I wanted a job because my friends had gotten jobs, my parents were against it and told me "you have the rest of your life to work". I wish I had listened to them, I'm over this whole working thing lol. DH and I want DS to focus on school and extracurriculars and not worry about a job unless something amazing comes his way.
Yes, I was the default childcare provider for my two sisters after school from age 8 until I graduated high school. I almost flunked 5th grade because I missed so much school having to be home watching them.
I wasn't encouraged to get an after school job, they wanted me to focus on school/sports/extracurriculars, which took up a lot of time. I did the occasional babysitting job and sometimes did stuff for my mom's work, but nothing regular.
Post by expectantsteelerfan on Mar 22, 2024 17:48:31 GMT -5
I answered yes I wanted spending money, but there was zero pressure from my parents to get a job, it was something I sought out and had to convince them to 'let' me do (at 15) because they had to drive me to/from the job and help me get a work permit. I was a responsible and independent teen who wanted as much independence as I could get due to our home situation, and working was a way to get that. We were also not well off living in an area filled with very well off people, so that was another reason I wanted my own money because I knew better than to ask my parents for money for things beyond my very basic needs.
It has also been a goal of mine to not have my kids grow up like I did in a LOT of ways. My ds is 14, turning 15 this summer. I told him that he HAS to do swim team this summer, and he will have to do it next summer too unless he wants to get a summer job instead. I don't know that I would make him get a job during the school year, but I would like him to experience a 'job' as a teen to get that experience. So a summer job is in his future unless he can come up with a really compelling argument for why he doesn't need one.
My parents didn’t make me get a job, but I had to pay for my own gas, most of my clothes, makeup, any extra stuff. I did a lot of babysitting all year, and got an actual job every summer.
I was at a Catholic high school and my parents told me they couldn't afford it anymore, so I could either pay for it myself or transfer to public school. Fortunately it was not an expensive school, and I was able to pay for it by flipping burgers with the friends I didn't want to lose.
I was required to as a general rule, to be productive, but was able to keep my money so I didn't not want to work either. I think it helped give me some valuable skills for later.
Eta I was able to pay for a school sponsored trip to Europe independently that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise
Yes, I was the default childcare provider for my two sisters after school from age 8 until I graduated high school. I almost flunked 5th grade because I missed so much school having to be home watching them.
Post by firedancer10288 on Mar 22, 2024 18:03:45 GMT -5
I was required to pay for my own car insurance and gas, so if I wanted to drive I needed a job. I was gifted a car (my grandfather died and my grandmother didn’t drive, so she gave me his car when I turned 16), otherwise I would have had to buy a car as well.
Post by wanderingback on Mar 22, 2024 18:11:07 GMT -5
No, because I played sports year round. So they said that was my job and didn’t make me get one. I think my junior and senior year of high school during the summer I got a job. I played college in soccer (scholarship) so didn’t work then either but I did work in the summers during college.
Farm kid checking in. I worked on the farm from the time I could walk. Got an after school job at a coffee shop as soon as I could drive. Not because my parents made me but because it was significantly easier than farm work.
My own kid started working the day after his 14th birthday. But that was entirely his own initiative.
I either had to have a job or be in sports once I got my license (before then, it was just be in sports). So I didn't get a job until the winter of my senior year when I decided to drop my winter and spring sport to train for a marathon.
ETA: I did plenty of side gig babysitting starting at 11 years old. But that wasn't really a job per my parents rules.
Having a summer job was the norm in my working class, small hometown. I can’t think of any friends who didn’t have one after freshmen year of HS.
I started working 1-2 nights/week during the school year my jr. year once I’d gotten cut from the volleyball team, and I was really thankful for it. My closest friends played vball, and it would have been lonely without something to fill that void.
I made new friends at East of Chicago pizza that year, and it taught me a lot about getting along with people who were different than me.
DS is 13 and excited to work next summer. He already has a mapped out list of places where he could ride his bike to work for maximum independence, lol.
I was kicked out at 15yo, so I had to work (more than I should have legally or reasonably). There was a 10 day period where I was employed by 4 different jobs (and I had to walk/ride city buses to get to them). Needless to say, my youth was not ideal.
Post by rooster222 on Mar 22, 2024 18:49:07 GMT -5
I wasn't required to work but I knew if I wanted to have any kind of life as a high schooler, then I would need a job.
My teens were both anxious to start working so they could have their own money. At times we've had to tell them both to work less. We also didn't let dd work her first semester of college and that was really hard for her.
Post by litebright on Mar 22, 2024 18:57:23 GMT -5
No, they didn't tell to/make me get a job. I wanted one, because I hated not having any money--we didn't get an allowance. So I started babysitting as soon as I could, and at 13 my 7th grade shop teacher offered me a job helping with the pool care business that he ran during the summers. I basically sat around his house and waited for people to show up to ask for water tests and sell them pool chemicals from his garage. He lived close enough that I could bike there, so I never had to have my parents on-board to transport me.
I did that every summer until I graduated high school, and after school in the beginning/end of the pool season. Eventually my boss opened a retail location that was half pool stuff, half screen printing for local sports teams, so I also learned how to screen print t-shirts.
