Do your pre-teen or teen kids have jobs?

[taco.vidal]

This kinda random topic came up in the coffee room today.
Most peoples kids didnt have jobs. Some with older jids said their’s didnt get their first job until after highschoool and others had university aged kids that have never had jobs.

I delivered flyers pretty young and then had a paper route. Then in junior high I started working in various retail jobs and delivered pizza after I got my license.A lot of these opportunites dont exist for kids today. The newspaper on my street is delivered at 4am by a middle-aged man driving a pretty nice SUV. I dont think Ive had a teenager deliver food in years. Its usually someone 30+ and often 50+ Id guess. I rarely see teens at fast food places. It seems theres more temporary foreign workers, seniors and other adults rather than youth there. I dont spend a lot of time at the mall but it seems theres more college age kids rather than highschool age kids working.

Kids tend to have busier lives these days. Sports, various lessons, clubs, other organized activities. Theres not a lot of down time and not much time for a job. But even if a kid wanted a job, Im not sure theres much opportunity.

Theres a few businesses in our extended family that have been pretty good about giving jobs to kids in the family. I think its pretty important to have a job to help learn a lot of life skills that cant be learned through school or sports and especially to learn how to earn a dollar and that money doesnt just come from mom and dad.

Your kids working?

[Wormius]

We tried the flyer route, but I find that my kids actually don't appreciate making money at all. It's weird. I remember money was awesome, but now I think, unfortunately, we provide a bit too much to them to the point where money is meaningless. I am worried my kids are too content actually.

[photon]

My nephew keeps whining because he's not old enough to get a job.

I remember having jobs as a kid, but I don't think most of my friends did or wanted any.

[CaptainCrunch]

I always thought teenagers working was a right of passage, they took all of the crappiest terrible jobs that they could.

I did the flyer route starting when I was 12
Got a warehouse job filling orders and sweeping the floor.
Best summer job I had was at a plant that made bags of ice, so I bagged ice 8 hours a day.

You'd think with the raise in minimum wage parents would be pushing kids out the door.

[habernac]

I had a paper route at 11. My son just turned 12, I give him $$ if he does jobs around the house. Too young to work (and too many activities anyway)

[bc-chris]

i worked as a kid - started with paper routes when i was in grade 5 - so what's that? 10 years old? 11?
once i turned 16 and could drive i got a job in a restaurant and did that until i graduated from high school.
put myself thru university doing construction in the summers.

with our kids, i figure the 2 year old is still a little young, but the 4 year old just learned that if she wanted a pink bedroom she had to work for it....

IMG_3496 by bc-chris, on Flickr

IMG_3506 by bc-chris, on Flickr


i think a big part of getting kids to see the value in getting a job starts with the parents saying 'no' to things they want. when i was a kid times were tough in ontario (brutal recession in the early 80s) and my folks didn't have the money to just buy us what we wanted - so i got a job and saved up my money and bought stuff myself. i know i sure appreciated my stuff a lot more becuz i knew how long i had to work to get it. i think it also helped me not 'impulse buy', becuz if i bought stuff on a whim it just meant that i had to work even longer to save up the money for what i really wanted.

[Locke]

I started working those temporary seasonal jobs as a kid, hauling luggage for Greyhound at Christmas, mowing lawns, shoveling sidewalks, raking leaves all that normal stuff.

But I got my first real job at 15.

All three of my kids were the same, got their first job pretty much as soon as they could. Actually two of them were technically illegal workers as really, really young dishwashers in a restaurant of ill-repute.

Now, thats great for them, but the thing that really bugged me was that some High Schools give actual academic credits for having a job, it was like 5 credits a year. They get paid! They shouldnt get credits just for being employable!

Society has gotten soft and Mr. Lebowski is wrong, the Bums are winning.

But yes, they all worked from as soon as they could. Its savings, spending money, etc.

We all have to learn, life is work. Unless you win a lottery or vote NDP.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by Locke

I started working those temporary seasonal jobs as a kid, hauling luggage for Greyhound at Christmas, mowing lawns, shoveling sidewalks, raking leaves all that normal stuff.

But I got my first real job at 15.

All three of my kids were the same, got their first job pretty much as soon as they could. Actually two of them were technically illegal workers as really, really young dishwashers in a restaurant of ill-repute.

Now, thats great for them, but the thing that really bugged me was that some High Schools give actual academic credits for having a job, it was like 5 credits a year. They get paid! They shouldnt get credits just for being employable!

Society has gotten soft and Mr. Lebowski is wrong, the Bums are winning.

But yes, they all worked from as soon as they could. Its savings, spending money, etc.

We all have to learn, life is work. Unless you win a lottery or vote NDP.

Actually, if you vote NDP the vast majority have to work harder to support the milky teet.

[bigtmac19]

Both my kids worked. My older son got a job washing dishes when he was in Grade 8 and a couple of years later, got a job in a pizza parlour. Being in that environment he ended up wanting to be a chef, surprisingly. The hours are terrible, the pay is not good! He's always worked at least two jobs at the same time, sometimes three.

My second started later with having a job, around 17, first as a lifeguard, then continued for a few years as a clerk at two different grocery stores at the same time.

I worked all through high school.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

Both my kids worked. My older son got a job washing dishes when he was in Grade 8 and a couple of years later, got a job in a pizza parlour. Being in that environment he ended up wanting to be a chef, surprisingly. The hours are terrible, the pay is not good! He's always worked at least two jobs at the same time, sometimes three.

