My son will be 14 years old next summer and I’d like to find him a good summer volunteer position that may help improve his resume and experience. Something meaningful that may support his future career.
Sometimes he says he wants to go to medical school, other times he wants to go to law school. He’s maybe still too young to know what he wants.
Volunteering at a local library, bakery or animal shelter are nice opportunities but I would like to find him something better.
He’s a very good student and he recently took the SCAT test and qualified for the CTY at John Hopkins.
I see that most opportunities are for high school juniors and seniors, but not for freshmen.
Any suggestions I will appreciate.
Thank you.
To be honest the idea of finding “something better” doesn’t come across well.
He should get a minimum wage job and at 14 should really be doing the job/internship search himself with guidance from parents as needed. The idea of a parent “finding” their child a job just seems a bit backwards. Helping find a job, certainly, but not doing the legwork for him. Just because he’s doing well academically doesn’t mean he’s above any type of work.
Babysitting is perfect for this age.
Boy Scout activities that repair parks, trails, beaches-leading to his Eagle.
That’s what a number of our local scouts do at that age. These kids then get into some tough schools.
Since he’s not actively searching, you may want to suggest day camp counselor-some of our scouts taught surfing/sailing to younger children.
I’m not interested in personal opinions about what you think is right or wrong. I just want to find out if there are any other alternatives for my 14 year old child next summer. Sarcasms are funny but they don’t contribute to the discussion. Also, you don’t need to cut segments of my message to throw your own opinionated opinion. 
If you don’t like the word “better”, I can change it for: “something more relevant that matches my sons interests”.
Any help will/would be appreciated.
*As a matter for all, once a person posts for feedback, all opinions that are on topic and within the Terms of Service are allowed. Those same Terms do not allow for suppression or filtration of opinions, even those that might say the entire original question is off base. Those opinions can be food for thought as well, or they can be ignored by the OP, but you don’t get to tell people “only certain kinds of opinions allowed”.
fallenchemist, moderator*
I can think of few better ways to spend one’s time than positively contributing to the health and well-being (and possibly preserving the life) of abandoned animals.
If that is not what he is interested in, then that’s fine, but you make these sound like they are beneath him.
Thank you Aunt Bea. I’ll look at Boy Scout activities. Maybe they’ll provide a good experience for him.
romanigypsyeyes, I think I already said I’m changing the word “better” for: “something more relevant that matches my sons interests”.
I didn’t mean to offend the animal lovers.
Geez! Some members in this forum are very touchy.
If you’re posting to a message board then you’re going to receive opinions. Critical commentary is designed to provide what most people consider well-meant advice based on experiences, research etc. Whether or not you agree with others’ opinions is up to you, but asking a question and only wanting to hear answers confirming your beliefs does a disservice to your son.
He’s 14 with likely little to no prior work experience interested in anything from law to medicine which limits his options. You could pay lots of money to have him go to some college’s summer academic camps and add a brand name to his resume. He could probably even find a hospital to volunteer in. But at the end of the day he’d probably get more out of having a low paying job or volunteering with a good mindset. Volunteering to pad a resume is offensive to the communities you volunteer in.
Service is about serving others first and not yourself.
Without family connections, meaningful paid internships don’t come before 16. The reason should be clear if you think in the employer’s view.
You need to check with local hospitals about the age limits too. Many do not allow even volunteers because of their insurance rules. Same will apply at many other private businesses, he’s just too young.
My daughter’s camp has counselor in training for that age.
The babysitting idea is neither sarcastic nor frivolous. My D became CPR certified at that age, and some other kind of emergency certified that I have forgotten but which helped her get sitting jobs. That seems highly relevant for a future MD, as do the people-handling skills a sitter learns. One can learn a lot at almost any job at that age. Not to mention you never know what career insights someone who hires him to sit might provide. Don’t be so quick to dismiss good ideas.
Perhaps you believe there’s some mentally stimulating work available for the normal 13-14 year old which will allow him to read through law or medical journals or prepare draft documents or analyze medical research data? This simply is unrealistic. You want him to find something that will open his mind to people and experiences around him. I find NONE of the suggestions so far foisted here to be frivolous. I washed dishes. Years later, I wasn’t rejected at any college, including multiple Ivies. It taught me to hone my work ethic.
Sure, you can steer him away from stuff that might be boring – but have him get a job sweeping and making popcorn at the local theatre, or be a lifeguard, or be a neighborhood dog walker, or do part time landscaping, or the equipment manager for a pee-wee football league, or volunteer at a senior home or women’s shelter. If he wants to go into medicine or law, seeing the faces of people in need of good medical care and protections from policies and the legal system will help him.
My children volunteered as Computer Training Instructor Assistants at the library and local resource center at that age.
He’s just finished 7th grade, right? You say he doesn’t yet know what his interest are yet on another thread you’re asking about the carer paths of Harvard Med School students. My personal opinion (and I recognize that you’re not going to like it) is that you need to back off a bit and allow your son to explore his own interests. Does he have any idea why he wants to study medicine or law, or are they simply placeholders for “I want to be successful”?
IMO any of the suggestions here would be great for a kid heading into high school. At this age leaning to work with adults, show up on time, ask for help when he doesn’t know how to do a job, assume some authority, act in a professionally appropriate manner, and work a full day are all tremendously valuable skills. Many of us here who hire young people for job or internships would tell you that honest work is a big resume booster, often greater than that provided by a my-parents-got-me-this-internship internship.
If he really is interested in medicine doing something like volunteering in a senior center is a great idea as it will help him decide how he really feels about spending his day around sick or infirm people while helping him hone his people skills.
My daughter worked as a camp counselor at our local YMCA this summer. What a wonderful job! They gave her lots of training, the pay was good and the hours were regular. She was in charge of quite a few kids. Her last day was yesterday, and she had to sit through a review. I can’t think of better experience for a teenager. It was her first year to do this (she’s 18), but her friend has been doing it for several years. The Y told my daughter she can work anytime she’s home on school vacation, too.
A lot of jobs and volunteer opportunities are not open to 14-year-olds, but some are. Volunteer opportunities are particularly popular in my area because the kids have to do a substantial number of community service hours to graduate from high school, and a lot of kids like to get this out of the way in the summer – preferably in summers when they’re not old enough yet for most paid jobs.
In my area, quite a lot of kids this age work at the public libraries, either as pages (paid work but boring) or as summer volunteers (unpaid and mildly interesting, but demand is so high that you have to apply many months in advance).
Another common summer activity at this age is working as a counselor-in-training (which really means counselor’s helper) at day camps. This is usually a full-day activity for two or three weeks, which works out well for kids who have another commitment for a different part of the summer, such as a summer school course or a family vacation.
What are his unique skills at that young age? Is he an exceptional computer programmer? Does he have experience working in a research lab? He likely should be looking at age appropriate summer jobs as others have suggested. This will enable him to explore his interests and socialize with his peers.
good luck on your hunt.
here, even the animal shelter raised their volunteer age to 21. it left the library and (i think) the hospital for any significant hours–you can grab a few through things like the historical society or some of the charities–things like handing out water bottles for some Run for Charity, but those things arent consistent.
and at 14, its very, very tough.
i’d reccommend you attend any school meetings about various clubs–often there are volunteer hours there for things like SADD or Key Clubs. and check with your local civic orgs–sometimes the fire/police run programs, sometimes there are things at the local elks/lions/jaycees that they can get involved in.
i have absolutely zero idea where one would find a “real” opportunity in labs or other stem related fields without having some kind of contact–even if those types of things existed here, they would go to college age interns, not 14 year olds.