So DD has a mostly free summer before going to a BS. She is looking for a part time job. She has asked around and found most jobs have a minimum age of 16.
Wondering if the parents here can share your experience in helping your 14 yos look for a job. Also what jobs are open to 14 yos?
All of my kids worked at a local garden center starting at 14. My daughters also made a lot of money babysitting. At 14 she’ll need working papers.
Babysitting. Also decluttering/helping elderly with odd jobs/ lawn mowing, pet sitting, scanning documents, filing. Work with a friend and ask relatives, neighbors.
Check local churches or parks and rec for volunteer opportunities to be “ counselor -in-training” for day camp. That’s good experience, too.
I have a lot of friends who babysat or were camp counselors at 14.
Our town has a summer camp and counselors in training are 14. Ironically, my 18 year old rising college sophomore is too “old” for any positions there.
A local golf course hires 14 year olds to be junior caddies.
In many states 14 year olds can work but there are more restrictions on the hours per day and time of day. For example here, teens can only work 8 hours in one day, can’t close the business (McDonalds, etc). Someone on our Next Door page was looking for a job for her 15 year old, and the suggestions were Park and Rec department (haul trash, clean up parks, check IDs at the desk), dog walking, gardening, babysitting, all the fast food places. Even the Kroger grocery store hires younger kids.
My nephews are 15 and they’ve been working as soccer, baseball, and hockey officials for 3 years. They make a fortune (except for covid). They live in a resort town that hosts a lot of baseball tournaments in the summer and they can make $500 per weekend.
My son gets $40/$60 an hour reffing soccer games. However it helps if you are familiar with the game. I know lots of kids who do the timer at basketball games.
At that age, my son worked for a local organic farm at various farmers’ markets in our area; offering samples, weighing produce, ringing up sales, etc.
OP, our DD has the same problem. SHe wants to work but can’t due to age. Babysitting is hit or miss because moms are really starting to prefer college age students home for the summer.
I also think the age issue is state dependent. So, some states may allow 14 yo’s to work in some capacity while others would require a hardship waiver (like where we are).
Luckily, my DH owns his own construction business, so he is putting both of our kids to work this summer. DS will be on payroll and go onto the job sites with his dad and DD will do a lot of the filing/paperwork/invoices, etc that my husband normally has to do but loathes. Her pay will be unofficial…
I would definitely agree on the caddying job. Depending on the course you have in your neighborhood you can make lots of money.
I am actually in the same boat as your daughter. I have been highly interested in a platform called Upwork. It is a freelance website primarily used by writers. If you permit it, your daughter can make lots of money while honing her writing skills.
Not really a job, but a way to make cash is to sell old clothes on depop or another website. If you have a little money to spend to make money, she can start a small business making jewelry, clothes, soaps, or other little things.
Some places around us will hire as young as 14. Not all. If you have Chick-fil-a in your area, they hire 14 year olds. I knew a neighbor’s daughter who worked at a bookstore when she was 14.
I knew a really fun, energetic, spirited girl who ran a little home daycamp at her house, for little girls in the neighborhood. One of the fun “activities” was washing her dogs outside on a hot day. The little girls loved it, because the teenager was so upbeat and fun. And the neighborhood moms loved it, because they got a break from their kids for a few hours, for a relatively cheap per child price.
Like @EconPop said, CFA hires at 14. However, it depends on your state as well. If your state doesn’t allow 14 year olds to work, have your kid do something different than a normal job with a company. Lawn mowing comes to mind.
I have been looking into this as well. I do love writing, I just don’t know where to start or websites looking for teens
Kiddo worked as an umpire when he was 13-14 I think? He worked (still does) as a junior swim coach at 15. For that job he had to actually do the W-4, etc. There is a work permit required now, and he is 17.
He has also baby-sat and tutored, one-off gigs he gets basically word of mouth, through the swim team. One thing kids do here is sign up to be substitutes for swim meet jobs.
I would second looking at the summer rec organizations. Wherever parents congregate, waiting to pick up kids. Those fliers with tear off tags still work, esp for dog sitting, and “mother’s helpers” type gigs. Same with Nextdoor, but as a parent, I would want to vet whoever is asking my kid to work for them.
I did that last summer! With Covid a lot of local summer camps were shut down, so I priced it at less than what a babysitter would charge ($20 per kid for three hours, and a discount for siblings). Some days three kids showed up and some days nine or ten would. It was a great experience and tons of fun. I did it for kindergarten through 5th graders and each day we did an hour of yard games, an hour of educational things, and an hour of swimming. I’m probably going to do it again this summer for a few weeks.
Mine was a soccer ref for a while. The pay was good, but at 14 she didn’t have thick enough skin to deal with parents challenging her and yelling at her. Indoor might be possible for summer.
My nephews all did reffing. My brother is a ref scheduler, and he always either gave the younger refs the youngest kids when it really doesn’t matter who wins and they are trying to teach the rules, or paired a young ref with a very experienced ref.
It is really good money.