Teen weekend job

YORKSHIRELASS

I have got a completely different take on this. DS got a job in a local restaurant just after his 15th birthday - washing up, cleaning, fetching and carrying etc. He is fairly quiet and we thought it would do him good. I actually think that he was too young for it and found the busy, adult environment a bit overwhelming. No-one seemed to really have time to show him what to do and he got conflicting instructions from different members of staff.

He worked slowly as he wanted to get things right then got told that he needed to work quicker. If he wasnt sure what to do he found it hard to interrupt people when they were busy so just ploughed on and got things wrong. I ended up getting involved because I think the restaurant decided that he wasnt up to it but didnt want to sack him. He was adamant that he was doing OK and didnt want to leave. It was awful.

Six months on and things are better. I am proud of him for sticking it out but I am also aware that this hasnt been the positive experience that I hoped it would be. If I am honest I really wish that I had said no to this idea and had made him wait a bit.

I do know plenty of 15 year olds who have jobs and do well but my advice to any other parent would be to think carefully about it. 14 or 15 is quite young to be coping with everything that comes with a paid job at a time when most teenagers have a lot of other things going on in their lives.

mrsjanebanbury2009

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I think that some of those would be more time consuming and detrimental to his studies than doing 4 or 5 hours a week in employment.

That's true, indeed, but the OP didn't mention that as being a concern, merely that he was too young to get employment in traditional ways

always_sunny

What does he want to do later on?
There are few 'jobs' he could do from home if he has access to a computer and internet connection like data entry, simple admin, etc.

spadoosh

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

I have got a completely different take on this. DS got a job in a local restaurant just after his 15th birthday - washing up, cleaning, fetching and carrying etc. He is fairly quiet and we thought it would do him good. I actually think that he was too young for it and found the busy, adult environment a bit overwhelming. No-one seemed to really have time to show him what to do and he got conflicting instructions from different members of staff.

He worked slowly as he wanted to get things right then got told that he needed to work quicker. If he wasnt sure what to do he found it hard to interrupt people when they were busy so just ploughed on and got things wrong. I ended up getting involved because I think the restaurant decided that he wasnt up to it but didnt want to sack him. He was adamant that he was doing OK and didnt want to leave. It was awful.

Six months on and things are better. I am proud of him for sticking it out but I am also aware that this hasnt been the positive experience that I hoped it would be. If I am honest I really wish that I had said no to this idea and had made him wait a bit.

I do know plenty of 15 year olds who have jobs and do well but my advice to any other parent would be to think carefully about it. 14 or 15 is quite young to be coping with everything that comes with a paid job at a time when most teenagers have a lot of other things going on in their lives.

To be fair to you, its better getting that slap in the face at 15 then at 17, 19 or even 21. Which is what i noticed from most young uns starting work.

Had an 18yo start and it was embarrassing for us both when her manager asked her to make a brew for a customer for her to then ask me how to make said brew.

A bit of tough love, sometimes they need kicking out of the nest and nearly falling to their death for em to fly! :rotfl::A

Sounds like your son narrowly got away with nearly being a mollycoddled one! :cool: :T

YORKSHIRELASS

spadoosh you do have a point but I think nowadays the pressure at school is much more intense than when I was 15 and the last thing I wanted was my son worrying about his job. Maybe he has learned something from this though and let's hope this has made him more able to cope in a work environment in the future.

square_bear

Hi everyone.
Thank you so much for all the tips and advice.
I've told him to perhaps wait until next spring before deciding finding something for 4-5 hours a week. Until then he can experiment with things that are home-based that uses his creativity.
At school he is very good at English and IT and would like to persue something along those lines in the future.
I have suggested maybe trying to write a childrens book, however random the story might turn out and just see what happens.

Lunar_Eclipse

What is he interested in and what skills does he have? If he's great with computers or art, he could design some flyers and post them through letterboxes offering his services along these lines.

Gardening, car washing, babysitting and paper rounds are probably the main jobs at his age. But he might need to proactively seek out the work.

I would actually encourage him to volunteer instead, building his experience for his CV (uni application?) instead of focussing on earning money and feeding materialism, unless you struggle financially as a family. Or finding more hobbies that might interest him. Helping coach kids sport or reading to old people in a care home would help his personal development much more than doing a paper round for example.

But also, does he have time? My 14 year old is so busy with school, music, drama plays, sport etc that it would be very stressful to cram work in to her life too, well something would have to give. And the 16 year old is working hard for exams and then volunteering all Summer to help her uni application.

Lunar_Eclipse

spadoosh wrote: »

Had an 18yo start and it was embarrassing for us both when her manager asked her to make a brew for a customer for her to then ask me how to make said brew.

I agree with the underlying point you are making, but that's probably related to cultural changes over time more than the assumption that the 18 year old has been molly coddled.

Loads of households nowadays basically drink water. Tea drinking is for old people, you know 40+. :rotfl:

Neither of my teenagers or their friends drink (or make) tea and coffee. They probably wouldn't be fazed if you asked them to whip up a green smoothie or juice though!

Times have changed.