Teenagers and Jobs

Should teenagers have jobs while they’re still going to school? I remember thinking it probably wasn’t a good idea. How could they work, do all their homework plus carry on a social life? After all they have their whole lives ahead of them to work. Like most of my pre-conceived ideas, once I was actually faced with the option of my teenagers having jobs, I changed my thinking.

My sixteen year old son Marc has two jobs. He works part- time at McDonalds and at least three times a week is called upon to referree hockey games. My daughter Claire is in college full-time and works weekends at a local grocery store. The money they earn is rewarding for sure but I can also see how they’re both learning so much about life. They’re learning how to work with the public, how to be part of a team of people; some of whom they may not like, and about accountability. As well, they’re learning about different aspects of the business world such as customer service and marketing.

Marc and Claire are both responsible for all their clothing, monthly cell phone bill and entertainment costs. I see them becoming more selective with their spending, deciding to save for certain things they can’t afford right now and taking pride in knowing what they buy is with money they earned themselves. Apart from offering some guidelines, we’ve allowed them to make their own mistakes around spending. It makes sense to me that they learn from their mistakes now while they’re at home and not responsible for major living expenses.

I’ve realized too that having a busy schedule when you’re a teenage is not a bad thing. They are both learning how to balance their lives and appreciate their free time much more. Without hockey and his jobs, Marc would be spending hours a day chatting on the computer. Spending time with his friends is important and who would want to deny him of that. I’m thrilled though that he’s busy and engaged in productive activities. I’ve often thought that we over- schedule our younger kids and they don’t have enough time to just “be”. A teenager with a lot of time time on his/her hands is quite different than an eight year old with a lot of free time.

Does homework get done? Although my kids work and go to school, they both manage get their homework done. It doesn’t seem to interfere with their school performance at all. They’ve both learned to balance their lives in a way that allows for school, work and a lot of fun. So I’ve learned teenagers having jobs on top of going to school has many benefits.