Should I let DS17 get a job?

[MinnieM3]

Yes, this is the DS17 who did the idiotic sit in the school parking lot, not feeling well for 4 hours, but go to band practice DS17.

His grades are not great.... Band is in the 90's, English Recovery (like remedial) is in the 90's; I think History is in the low 80's; and Algebra 2 I think is high 60's. Progress REports come out Thursday.

He really can't afford to work on weekdays, but could work on weekends....it's not like he spends every weekend hour on school work by any means.

Anyway needless to say we have to provide all of his money which is a good bit.....movies, gas, etc.

He wants to work weekends at the local theater.... would you let yours under the circumstances?

(PS.... summertime is very difficult to get a job because of unending band paractice)

 

[barkley]

personaly i would'nt unless the grades in the lower end came up.

i worked in a movie theatre during highschool and learned pretty quickly they don't let you pick and choose your hours (esp. if your only going to work weekends)-he may end up with 2 full weekend day shifts with no time for homework (or band stuff) or working the late shift (and as i recall though the last movie might have gotten out at midnight or so we were there cleaning up for a good hour afterward.

will he have to get a work permit from the school? some districts take grades and extracurriculars into account (they don't want a kid to over extend themselves), you might also want to find out what hours he can legaly work in your state (that would be a good indicator as to if he could be schedualed into the late shifts-which working weekends could mean not getting home till 1 am or so on that sunday nite with school the next morning).

 

[simba928]

I say yes. I will be 16 in a couple monthes and my mom has already said that this summer, I WILL have a job. She doesn't care what it is, but I will have one. I think you should make him get a job. Maybe it will teach him some responsibility.

Oh, and about the whole work interfering with band practice. I am in band (in case you couldn't tell by my siggy. LOL). Just about everyone in the band has a job. It is divided mainly between 2 retail stores. They NEVER have a problem with work getting in the way of band. We have practice twice a week from 6-9, plus games and then 2-3 weeks of band camp in the summer. The only time that it has ever interfered was this year, we had a game that was rescheduled from Fri. to Sat. due to lightning. A friend of mine's boyfriend had to work and couldn't get out of it, so he just came to the game after he was done working. So don't worry about scheduling and band. Most employers, at least around where I live, are fairly understanding and lenient when it comes to scheduling around extra-curriculurs.

 

[MinnieM3]

I say yes. I will be 16 in a couple monthes and my mom has already said that this summer, I WILL have a job. She doesn't care what it is, but I will have one. I think you should make him get a job. Maybe it will teach him some responsibility.

DDnow20 has worked since she was 16 and could handle it and grades, but DS is so unmotivated with school....his freshman and sophomore grades were not great either.....*maybe* a year end average each year of an 80. I can't remember exactly. He didn't fail any classes, but may 70's and low 80's.... except band, always in 90's.

 

[EthansMom]

Summer job (certainly he should be able to schedule around some band practices), then yes.

Job during school, no. Sounds like he really needs to be working on his grades instead of working at a movie theater. I worked at a movie theater the summer between my Junior and Senior year of HS -- fun job, but the hours were mostly late into the night and I ended up sleeping most of the daylight away.

If your son wants to pick up a few bucks, give him a list of things he can help with around the house.

 

[MsDisney23]

I would try it, and only allow him to work weekends. If things don't get better than he would have to stop work. I would also be monitoring his school work a little more, not saying that your not, I would get a little more harder on him. Does he plan to go to College?

 

[snappy]

I voted yes with a stipulation on grades.

I am struggling with this too with my DS17. His grades are a bit better, but he has TOO MUCH free time on his hands. I would rather he be working than just wasting time. He spends way too much time playing his keyboard and guitar, not enough on homework. Not to mention tv.

Last summer he worked at a local water park. He worked LOTS of hours and saved 95% of his paychecks. It was a good experience. Now he wants to work on Saturdays, maybe at a restaurant. We'll see.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I say yes. I will be 16 in a couple monthes and my mom has already said that this summer, I WILL have a job. She doesn't care what it is, but I will have one. I think you should make him get a job. Maybe it will teach him some responsibility.

I agree 100%. As teenagers starting at 15 years old, my parents let us know that we WOULD have a job, regardless of how we felt about it. They were strong believers in the "give a kid responsiblity and they become responsible" and it worked. My 2 sisters and I all worked through high school, all played sports, and were active in student council and all went to college. One of my sisters even got a scholarship to the University of Georgia. Let him get the job, but make sure he realizes that he has to take everything, job, school, band, seriously and you will not allow him to let any one of them slip.

