<p>Yes, my 17yo had a P/T job during the summer as well as during the school year. during the school year, it’s ~ 10 hrs/wk. A little more during the summer. I have not yet found the magic formula to get her to save some of it, though.</p>
<p>D (rising senior) works 4 hours a day at an insurance agency. Her older brother also worked part time at the agency for two summers (as a rising senior and then before his freshman year in college). D let the owners know early that she was interested in applying for the same position this summer.</p>
<p>Great first work experience. The agency owners believe in hiring hs students and providing them with beginning work experience in an adult environment. One of the plusses is that d has flexibility built into her work schedule. She was able to go on the family vacation and she just missed the last two days of work to have her wisdom teeth removed. She can adjust her work hours from morning to afternoon, if need be. She also has the option to continue to work during the school year if she wants, even if she only works on Sat. mornings or during school breaks.</p>
<p>The local vet is also known to hire hs students to provide beginning work experience. High standards, yet flexible enough to accommodate funky hs schedules. Nice when business owners take the time to encourage beginning workers.</p>
<p>Yes. S1 has held two jobs for the last three summers. Lots of hours but only average pay. Am guessing he’ll try for an internship or a job related to his major next summer-- he seems ready to “move on.”</p>
<p>Yes. as soon as they are able.</p>
<p>No/yes. 15 yo is doing volunteering, catching up in areas in which she had some difficulty last year. I was picking her up from a gathering and two of the three kids had paid internships/jobs this summer and the third one is teaching tennis at one camp (probably paid) and trapeze at another (likely unpaid).</p>
<p>18 yo is completing a novel he is co-authoring (with an adult). They anticipate some kind of advance as they’ve had active interest from a well-known publisher and a strong agency for their genre, so this might qualify as paid.</p>
<p>No - Both Ds were busy with theatre and other musical activities while in HS, and both have had unpaid study abroad internships or service trips over the past two summers.</p>
<p>Absolutely yes. Starting at 16. All summer and some hours during the school year as sports schedules allow.</p>
<p>Yes. Good money, too – $14/Hr. I’m proud to say that he works a lot, as well. Usually 45+ hours</p>
<p>We don’t require money. We require productivity.</p>
<p>No official job - we have always had horses to take care of up until this summer so she spent the summers pretty much living at the barn or at a horse show. Lots of dirty, hard work but no pay. This summer, she is in summer school in order to get a head start on gen ed classes.</p>
<p>No. I worked 2 full time jobs to put myself through HS. I make sure my S attends summer programs that he has been selected for and received sclolarships to. other than that he volunteers. Work or an internship in the right area of interest would be fine. But work for the sake of work is over-rated. But thats just my take on it.</p>
<p>Yes and no. Ours swam 4 hours a day daily during the summer, making it pretty impossible to find a job that would work around daily doubles. Of course, that also led to 4 years at the Naval Academy, so I am sure the income missed was not an issue.</p>
<p>Now, had he been sleeping all day and not doing anything productive, that would have made it a definite yes! But the way we saw it, swimming was working.</p>
<p>Yes, DD has worked at the same ice cream shop for five years. During high school, she worked all year. She just completed her second year of college and continues to work there during the summer.</p>
<p>Our oldest is only 14, but just finished her freshman year. I told her before summer started that I wanted to know 3 things she was going to do over the summer to ‘expand her horizons’ and sort out things she was interested in. I also wanted to know 5 books she planned on reading. She actually is volunteering at a local science museum, and has already looked at a bunch of colleges online. She also goes away for a few weeks to tennis camps. </p>
<p>In the fall, she is going to actually ‘work’ at our local country club and help instruct tennis to the younger kids, and manage the courts, etc…pretty typical for our local high school players.</p>
<p>I do worry, however, that this is not going to be overwhelming when it comes time to apply to any selective schools…she certainly will have the academics, and plays 2 sports (making varsity tennis as a freshman, which is a little unusual here), but is certainly not saving the world or finding a cure for cancer each summer…</p>
<p>Yes, both of my kids have worked year 'round (summers and school year) since they turned sixteen. They needed to earn their own spending money. It has also been a valuable learning experience for both.</p>
<p>momof1, agreed. He had a goal, worked hard to achieve it, and succeeded. Congratulations. I started this thread because it’s always interesting to get a different perspective on things. Having a working teenager (or 2 or 3) in the household is quite the norm where we live. Through CC, it was brought to my attention that it may not be the norm in many households. </p>
<p>Although some of your kids are not working paid jobs, they are doing something productive. Helping out with the horses is hard work and although they’re not getting paid, they’re productive and learning skills. Co-writing a novel–terrific. Taking summer classes, interning, traveling abroad–all valuable experiences. </p>
<p>Keep the responses coming. Yes or no–Does your teenage S or D work at a paying job over the summer?</p>
<p>Yes and no. Our expectation was that the kids would have productive summers balanced with some time for fun and relaxation. Both worked at paying jobs at various times throughout the academic year also. But as far as summers - some years there was a paying job, others an unpaid internship, community service, foreign exchange or language immersion experience. This year both are working at paying jobs.</p>
<p>Yes. The oldest was a life guard through out high school and also worked at night as a bus boy for Ruth’s Chris steak house his final year. He also has found work pre-Christmas (UPS delivering packages) and around the edges of his summers (ironing table cloths at a factory of one of his friends’ parents) but for the most part during the two college summers, he has done a language immersion program (Spanish last year and Portuguese this year). He expects to wait tables when he gets back.</p>
<p>Younger son started as a bus boy at our club when he was 14, then spent the next two summers as a life guard. This summer, however, he messed up. He didn’t want to be a life guard again (too passive) but left his job hunt until too late (just took getting hired for granted). Although he has dropped off lots of applications, he hasn’t gotten any real work, so hasn’t done more than odd heavy lifting jobs for neighbors. He has offered to help his uncle on the barn he is building next, but probably won’t get paid for that. He expects to work after football season during the school year so this shouldn’t happen again next year. I think he could get a job washing dishes but I don’t want him getting home at 2:00 a.m. and getting up at 6:00 am for football two-a-days which start in early August. He has kept himself busy with golf, lifting weights, and reading so no sitting around playing video games. H is still pretty upset, however, at his failure to find work. Virtually all of his friends have jobs.</p>
<p>S got his first job the summer after senior year. Should have gotten one the year before.</p>
<p>D is not working yet, she’s 16 (going into 11th grade), but all her friends are working. Next year she WILL have a job. This year she was signed up for too many things (sports camps, etc) and we were going away for 2 1/2 weeks. I’ve tried to get her to look for babysitting jobs but she doesn’t WANT to babysit. When she says that, I reply that I don’t WANT to pay for any more clothes from Hollister - and I’m not going to either.</p>
<p>One worked summers in college, but not in high school. The other worked summers in high school, but not in college, except for some part-time work. (But he is a music student and must practice his instrument and attend music programs in the summer.)</p>