Your child's first job

First off, this was a lovely post. I think one of the toughest parts of parenting is knowing when to be "overprotective" and when to let our children forge out on their own path.

Secondly, I would let my child pursue a part time job. I worked two evenings a week my senior year of high school to earn a few bucks for college, and it was great. Of course it would depend on your child, and not eveyone will be able to handle school and work at a young age, but I have no problem with it.

I had to work full time while going to college to pay tuition, and I think the practice I got working in high school really helped me keep my head on.

Good Luck!

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If their grades were high enough, sure.

I started working as a babysitter/housekeeper when I was around 12 and went to work at legal after school jobs at 14/15.

These are different times of course but I don't think it hurts kids to work if they keep their grades up and don't become exhausted.

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I am a college student, which basically requires working. But, I've been working on some level for as long as I can remember. It started with babysitting when I was 11 and grew into working at daycares or my mom's office or any number of odd jobs around the community. I think that as long as a child can keep up their grades that there is no reason that they shouldn't work - especially if they want to!

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I only had a summer job when I was 15. When I was sixteen, I put myself through a summer program to become a certified nursing assistant, meanwhile having a fast food job part-time. I kept the CNA job after school started, but I had to quit by November because they needed me too much. Health care jobs usually end second shifts at 11, and that was too late for a school kid to be at work.

Unless my kids really want a part-time job, I think I'll just encourage summer jobs. I had a lot of fun with school plays and such after school during the school year, and if I had a job, I'd miss out on that. Wouldn't want my kids to regret it later.

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Life is hard and requires skills for balancing and managing stress. I think the more practice you get managing multiple responsibilities, the better. Of course, how you introduce this to your child can make or break their ability to deal with it. If done in a way that they can learn as they go along without being overloaded, it will only help them once they go to college...get their first full time job, etc. Besides, I think working hard at a job (especially a starting job that doesn't pay that much) will help illustrate the example of why they may want to do well in school.

I worked continuously since I was 15, and only now (at 40) am I not working at a job and staying home with my kids. Finally! I needed the break :-))

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In my opinion, kids should be allowed to try working limited hours as soon as they want to, and encouraged (not forced) to do so by age 16. I agree with other posters that this develops many valuable understandings about adult life. However, I also think it's a worthwhile social activity. Although we usually don't think of burger flippers as the epitome of success, it seems that there is a correlation between high school success / involvement and part-time work. (The real losers are too irresponsible to hold a job at that age.) Thus working after school is an opportunity for youngsters to socialize within relatively safe boundaries.

My sister began working at a pizza place just before her 16th birthday, and kept that job through her first year of college. She was one of those people who loved school, work, and anything else as long as there were lots of other youngsters there. She did participate in many extracurricular activities too, earning many awards, and she was in NHS, so her grades didn't suffer much. Because she had a good sense of priorities, she learned to demand what she needed (e.g., no work hours on Drama Club nights) from her employers, and learned that that was the way to gain respect - a very valuable lesson.

Not everything she learned from her work buddies was good. She was introduced to a bit of foolishness, e.g., teen drinking, and I won't deny she tried it out (as I found out much later, of course). However, because this was all within the context of needing to balance priorities, and since the kids she hung out with generally had a high value for education and accomplishment, she learned quickly not to let foolishness mess up her plans.

Not every teen job works out so well, as the motivation and readiness for work is an individual matter. Kids who are more immature tend to try a job and leave it and not try again for a while - i.e., the school priority indirectly wins out. Some kids have trouble finding a great job due to commuting issues or conflicting family responsibilities, but they should still be encouraged to do something productive for someone other than themselves. Ultimately, the purpose of a teen job should be to teach priorities, responsibility, and a taste of real life. The rest is gravy.

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In my opinion, kids should be allowed to try working limited hours as soon as they want to, and encouraged (not forced) to do so by age 16. I agree with other posters that this develops many valuable understandings about adult life. However, I also think it's a worthwhile social activity. Although we usually don't think of burger flippers as the epitome of success, it seems that there is a correlation between high school success / involvement and part-time work. (The real losers are too irresponsible to hold a job at that age.) Thus working after school is an opportunity for youngsters to socialize within relatively safe boundaries.

My sister began working at a pizza place just before her 16th birthday, and kept that job through her first year of college. She was one of those people who loved school, work, and anything else as long as there were lots of other youngsters there. She did participate in many extracurricular activities too, earning many awards, and she was in NHS, so her grades didn't suffer much. Because she had a good sense of priorities, she learned to demand what she needed (e.g., no work hours on Drama Club nights) from her employers, and learned that that was the way to gain respect - a very valuable lesson.

Not everything she learned from her work buddies was good. She was introduced to a bit of foolishness, e.g., teen drinking, and I won't deny she tried it out (as I found out much later, of course). However, because this was all within the context of needing to balance priorities, and since the kids she hung out with generally had a high value for education and accomplishment, she learned quickly not to let foolishness mess up her plans.

Not every teen job works out so well, as the motivation and readiness for work is an individual matter. Kids who are more immature tend to try a job and leave it and not try again for a while - i.e., the school priority indirectly wins out. Some kids have trouble finding a great job due to commuting issues or conflicting family responsibilities, but they should still be encouraged to do something productive for someone other than themselves. Ultimately, the purpose of a teen job should be to teach priorities, responsibility, and a taste of real life. The rest is gravy.

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I think that if the teen wants a part time job, then they should go for it! But I dont think it should be a requirement.

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