Many of us remember our first jobs. Babysitting, mowing lawns, a fast food restaurant, or delivering newspapers. While these were the reliable places to start in the working world, times have changed and with it comes a change in the workforce. There are lots of fast food jobs, coffee shops, and lawns to be mowed but there is a world of opportunity that can allow your working teen to use their ingenuity and find work doing something they are good at and love doing. Here are a few things you can talk to your teen about when they start talking about working.
Pet Sitting Is The New Babysitting
Babysitting is still a viable option for a wide number of teens who love taking care of other people’s children. There are some kids who don’t want to engage in that kind of work but have a soft spot for the four-legged friends of their neighbors. Starting a dog-walking or pet-sitting business is a great way to bring your teen into the working world. This is a flexible type of work that your teen can schedule around their school hours and during the summer, they can plan it around other things they want to do. They can start with the neighbors or family friends and then advertise at local veterinarian’s offices and pet shops.
Tutoring Is A Win-Win
If your teenager has been studying French since they were five years old or just has this intense love of Calculus, tutoring could be where your teen can flaunt their strengths. In this scenario, it’s a parent that would hire your child to help their child with a subject that the child is struggling with. This is especially enticing if your child is well-versed in several academic areas and can pick up tutoring work that varies. This is not something that will occur during the school year either, many families will hire summer tutors to work with their children so that they don’t forget what they do know and get them prepared for the upcoming school year.
Teaching A Skill Is Not Just For Adults
Is your teen a skilled drummer? Maybe you have an artist in the home that could give lessons on anime drawings. All teenagers have some kind of talent that can be taught to another. Piano lessons, guitar lessons, drawing lessons, and even cooking classes would be a great way for your teen to make some money doing something they already love to do. Teaching children or their peers helps teach them patience since not all students learn at the same pace (and some students are just not talented in some things).
While we tend to think that teens don’t know how to work unless they are shoved at a cash register and have to deal with the horrible public, our attitudes are changing. Lots of people don’t make money in a traditional setting. They are surrounded by entrepreneurs and genius people who find ways to make money on their terms. Letting your teen work their way through their own side hustle hands them a lot of life lessons that will help them in their adult years.
Many of us remember our first jobs. Babysitting, mowing lawns, a fast food restaurant, or delivering newspapers. While these were the reliable places to start in the working world, times have changed and with it comes a change in the workforce. There are lots of fast food jobs, coffee shops, and lawns to be mowed but there is a world of opportunity that can allow your working teen to use their ingenuity and find work doing something they are good at and love doing. Here are a few things you can talk to your teen about when they start talking about working.