<p>Just curoius…for those whose kids don’t (or didn’t) have a p/t job in high sch, where does their spending moeny come from? Do you give them a set allowance per week/month or just give them money whenever something comes up that they want to do?</p>
<p>We give the kids money as needed, within reason. They work in the summer so they do have some money from that. They can earn money doing big jobs around the house too–for things we won’t buy for them (video games, etc.). They are also expected to help around the house cleaning, running errands for us, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t think working is right for every h.s. kid. If my D were involved in, say, a varsity sport or theater productions (two things off the bat that I know are extremely time-consuming), she couldn’t have worked at the job she found. That 12 hours also includes weekends. She has to arrange to take time off for things like the SAT and the senior trip. Indeed, she had to work the morning after senior prom because the other file girl had to take the SAT. But it’s completely her choice to work, and she understands the tradeoffs. I also don’t think it hurt her college admissions one bit. In fact, it was the centerpiece of several of her campus interviews. As she wants to be a doctor, her work fits with her goals and plans. </p>
<p>I just don’t have the almost dogmatic opposition I used to have against working (inherited from my parents, who didn’t let me work until the summer before college). It’s been really good for my D on a number of levels, not just financial (that’s probably the least important).</p>
<p>I didn’t work in high school. I probably had enough time to work, though it’s difficult to say… I didn’t do very well in school but I also didn’t try to do very well, I am not sure if I would have grown up or if I would have just crashed and burned-- either is possible. But, I didn’t have access to a car or a drivers license until the summer after graduation, there is no public transportation here, and my parents were adamantly against me working. I was worried about college money but they told me college was taken care of and not to worry about it… which turned out not to be true, but that’s what happened. So I didn’t work.</p>
<p>Most of my spending money was birthday money, which I didn’t get a lot of, and once in great while my parents would give me money if I wanted to go to a movie or something. I just didn’t DO very much at all for the longest time. If I went out it was to hang out at the neighbor girls house and we didn’t need any money, so on the rare occasion that I actually wanted to go out my parents would get all excited and be happy to give me money because that was probably only a handful of times a year if that. I am sure my parents would not have given me money otherwise.</p>
<p>When I graduated high school and started community college, my parents still didn’t want me working but I did get a part-time job and worked for two years at around 25-30 hours a week. At one point I’d switched from a permanent position to a seasonal out of desperation for something else because the first job was AWFUL-- and I mean it, we had to get a lawyer when I quit-- and when the seasonal job ended I couldn’t find another job. So I got really involved in ECs and volunteer work and kept looking for jobs. I ended up doing mostly volunteer work and one internship until I graduated college. That was just the best I could do.</p>
<p>In the end, it worked out. I wish I could have had a better internship experience because what I had was only 6 weeks long and didn’t really provide any useful experience. But I was never entitled because my parents didn’t make me work, and it was okay in the end even if not ideal.</p>
<p>My sister, on the other hand, is expected to maintain employment and has been since she was 16… she gets into BIG trouble if she has too much free time on her hands. She is going to community college full time now and working full time in a clothing store… before that she worked part time and she worked part time at home for my dad as well. </p>
<p>I really think it depends on the family and the kid. In our family, each of the three kids had drastically different situations in terms of working and everybody found what worked for them.</p>
<p>My son did not have a school-year job and did put in lots of academic/EC hours. My 84 yo Mom, who lives with my sister, stays with us for much of the summer to give everyone a break, so “entertaining Grandma” was his unofficial, unpaid summer job. Most of his friends worked, but it seemed that most of their paychecks paid for their unlimited phone plans and gas for their cars. He had neither, so maybe he didn’t have the strong motivation for a paying job. That said, I am a little nervous that he’s 18 and has no paid employment on his record.</p>
<p>Good point about the driving. Unless the kid has a license and use of a car, working is usually not practical, at least where we live. Biking will get you killed (and it’s a problem in January). Public transport is non-existent.</p>
<p>Jobs are very different for each kid, my now senior in college S wanted all the latest gadgets and played video games in HS with a 3.3 average with very little effort. He needed a job. Worked on an ice truck during summers and watched dogs year round. D which is a junior is in all AP’s , saves every cent, volunteers, internship, sports, EC’s etc - she does pet sitting for some extra cash.</p>
<p>I had the kind of part-time job where I could spend a lot of time studying. Basically second-shift hospital secretarial work. I had charts to update, tests to do, answer the phone, answer patient requests but it was usually fairly quiet and I could do my schoolwork when it was quiet. For college-age, something comparable would be a security guard where you do your rounds and then sit at the desk.</p>
<p>I had my first job at 11 and worked regularly from 14 - the experience being around adults, having responsibilities and seeing how businesses and organizations operate was great. It was also nice to be able to get work on short notice - I could call previous employers if I needed something short-term or maybe even longer-term and I would sometimes get calls when they needed someone on short notice. One of these jobs provided me with spending money while I was in college.</p>
