posts:

Parky04 · 07/04/2017 07:36

My lad who is 17 works in a supermarket. He does 4 hours Friday 18-00 - 22.00 and Sunday 08.00 - 16.00. Pay £300 per month. Started as a Christmas temp and they kept him on.

Sparklingbrook · 07/04/2017 07:43

DS1 is 17, he has had a weekend job in retail since he turned 16 so 18 months now.
He got it by scattergunning all local businesses with an email asking if they were recruiting. Turns out one was but hadn't advertised yet, so they asked him to go down the next day and he got offered the job.

Money comes in very handy and he wants to get some savings of his own behind him for University, and it has done wonders for his confidence.

elanore11 · 07/04/2017 07:47

I think it is harder now for young people (it depends on the area, of course) but I agree that if it isn't doable voluntary work is a good suggestion. The only thing I would worry about is them compromising their studies.

Iwanttoseethesea · 07/04/2017 07:48

DS17 has worked in a local fast food restaurant since he was 16. His shifts vary but usually one or two over a weekend and an evening shift during the week.

I think it's important to be get him out there working and earning his own money - I certainly can't afford to buy him the clothes and shoes he wants!

His confidence has definitely improved and I think it's good that he has to work as part of a much bigger team.

ivykaty44 · 07/04/2017 07:48

My DD has a part time job and she has realised how much more she can do with earning her own money. DD has been work since she did her GCSE, has paid for driving lessons, passed her test, brought a car, insured it. This summer she is planning three summer holidays 😂

Surely most young people should be independent for earning, unless there is very good reason.

Notonyournellly · 07/04/2017 07:52

My 17 year old DD has a Saturday job in a big chain clothes shop, like many of her friends. Before that she worked in a chip shop for a while (hated that!) and had a volunteer post at the local animal rescue. It's been really good for her confidence, having to deal with the public, and also made her better at managing money and given her a sense of achievement too. She's managed to save some for festivals and gigs this summer. She went round loads of shops and cafes with her CV, but heard about her current job via a friend who was already working there and told her they were hiring. Summer is a good time to look for work: lots of college students are heading off to university and leaving their p/t jobs at home.

brownmouse · 07/04/2017 07:52

My dsd has not had a job and is now 18, nearly 19. I think in divorced families this can Ben tricky because due to divorce guilt or whatever fathers tend not to push adult skills and independence. My attempts to encourage her to find work fell on deaf ears, even when I left her piles of application forms and offered to help.

You may however end up with a lazy adult who is very hard to live with...!

elanore11 · 07/04/2017 08:05

You may, or you may not.

My parents were always rather sniffy about me not working (even though I was under the age of sixteen so it would have been very difficult!) so I got a part time job as soon as I left school. Several of my good friends didn't work at all during sixth form and university. It wouldn't have been my choosing but I can't say it's harmed them as adults: they did extremely well academically, sensible with money, and so on.

Perhaps it's just different personalities.

Thewolfsjustapuppy · 07/04/2017 08:08

16 yo DS had had a weekend job for 8 months or so. He's a glass collector, kitchen porter and cloak room attendant in a local bar/club. TBH I was worried, when he started, about the late nights and what he would see going on in the club but it has been so good for him. The older staff look after him very well and he has grown in confidence and independence almost beyond recognition. He has worked a couple of local festivals as well and it gives him a huge sense of being part of something.
DS has no interest in sport or any other club type activity so without his evening job he wouldn't do anything other than chat to friends online.

Thewolfsjustapuppy · 07/04/2017 08:11

I meant to add that he got the job by just going in and asking. He had asked at a lot of places and was getting quite despondent but he is glad he persisted. He has sonar got several of his friends work at the same place, some stay some find it's not for them.

Thewolfsjustapuppy · 07/04/2017 08:12

Sonar= since

GetAHaircutCarl · 07/04/2017 08:14

DS 17, in upper 6, doesn't have a regular job. Nor do any of his mates ( bar the odd bit of babysitting, tutoring, house sitting etc).

But school is full on, often Saturdays. And most of the young people do voluntary work on top, plus extra curricular activities.

I don't think DS would have time for a job and his studies.

DD, also 17, is currently working full time whilst (supposedly) juggling her studies. But that's a whole other story .

TeenAndTween · 07/04/2017 14:49

Many/most round here (small market town) seem to have part time jobs. DD1 doesn't but there are extenuating circumstances. She is going to get a shock when she starts a full time apprenticeship after college.

BlueChairs · 08/04/2017 00:10

I had a job from 15+ and so did my sister, best friend, boyfriend, brother - most friends. I only did it for money . He sounds lazy and maybe socially anxious

BlueChairs · 08/04/2017 00:11

Also this is from someone who still gets an allowance whilst doing an MA but also has always worked

WatchingFromTheWings · 08/04/2017 00:21

DS1 has had a Saturday job for about a year whilst in college. He's coming up for 27. I studied A levels and worked pt from 17yo,

WatchingFromTheWings · 08/04/2017 00:22

*He's coming up for 17, not 27!

Jazzywazzydodah · 08/04/2017 00:25

Mine did from 15. She liked money and I wasn't a push over ...

shitgibbon · 08/04/2017 00:30

College I think should be for focusing on studying just like he would if he was at school.

University I think a job is important because you are more hireable after graduation if you have a work history.

ragz134 · 08/04/2017 08:39

I think work or voluntary work is as valuable as academic. They need to learn how to function around other adults and it is so good for their confidence.

mathanxiety · 09/04/2017 08:39

I never gave my DCs an allowance so they all got themselves jobs to cover whatever expenses they felt were important.

They all babysat, with DS doing odd jobs too - painting, wallpaper removal, garden work, and DD4 doing cat sitting. The DDs all in turn got an office job at our church answering the phone at weekends. Two oldest DDs got a job one after the other in a law office doing summer gofer/receptionist lunchtime stand-in, but that was through exH's contacts. Two of them also volunteered doing general office work at the local constituency office of a political representative.

They worked on weekdays and also on weekends babysitting from about age 13 and all through school, school nights/weekends.

IvyKaty that is my thought in a nutshell.

mathanxiety · 09/04/2017 08:39

Oh and DS also worked summers in a furniture warehouse.

SallyGinnamon · 09/04/2017 09:00

I got a job at Sainsbury's when I was 16 working Thursday eve and Saturday. But shops were open much shorter hours then. Not even open on Sundays!

DS 17 doesn't have a job but he works his socks off academically and I don't want to put that at risk. He got all top marks at GCSE and his last report predicted the same for AS levels 'assuming he continues to work'. He's also working towards Grade 8 piano.

We've discussed him getting a job but he gets a lot of work done at the weekends like past papers etc so to me that is more important. I have no worries about his work ethic. However we do not have much spare cash and he will need to work at Uni. There are academic summer jobs he's hoping to apply for when he can.

If he was spending all his time on Xbox etc he'd be tipped out of the nest to fend for himself in terms of spending money!

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