Should your teen get a job? One of the best things we’ve done with our teens is require them to get a job. Here are the benefits of teenagers getting part-time jobs.
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Now that we’ve had almost a decade of parenting teens and our oldest four have successfully worked during their teen years, we have some advice to share with younger parents.
All of our boys have worked at our local McDonald’s, with several promotions to Crew Trainer and even Manager! Between solid work hours, scholarships, and opportunities for teamwork, they’ve really done well with regular work experience during the teen years.
As a homeschool family, we’ve seen many benefits to encouraging our teens to get a job. Let me tell you why.
Benefits of Teenagers Getting Part-time Jobs
Listen to episode 278 of the Homeschool with Moxie Podcast where we talk through these 13+ benefits and how they play out in real life.
There are tons of benefits to teenagers who get part-time jobs. Here’s just a quick list, then check out the additional detail below.
- financial independence
- understand budgeting
- work ethic development
- responsibility
- cultivate discipline
- time management skills
- learn to prioritize
- explore different career paths
- forming professional relationships
- communication skills
- increased self-confidence
- learn problem-solving skills
- learning professional behavior
- boost academic performance through improved organizational skills & time management
- building a resume
- personal growth and independence
- successful launching into adulthood
Teens Need Work Ethic Development
My boys have learned how to balance school and work with this added responsibility. It cultivates discipline and gives them additional purpose during their teen years to save for their future. They’ve found in motivational. This strong work ethic also pours over into other areas of life.
Increased Self-Confidence
Teens who work and learn how to do a job well enjoy increased self-confidence. As my kids have learned to be professional at the workplace and taken on increased responsibility, their self-confidence has grown. Teens who are working, saving, and have goals for their future have much better self-esteem and confidence than teens who are just home playing video games ad nauseam.
What about Money Management?
We’ve taught our kids how to manage money from a very young age with our simple chore system. I know it can be controversial in some homeschool circles to say you pay your children for doing chores. Parents, after all (the argument goes), aren’t paid for doing household chores; we do them simply because we’re part of the family.
But I’ve never quite agreed with this argument. Rather, we see paying our kids for chores as a great introduction into money management and responsibility.
When they get their first job in their teen years, this greatly escalates the urgency to manage money well and see a future of financial independence. As children, our kids learn to budget their money into Save, Spend, and Share categories. As they earn more money as teens, this budgeting system grows and they’re able to save for college (and graduate debt free!).
Time Management Skills
What better way to learn time management skills while still at home than working while homeschooling through the teen years? Your teenagers will learn to prioritize what they have to get done and learn to manage time effectively.
Our kids have typically done longer homeschool days in high school for four days per week, which gives them full days to work on Fridays and Saturdays, while still reserving Sundays for church. Of course, in the summer months, they try to pick up full-time hours. This has worked well for them for years.
Personal Growth
Entering the workforce gives teenagers lots of practice in teamwork, problem-solving, conflict management, and stress management! It helps teens to work under a boss, especially when all they know is mom or dad as homeschool teacher. Outside accountability is good for them.
We’re always told that homeschoolers lack socialization. While I roll my eyes again at that comment, let’s just say that our teenagers who get part-time jobs have loads of opportunities to learn professional workplace skills and etiquette while socializing with lots of interesting people.
Career Exploration
One of the benefits of teenagers getting part-time jobs is that they can gain valuable insights into potential career paths and interests.
Of course, not everyone will have a career in fast-food just because they work at McDonald’s. But it’s slightly amusing to me that our oldest did love the business aspect of working there, and as he worked his way up to management, saw potential for a profession in human resource management. He successfully graduated from university with that degree and has a job offer waiting for him in the field after his first year of grad school is complete. Maybe he wouldn’t have had that career trajectory without his entry-level position as a teenager at McDonald’s.
Even my boys that won’t be going into any business-related career still have the benefit of building their resume early. It shows that they’re hard workers that are dependable and able to persevere through the long haul.
Launching into Adulthood
Because they’ve had jobs as teens and learned to manage their time and money responsibility, our kids are launching into adulthood with the life skill of wisdom and being in charge of their money (rather than being ruled by it or enslaved by a lack of it). We teach them how to live on last month’s income rather than living paycheck to paycheck.
One tool that we personally use for our family budgeting and also teach our kids how to use as they reach the teen years is YNAB – You Need a Budget. This helps to tangibly see where every dollar goes and be able to launch into adulthood with healthy money management habits.
HWM 290. Motivation for Unmotivated Teens
Do you have a teen that just doesn’t care? Let’s get to the bottom of it! Here’s what you can do as their parent to help them begin working toward a goal and vision for their future that will excite and motivate them to even push through the not-fun courses.
