I thought the jobs my kids got were the best things ever for providing perspective. My '19 did not work during high school. Had a really rough time in high school with mental health challenges and barely made it through to graduation, but made it and said “I’m never doing any more school ever again.” Got a job at Starbucks after a COVID gap year. Was terrified at first and super stressed out, but learned how to be part of a team and work hard and had great co-workers and really loved the job. Saw several co-workers going back to school and decided to go back to community college. I am not sure that would have happened w/o the job.
My '22 worked all last year during high school and the summer before. I think it was great for her too. She became a manager and got more responsibility. Learned to get along with co-workers and to not let the team down.
I think both of them learned to stop comparing themselves to people at school and learned a lot about the general public. They learned that they are smart (both suffered a little from comparing themselves to other kids at school) and they learned about the value of treating people well. And they did learn something about the value of money and time spent working to make money.