Our personal experience with teens and part-time jobs

Our personal experience with teens and part-time jobs ~
Written by Kris Bales of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

When my husband and I were young, new parents, we said we wouldn’t make our kids work as teens. They could if they wanted to, but we wouldn’t require it because they had their whole lives to work and pay bills.

Then, we discovered this not-so-little thing called “car insurance for teen drivers.” And gas. Ouch.

So, as they reached driving age, we told each of our kids that they had to be able to pay their own gas and insurance to get their driver’s licenses.

All were fortunate enough to find flexible jobs that didn’t require many hours but paid enough to provide gas and insurance money, along with some spending money.

Their part-time jobs also provided some learning opportunities that proved just as valuable as the income.

Our personal experience with teens and part-time jobs

1. Money Management

The best way to learn money management skills is to put them into practice with your own money. And nothing teaches a teen the value of money better than spending their own hard-earned dollars.

Working taught my kids to plan for expenditures so they could pay their bills and put some of each check into savings. Plus, because our bank only allows so many withdrawals from savings each month, they learned to consider future expenses and how they spent each paycheck carefully.

2. Time Management

School comes first. My kids probably couldn’t tell you how many times they’ve heard that sentence. They knew that if their schoolwork suffered because they were working, the job had to go. I was okay with the kids adjusting their school hours around their work schedules, as long as they did their schoolwork and did it well.

Knowing that school takes priority proved an excellent incentive to hone their time management skills with little input from me. That doesn’t mean that I got to retire my nagging skills entirely, but I did get to give them some well-deserved time off.

3. Experience and Credit

Work experience may seem an obvious benefit of a part-time job, but sometimes we forget just how much experience teens get. They learn:

• customer service and interpersonal skills
• dealing with difficult co-workers
• meeting deadlines and expectations
• taking direction from managers and supervisors
• teamwork
• cleaning up after others (Finally!)
• taking initiative
• communication skills

Plus, you can often count work experience as credit hours on a teen’s high school transcript. The umbrella school we use allows us to count work experience as an elective.

4. Career Exploration

Sometimes a part-time job provides teens a chance to explore future career options. A teen interested in becoming a vet may work at a vet’s office to get a first-hand look at her future career.

My son, a talented musician, worked for a music school teaching guitar lessons and running the audio for their live performances. He currently works on the production team at our church and is considering a career in the audio-visual industry.

Another sometimes unexpected benefit of part-time jobs for teens is that they see what they don’t want to do.

I’ve known more than one kid with no desire to attend college decide to enroll and earn a degree after working. They decided if they were going to have to work that hard for their money, it was going to be pursuing a career they enjoyed.

5. Life Skills

A part-time job teaches a teen a variety of life skills beyond money and time management. First, there are all the dreaded tax forms. They’re a pain, but we all have to learn what they mean and how to complete them. Experience is an excellent teacher.

All three of my kids opened checking and savings accounts when they started working. Nearly every employer uses direct deposit these days. We learned with my oldest that a payroll debit card is more trouble than its worth. So, each of my kids took a trip to the bank. They opened both a checking and savings account and set up direct deposit.

Teens also learn pretty quickly how expensive it is to eat out every time you work. Mine learned how to plan ahead. They packed their own lunches and did their own grocery shopping for favorite take-along meals.

My boy, who is probably my thriftiest kid, requested that I make more meals that were good reheated so he could take leftovers. {grin}

There are so many benefits of part-time jobs for teens. Although we’ve had both good and bad experiences with the workforce, I’m glad my teens had the chance to learn through their part-time jobs.

Do your teens work? What have they learned through their experience?

If you enjoyed this post, check out Jamie’s newly released book, Introverted Mom: Your Guide to More Calm, Less Guilt, and Quiet Joy.