<p>I think that the teen work experiences made it easier to get my first real job.</p>
<p>Both my Ds worked in high school. Both attended competitive high schools and took APs that interested them. Both had ECs which took up alot of time. (Athletics, marching band, musical theater)</p>
<p>Summers were for working or doing volunteer work or taking summer classes (D1 couldn’t fit required PE into her schedule any other way.) D1 started babysitting at 14, started lifeguarding at 16. D2 started as a summer day camp asst when she was 15. At first they just held summer jobs, but both had jobs that eventually morphed into year round jobs by the time they were seniors.</p>
<p>Both managed just fine. Both learned valuable time management skills. (Ground rules said–significant grade drop = they had to quit their jobs.) Both gained valuable job references and social skills (dealing with difficult people, negotiating with bosses). And both earned enough money to pay for their gas and car insurance. Anything above that, they were free to do with as they pleased. My grasshopper spent it all; my ant socked hers all away in the bank.</p>
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<p>My kids had a set monthly allowance in high school, even though (as it happened) D had a part-time job and S didn’t. Now they have a set monthly allowance for college (which we continue over the summer), even though D is going to summer school and S now has a paying job over the summer. I intend those allowances to be their spending money, and frankly they’ve pretty much socked away all their earnings from their part-time jobs and rolled it into long-term savings and investment accounts, which I’m fine with.</p>
<p>I agree it’s kid and job dependent. I think it’s good for most kids to work in the summer. My oldest had full time computer programming work summer after junior and senior year. He ended up working part time senior year as well for the same firm. As long as he continued to get straight A’s we didn’t have a problem with him working. Younger son only worked in the summer - and only worked part time. He did earn some money year round making origami earrings. There’s no way he could have worked during the school year and kept his grades up.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I agree that it really depends on the kid, the job, and the family.</p>
<p>My oldest has worked part time since he was 13. But, he’s got a lot of skills and the personality that get him jobs. He just graduated high school and this summer, he’s had a boatload of tutoring jobs (math, physics, SAT math, violin teaching) which still left him with a lot of flexibility to do a two week road trip. He also busked (street performed) for 4-5 days and earned about 1/2 of his road trip money. He’s worked as a violin teacher since age 14 and a violinist since age 13. He also worked at Mathnasium during the past three school years, working between 4-10 hours a week. So, he’s probably worked 12-15 hours a week since mid-sophomore year. He’s headed off to MIT in the fall. However, he was homeschooled and had more flexibility than other students and that matters.</p>
<p>Since we are not rich and can’t afford certain things, he’s always paid for his car insurance, most of his gas, his cell phone and minutes, some clothing, and more. He his great earning potential.</p>
<p>Jump to my next son, 15. He’s a vastly different kid with a different personality. His one marketable skill currently is cello. He’s earned a little as a cellist in a quartet. Recently, he wanted to begin making money so I suggested he begin teaching cello. He now has three students and if they are consistent, he will make $40 a week. For him, that’s great. </p>
<p>He is the type to watch a lot of videos and play on the computer, as well; so, I will also encourage him to learn programming and get some jobs that way as he gets older.</p>
<p>I’m into creative job making!</p>
<p>I wish your son well, OP.</p>
<p>It really depends. I was expected to pay for my gas, ap tests, standardized tests, etc so working was a must. I took plenty of aps, did sports, volunteered, and did theater in high school on top of my job. Bonus: I was able to get a job that paid relatively decently early in college because of my high school work experience.</p>
<p>I have had a job since the spring of my sophomore year in high school. While during the school year I only work on the weekends, I increase my hours in the summer. Having my own job has caused me to less dependent on my parents. I pay for all of my extra expenses and save some of it for college and unexpected expenses. I am about to start my senior year and I am planning to increase my hours during the week to jelp my patents with college. In my opinion my minimum wage paying job is the best thing I could have done for myself as a 16 year old girl.</p>
<p>Both of my kids have been life guards since they were 14 in the summer - they are competitive swimmers so they have practice 20-25 hours/wk and work about 15-25 hours/ week. They occassionally pick up a shift or two on the weekends in the indoor pool in the winter - but not much. Swim practice 9 times a week and school keeps them busy - but I will say if they were not athletes they WOULD work during the school year. The 2 or 3 weeks they have off between swim seasons - they are very unproductive because of the extra time on their hands!</p>
<p>My S who just graduated has had a job as a restaurant food runner (can’t touch alcohol as servers do until 19 in our state). He started at the end of the summer before senior year and will stay until he goes to college (at which point he’ll begin a work study job there). I love how he has matured and become more independent. He never asks me for money for anything, he is never late to work and he has handled his school work just fine.</p>
<p>D is only 14 and would love to work but it’s hard to do other than babysitting, etc here until 16. She’s a two sport athlete and that presents a challenge, but we have a couple of places in town where schedules are athlete-friendly.</p>
<p>We are fortunate to live in a town where they can walk to work/school/activities, neither one drives.</p>