 

[barkley]

DDnow20 has worked since she was 16 and could handle it and grades, but DS is so unmotivated with school....his freshman and sophomore grades were not great either.....*maybe* a year end average each year of an 80. I can't remember exactly. He didn't fail any classes, but may 70's and low 80's.... except band, always in 90's.

when i was in highschool you had to maintain a certain gpa in all classes to be in any of the band classes other than straight instrumental instruction. jazz, drum corps, anything like that you got pulled out of if your other grades slipped.

i think you mentioned he wants to possibly pursue music in college-if that's his desire he needs to get all his grades up to par, it's competative enough getting into a decent college music program with great grades.

if he's good at his chosen instrument has he considered starting a music tutoring bsns. he can make much more per hour, and set his own days/times. there are several highschool musicians in our area that do this with elementary age kids (they let the elementary school band teachers know and give them a letter of reccommendation from their high school band teacher so if parents ask they can reccommend him. they do the lessons at the student's homes so the parents don't have to worry about supervision issues).

 

[CEDmom]

I think it could be done on a trial basis as long as his grades are ok. One place he actually might try looking is a health club. At mine there are several HS/college kids working the front desk and they have lots of free time to study. Basically they scan people's cards, change TV channels and page other staff members.

 

[MinnieM3]

I would try it, and only allow him to work weekends. If things don't get better than he would have to stop work. I would also be monitoring his school work a little more, not saying that your not, I would get a little more harder on him. Does he plan to go to College?

He absolutely wants to go to college (USC....south carolina, not southern cal!) and be in their marching band, major in music, etc. He's a poor test taker, too and should have been in SAT Prep instead of this REmedial English. He's one that feels like he has all the time in the world no matter HOW many times I tell him that this time next year, it'll all be over as far as getting into college is concerned.

I do monitor his sschool work closely, but this is his first year in this huge public high school (3,000 kids) and I don't get communication back from his teachers. This leaves me just going by what DS says, which is usually hafl right and half wrong (or half he just didn't pay attention to).

He seems to do fine on classwork, homework, and projects but bombs on tests, even when he REALLY has studied. He came out of his last Algebra 2 test so excited, thinking he did well and got a 44!

School came very easily to me, so this is really hard. He will NOT take my advice on how to study, take notes, review, etc. Nor will he take any other adult's advice. He's not bad or really disrespectful, just kinda "duh" acting most of the time......

 

[golfgal]

I voted yes because usually busy people are more productive. Having a job will limit his free time and give you extra ammunition for getting his homework done during the school week. If the grades slip any further, though, the job is gone.

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

I voted yes with a stipulation on grades.

I am struggling with this too with my DS17. His grades are a bit better, but he has TOO MUCH free time on his hands. I would rather he be working than just wasting time. He spends way too much time playing his keyboard and guitar, not enough on homework. Not to mention tv.

I agree. My DS 16 1/2 (He'll be 17 this summer) just recently started working at a movie theater. The plusses are that he is very motivated about this and seems to be doing a good job, he has become very responsible, at least about his work hours, his uniform (he's even done laundry) and is very good about saving money. He is only working weekends, and so far no late nights (well, 10:00 on Friday, but nothing REAL late).

He normally wastes a lot of free time talking on the phone and playing Play Station. I figure this way at least he is doing something productive!

As far as the grades, we said no working during the week, and his grades have improved, though he struggles. But overall I think this is giving him a positive self image, and building confidence. He LOVES movies and this is the only job he wanted. Lots of kids at his school get a job at a small local grocery, he didn't want that.

Good luck.

 

[Just2554]

I'd say yes. H ewill have so much less free time on his hands and will be more motivated to do schoolwork. I find the less time I have, the MORE I accomplish because I really feel the pressure to get it done. Maybe this would work for him?

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I'm only in favor of a high school student working IF their grades are ok and they are only working weekends or at a VERY flexible job. My 15 babysits and his earnings vary, but it's usually at least $40/week. Last week I think he earned $60 or so. Often it's first thing SAt or Sun mornings, which gets him out of bed. Sometimes a couple hours on a week night, but not too late and he's home by 8 or so. If he's too busy or has other plans he can turn them down.

 

[MoniqueU]

My only concern with weekends is do you get socked with mega projects like we do here? Often times the weekend is the only time we have to devote to these mega projects. Like recently my 7th grader had to go out and do a field study on 3 seperate occasions in a nature enviornment for a minimum of 2 hours 3 times each to the same place. There was no way we could do this during the week in daylight hours and also get regularly scheduled homework done. I would be scared my kid would make the commitement of a job and then get handed 2 or 3 projects from school and we would be overwhelmed.