It was a really good situation for me as a teen. I rarely had to pay for gas and didn't have to pay for insurance, but I saved up to buy things like my own class ring and to have some funds for college. TBH I lived in the middle of nowhere and it was pre-internet days, so I didn't have a ton of opportunities to spend the money I made. I did work-study all during college and grad school so that I had a little bit of cash flow and didn't have to ask my parents for spending money or to pay for things like sorority dues.
My 16YO DD1 got her first job last summer, working for a local native plant nursery. She loved it, they loved her and she just started back last week working a four-hour shift on Saturdays. She works more during the summer and then only Saturdays in the spring/fall, which fits well with her school & activity schedule. She isn't a big spender, but very much like me, she likes the autonomy of having her own money. DD2 is about to turn 14 and chomping at the bit to get a job for much the same reason.
Post by mcppalmbeach on Mar 22, 2024 18:57:38 GMT -5
My parents were very much school is your job people.
I posted this another time, but I wish they had encouraged me to try a low stakes job just to build up professional skills, gain confidence and get out of my comfort zone at least during summers. I read and I watched a lot of daytime tv.
I’m encouraging my kids to get a job, but honestly until you are 16 here no one really wants you. I think it will be difficult to balance sports and jobs though.
I said no. I started working at the church rectory when I was 14. I wasn't told or made to work but there wasn't any money, so if I wanted some working was the only way to get it. There was no threat of withholding. I had older siblings so I always remember wanting to work and get paid like they all did. My husband wondered why I started working so young and asked what I needed the money for. I said "food and clothing." There is so much that people who were never poor will never get.
I worked for most of my teenage years for spending money and for savings. I did a combo of babysitting, odd jobs, and part-time jobs on afternoons and weekends once I could start driving.
But I also didn’t need as many extracurriculars and community service to get into college as kids need today.
ETA: my parents didn’t make me get a job, but they also didn’t have money for extras, and I had to buy all my own clothes/shoes aside from back-to-school clothes, and pay for all of my activities and entertainment. I’m thankful that they allowed me to work, and I learned a ton.
My parents were pretty anti job until I graduated high school. I think it paid off because I did a lot of volunteer work, clubs and got great grades. I got more in scholarships, grants and aid than I would have working at a job.
There are also weren’t any good or easy places to work where we lived. No shopping centers or supermarkets or restaurants just some corner bars and a tiny bank. I didn’t have a car until grad school. But no one I knew really had money so it was NBD. We spent our time going to free shows at places that didn’t card lol
Post by hbomdiggity on Mar 22, 2024 19:17:01 GMT -5
My parents wouldn’t let me get a job. It was a combo of prioritizing playing sports/ activities /being a kid and not wanting me to have a bunch of cash to burn. I would cut grass at my dad’s office and do some other stuff, but otherwise they bought my clothes and gave me money to go to the movies, gas, etc. - just that I had to ask and they knew what it was being spent on.
Yes. My mom dropped me off on the corner in town and instructed me to go door to door asking if they were hiring. I had to work to pay for car insurance and to do things I wanted to do socially. I worked at Pizza Hut and had that job all through high school and summers in college until I had to intern preparing for graduation.
Our older daughter works. She chooses to work bc she’s a very motivated person but we also require her to contribute financially to her wants (vs needs).
Post by cricketwife on Mar 22, 2024 19:36:55 GMT -5
I had to pay for my own car, gas, and insurance, if I wanted one, which I did.
I also did fall and spring sports. I only worked on weekends in the school year. I don’t think babysitting should be viewed as less than a “real “ job. I made a lot of money babysitting and I learned more responsibility through babysitting than waiting tables or being a cashier.
My parents didn’t make me get a job, but it was clearly known that I needed to get one if I wanted to buy anything non-essential. My parents couldn’t afford to give me spending money, buy extra clothes, etc., so I used birthday, Christmas, dog walking and babysitting money for my early teen years and then got a PT job when I turned 16. I worked more in the summers, and then during the HS school year I usually worked one or two shifts a week since I was scheduling around school, sports and other extracurricular activities. That was generally enough to fund my lifestyle back then (late 90s), but I also didn’t have a car of my own. I used to rollerblade to work, LOL.
I’m surprised by the number of people who didn’t have jobs or parents wouldn’t let them. Everyone I knew had a job then, even rich kids who didn’t need the money. It was definitely out of the norm in my area to not have at least a very part time job.
I clicked no but I pretty much worked from 12 on because I wanted to. I started babysitting at 12. I had 3 regular clients and kept that up until I graduated high school. Then when I was 16 (but a month from 17) I got a job at a candy store at the mall. It was totally spur of the moment. I had a crush on a boy that worked next store so I applied because why not?! My mom was like okay then. To this day that was my favorite job ever though. In college I worked more sporadically but I always felt more successful working than in school so I had a job when I could.
I did not have any jobs because my parents pushed academic success above all else. But I will make my kids get some very basic retail jobs, schedule permitting. They have very comfortable lives so I think it will give them perspective to see how different businesses function.
I wasn't allowed to get a job because my parents told me school was my job.
In retrospect, I think that was a crap approach because I didn't really understand working and finances. I went on to get an arts degree which has led to nothing but low-paying jobs and dissatisfaction.
I chose “something else”. Our stipulation was we had to have a job before getting our license so we could pay for our insurance.
I was in no hurry to get my license as the city I grew up in was walkable and my best friend had hers and a car. But, I did babysit from the age of 13 and got my first retail job after I graduated.