Kiddo wants a job.....

Spendless

The refereeing course sounds good.:) A neighbour's teen did a lifeguarding one and then waited a few months for a vacancy to become available, an ex-workmate's son used to have a casual weekend job being a marshall at a paintballing field.

Lara44

I worked in a kitchen from a few months before my 14th birthday. I did one night in the week 5 - 11 and one night on the weekend. At 16 I worked 2.5 shifts per week in the banqueting department at a national hotel. I also did temp work during the summer.

Both jobs were great. I learned the value of money for starters and I loved having my own spends. The jobs gave me a lot of confidence and skills; dealing with people, organising, working in a team. I made a lot of friends that I am still in touch with. It didn't have any impact on my school work, I passed all my GCSEs and A-Levels. In fact, I think it helped me to organise my time a lot better. Homework had to be done before a work night for example. If I showed my parents I could manage school work and chores I was given more freedom. It was great!

meritaten

There are other ways to earn money you know. why not have a good clear out and put items on ebay? or car boot them? if you want her to get out and about - then delivering leaflets is an option. easy if you live in an area with lots of terraced houses -wouldn't consider it out in the country!
Pet walking is also good, as is cat minding in persons homes (that can be done strictly on a holiday basis), these can also be done before and after school for an ongoing income.
I think a 15 year old is old enough for babysitting - especially if she can get references from responsible professionals (teachers, the vicar etc) to show parents. The references would be needed for the previous 'jobs' too.

zippybungle

Interesting to see how opinions have changed. I'm 33, but when I was 15 I did babysitting for a family who had 5 children. I saw an advert on a postcard in a supermarket wanting a babysitter, so I rang the number and went to see the family (accompanied by my Mum). I started babysitting for them every other saturday night and the Dad of the family would walk me home when they came back from their night out.

I also had a newspaper round and when I was 16 I had a Saturday job working at the local bowling alley. The sad part of all this is that I actually had way more money then I do now! lol.

Zippy x

hippihaz

Hi, when I was 14 I started working as a waitress for events, eg weddings/business functions. Silver service style. It was at a private venue (a private school actually) but friends did similar work at golf clubs, race courses etc. The hrs you can work as under 16 are quite limited. I would do an event on a Saturday, maybe 4 hours work, and if I had the time would ask for a bit extra, eg setting up for the event in the morning (another 4 hrs work). Then during the holidays it would be saturday, sunday and some week day events too. (I waitressed but other staff did kitchen duties, washer-uper etc). Got paid £4.20/hr (that was 10yrs ago). When I was 16 I did lifeguard qualification and that paid much better (between £6.50-£8 an hr ) And yes I got very good GCSEs and A level results whilst doing this. So long as she maintains a good balence, she should be fine. Hope that helps!

Poppy9

Mojisola wrote: »

If I was going to pay for a baby-sitter, I'd rather give some money to a young relative or a friend's teenager than someone I didn't know so well.

I take your point but in my family we just do not accept money for helping someone out.

I know others do. i.e. I have friends who paid their children to do chores or made them earn their pocket money. I took the view that if you live in the house you share the load and shouldn't expect to be paid for it. DD had (well still has) a monthly allowance but it wasn't dependent on her doing chores etc. Poor behaviour in or outside the home would have meant no allowance but it's never been necessary!

mark260311

What skills does she have? And how can she charge for them?! Social media age, everything and everyone is connected! Assess her transferable skills, create a face book page for it, leave a contact number for her/you, print flyers and go post locally, vista print for free business cards only pay shipping. All you need for a quickie business start up in less than £20!! Good luck no matter hat you do!

thorsoak

Why not get her to write a really nice letter, stating that she won't be 16 until June when she has finished her exams, but that she would like to work for X/Y/Z company then - and would they please put her on a waiting list ....... it worked for Step GD!

medsdemon

FatVonD wrote: »

I have the same problem with my DS, he wanted to do work experience in the last school summer holidays but didn't turn 15 until the end of August so too late to satisfy age requirements for insurance purposes.

His catering course require him to have a part time job next year but he won't be able to look until September so I imagine most of the jobs will have been snapped up in the school holidays.

If he's doing catering lots of hotels and restaurants take on 15 year olds to work in kitchens as KP's prepping the food etc. Then at least his foot's in the door and they might give him a chance to do more or at least he would have a reference for moving on to somewhere else with some experience under his belt. My DD has worked in a small restaurant/bar from 15 doing Kp'ing and waitressing and loves it. She's now had a payrise and is the lead waitress when she's on, and steps into the kitchen if she's needed.

She works through her exam time with no detriment to her study.. A few hours a week makes no difference, as one previous poster wrote much of their revision time is wasted anyway on making drinks, twitter, making snacks, twitter, pinterest, making drink twitter etc so honestly it makes her use her time wisely and no-one can study all day.

Mojisola

Poppy9 wrote: »

I take your point but in my family we just do not accept money for helping someone out.

I know others do. i.e. I have friends who paid their children to do chores or made them earn their pocket money. I took the view that if you live in the house you share the load and shouldn't expect to be paid for it. DD had (well still has) a monthly allowance but it wasn't dependent on her doing chores etc. Poor behaviour in or outside the home would have meant no allowance but it's never been necessary!

We have exactly the same attitude to everyone pulling their weight at home not for reward but just because they are a family member.

Among the adults, we wouldn't usually charge because there's enough give-and-take that it all evens out - I help Sis by babysitting, she helps me out in some other way. When we ask a family member to do something for us that is their job - car repairs, decorating, accounts, etc, I would expect to pay.

When it comes to the children starting to find work, we would pay them. We like the idea of them starting off in safe, family environments, we want to show them that we value their efforts to do extra work and we want to encourage them to earn their own money.