Can you please share your experience if only if you want to:
What are some of the summer jobs or volunteer work that your freshman (13 or 14 or 15 year old) do?
How was the over all experience of the work?
Babysitting makes it easier for girls, since most boys aren’t interested/experienced. (Although that’s changing.)
My 14 year old son mowed lawns for neighbors, took in mail/watered plants/dog sat while friends/neighbors were on vacation. When he was 15 he taught Powerpoint to a couple of neighbors who needed it for work.
D1 worked at a horseback riding camp as a counselor in training Low pay but very hard work. I don’t think D2 had a job after freshman year.
Before she was old enough to work, my daughter volunteered at a zoo a few towns over. They had a “zoo ambassador” program that she was a part of, and the participants ran a petting zoo for young children in one area of the big zoo. She went only a couple of times per week, which was good because she also was too young to drive and it was about 45 minutes away! In addition to be enjoyable because of her interest in animals, it also counted as community service hours.
Thank you for your replies.
My daughter worked for my brother’s business. He runs a lacrosse program so she was setting up fields, hauling goals, score keeping, cleaning up fields after games (because adults can’t seem to understand that water bottles and trash don’t magically jump into the trash cans). He hires all ages of kids and some are good workers and some aren’t.
If your child has a sport, he/she can train to be a referee/ump. In most sports, the refs can be one level ahead, so a high school student can do youth level. The first year there may not be much money, but once they have a little experience they can work all the weekends they want in soccer, hockey, lacrosse, basketball.
A lot of rec centers and pool clubs hire younger kids for the snack bars. It’s not much money but not much work.
My niece and nephew have always made a lot of money house sitting or pet sitting around the neighborhood. Bring in the mail, water the flowers in the yard, change the lights that are left on day to day. My niece just got a job in another city and she had to let all her customers know that she won’t be around for this work anymore. Everyone is happy for her but sad for their houses and pets.