<p>It depends on the job, the kid, the family situation, the community. For the most part, I say a kid should work at some job over the summer to earn some of his own spending money and to save for college. Unless he has some outstanding reason, to me that is the norm. Even those kids I knew who were world class athletes found some summer employment, usually with their sport, and most all (can’t think of any who did not) who were the cream of the crop students with research and other academic opportunities also worked. But with the economy the way it has been and a dearth of jobs, it may not always be possible to find part time, temporary work.</p>
<p>The other issue is finding appropriate work for kids. With some kids you do have to be careful that the job is within a culture of like kids, and not something that carries a high risk of him/her deciding to eschew college and run with this new crowd. That is a chance one always takes, but with some kids, you can see the risk very clearly. </p>
<p>As for work during the school year, it depends on the individual student’s course load, ability to handle it, extracurricular activities and how invasive the job is on the student’s schedule. I pretty much discourage this, until my two oldest found very high paying jobs on a Sunday after noon for just several hours that they were able to easily put into their schedules. My current college kid had a light enough schedule and felt enough in control of it to work a few hours that year. He had also decided to forego his winter and spring sports that year giving him a lot of open time.</p>
<p>Sometimes it is important for the kid to work. I see so many posts from kids who cannot afford their colleges as mom and dad are tapped out completely and they are looking at loans and other sources of income, yet they have never worked a paying job and are sitting there second semester senior year, knowing they are facing a money gap, and still not looking for a job. Once your college apps are in and your die is cast in terms of college, that second semester might well be a good time to find a job as a lead in for full time work in the summer. My cousin’s son started working 10, then 20 hours a week in the kitchen of a nursing home (reports that there are plenty of min wage jobs available there) and then worked full time during time off like spring break and through the summer, getting as many hours as he could right up to the day he left for college. He managed to break $5K just in those earnings which really made a nice dent in college costs that his parents were really strapped in paying and that financial aid did not cover entirely even with maximum Stafford loans taken. He did look for some work at college too, but it took the first term to find a job, so the money was sorely needed. He worked during breaks that term as well. </p>
<p>But some kids just can’t handle and do their work as well. Not worth it if that is the case. I did not like mine working freshman year for that reason as I wanted them to get a good handle on college. But if you need the money, it is one of the few sources of getting it.</p>
<p>My wife and I encouraged our kids to work in high school, including part-time work during the school year. They were both academically ambitious and involved in several ECs. At their schools (fancy private, then large urban public magnet) some kids worked, others didn’t. Obviously, at the public school more kids worked, but plenty of kids at the private school worked as well.</p>
<p>Kid #1 started working only after she made a final decision to quit ballet in 10th grade. It would definitely have been hard to combine work and 9-10 hours of ballet classes, plus weeks of rehersal for shows/recitals. She worked in a fancy florist’s shop, and it wound up being great for her. She learned she was good at selling things, for one, and that she could get praise and bonuses for that. She would never have suspected it. The florist also gave her an outlet for her artistic side at a time she was cutting back on that at school to concentrate on AP-type courses. The ability to do flower arrangements, put them on a shelf, and have people want to buy them – that gave her a huge confidence boost, as well as the realization that there wasn’t really a question whether she could support herself in life, the question was HOW she wanted to support herself. Fabulous life lessons, real maturity. She also really liked getting paid, and we liked not having to fight with her about how much money she needed.</p>
<p>Kid #2 got a job at a local gourmet food store as soon as he could - he had been angling for it for years. He loved selling, and loved gaining expertise in what they sold. He continued to work there when he was home on vacation even after he went to college. He also had a regular volunteer job (~4 hours/week) working in a lab, and was president of two active clubs his senior year, so he was a busy kid. During the summers he was a camp counselor, which was a whole 'nother set of skills.</p>
<p>It helped enormously that: We live in a city with decent public transportation, and the kids had access to a car in later years. We didn’t run into any academic performance issues. Both kids were enthusiastic about working. Neither played a varsity sport. They did have occasional conflicts between ECs and work – both were involved with dance and theater, even after the older one quit ballet – but they learned how to resolve things appropriately.</p>
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<p>This was the very reason why several parents of working-class Latino elementary school classmates/neighborhood kids were adamant that any kids with “college potential” were FORBIDDEN to work part-time jobs during the school year and sometimes…even the summers. </p>
<p>There was a big fear that the lure of earning one’s own money combined with anti-academic attitudes among older colleagues in many nearby workplaces was such that it would encourage their kids to take too much focus off school academics, their #1 priority or worse…encouraging them to drop out to work full-time. This attitude was reinforced by the fact several of the parents/grandparents made that very choice to drop out…much to their later regret.</p>