My second started later with having a job, around 17, first as a lifeguard, then continued for a few years as a clerk at two different grocery stores at the same time.

I worked all through high school.

No longer true! The pay now is pretty good! Especially in Ontario.

[Puppet Guy]

My oldest is almost eight. I think it's time she started to contribute, the lazy little nit.

[Party Elephant]

We've got 2 kids aged 13-14 working at one of the restaurants I work at and they are some of the hardest workers there. It's a shame they have to go back to school in 2 weeks.

[troutman]

My sixteen year old has been working at Bow Cycle for over a year.

He gets 15 credits at High School for his work experience. Because he loves bikes so much, his entire pay check goes back to Bow Cycle for bikes and parts that he wants.

It is has been a great experience for him - has given him a great deal of confidence and maturity. He is already teaching the bike mechanic course there.

I never had such a good job in High School - I washed dishes.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

My oldest is almost eight. I think it's time she started to contribute, the lazy little nit.

We need to start charging our kids for all of the stuff they buy from the 'Company Store.'

Food, clothing, bedding, heat, etc.

The old 1800s railroad companies really knew what they were doing!

[manwiches]

Worked at my dad's restaurant unofficially from 12-14 as a host.

Worked officially at my dad's restaurant officially from 15-23 when I graduated university and he sold it. I did everything from dishwasher, food runner, bus boy, bartender, host, server, and assistant manager. A couple of my closest friends were from those days.

I found i really loved going to work to see my friends, and make enough money to buy video games when i was younger, and then enough to pay for parking and textbooks at University. lol

My kid will be learning the value of money early on. I like BCchris' idea. We already get our 3 year old to earn his priviledges, and help clean up around the house. No allowance yet, but we teach him to save the money he gets or finds in his piggy banks.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i worked as a kid - started with paper routes when i was in grade 5 - so what's that? 10 years old? 11?
once i turned 16 and could drive i got a job in a restaurant and did that until i graduated from high school.
put myself thru university doing construction in the summers.

with our kids, i figure the 2 year old is still a little young, but the 4 year old just learned that if she wanted a pink bedroom she had to work for it....

IMG_3496 by bc-chris, on Flickr

IMG_3506 by bc-chris, on Flickr


i think a big part of getting kids to see the value in getting a job starts with the parents saying 'no' to things they want. when i was a kid times were tough in ontario (brutal recession in the early 80s) and my folks didn't have the money to just buy us what we wanted - so i got a job and saved up my money and bought stuff myself. i know i sure appreciated my stuff a lot more becuz i knew how long i had to work to get it. i think it also helped me not 'impulse buy', becuz if i bought stuff on a whim it just meant that i had to work even longer to save up the money for what i really wanted.

I'm assuming you did the taping and edge work right?

[Frequitude]

My kids will definitely have summer jobs starting sometime in Junior High. I don't think I'll give them a choice.

I picked vegetables and had paper routes before I could drive, then moved into bellhop hotel and backshop golf course type jobs as soon as I got my license.

That first bellhop job was my first real job from a T4 perspective. Made minimum wage at $5.95/hr. Thought it was all the money in the world.

[troutman]

My son also took the babysitters course, and had his name in the community paper with his peers. He only got called once. Sexism!

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by manwiches

Worked at my dad's restaurant unofficially from 12-14 as a host.

Worked officially at my dad's restaurant officially from 15-23 when I graduated university and he sold it. I did everything from dishwasher, food runner, bus boy, bartender, host, server, and assistant manager. A couple of my closest friends were from those days.

I found i really loved going to work to see my friends, and make enough money to buy video games when i was younger, and then enough to pay for parking and textbooks at University. lol

My kid will be learning the value of money early on. I like BCchris' idea. We already get our 3 year old to earn his priviledges, and help clean up around the house. No allowance yet, but we teach him to save the money he gets or finds in his piggy banks.

My old man made it simple, when you turned 12, there weren't allowances anymore, you either got paid piece work or an hourly salary (it was back in the 70's so it was probably like $.05 an hour)

He'd put a "fee on big jobs" Paint the fence make $10.00, mow the lawn $2.00.

But for time jobs like weeding the garden or cleaning up the garage, he'd pay by the hour that you put in.

And he'd only pay if he was happy with the work.

He'd also contract us kids out to each other. My sister needed a term paper typed up, so my dad contracted my to do it for $5.00 that my sister had to pay me. But it was a terrible deal for me, cause I sucked at typing and she kept sending it back with mistakes.

By the time us kids hit the age where we could get for real jobs we were desperate to do it, because working for our parents was no fun.

By the way, 5 cents in the day would buy a comic, 10 cents would get you a soft drink.

[flamesfever]

I recall asking a friend how old he thought a child should be before starting work. He was a single parent father raising a set of twin boys on a ranch. His answer was, "I don't think you can let them get much past six without working".

I had my first job at 12 delivering prescriptions by bicycle for a pharmacy. Then at 16 I worked in the fruit and vegetable department of a large grocery store. During University I sold fishing tackle to various places, out of the backseat of my car.

I think it is important to get your kids doing some form of work at a certain age. It teaches them things like independence, trouble shooting, self worth, confidence, etc. In general, I think a person learns who they are in their work.

In my experience as a geologist, there is a great deal of difference in kids raised in the city vs kids raised in the country. The kids raised in the country are much more adept at working in the field.

Also, don't depend on the school system to teach kids the lessons learned in working. I have found that the kids are expected to learn without any kind of reward.