by Victor Coelho

Created on: December 24, 2008

Do you have a child about to begin his or her first job? If so, you may be at a loss for ways to keep your child interested in the job long enough to see it through. This is the problem my wife and I faced for the first time with Michael, our 11 year old son.

One day last May, when my wife arrived to pick him up from school, he jumped into the car and proudly proclaimed he landed his first real job. He could hardly hold his excitement as he recounted the events leading to the job offer. As I understand from what he told his mother, his fifth grade teacher, Miss Avila, needed someone to water her lawn twice each week over the summer months. My son overheard her ask one of the eighth grade boys if he would be interested in a summer job. The young man quickly thought the offer over and then declined.

Michael, not one to let the knuckle of opportunity knock more than once, quickly thrust his hand in the air and volunteered. And thus, my son became a wage earner agreeing on the following terms: for $2.50 per hour, Michael would water her lawn for one hour on Tuesdays and Fridays after school. Miss Avila kindly added cookies and milk to the deal whenever my son was waiting to move the sprinkler.

The first week went well.
Michael showed up on time and performed his duties as agreed. On the second week, he began to slip: a classmate arrived with him "to help" water the lawn.
Apparently, this "help" was substantial because it took only forty-five minutes to do the job. To boot, he had an additional fifteen minutes to play with his friend and still get paid for a full hour. What better working conditions could Michael ask for? He thought he had it "made in the shade"!

Upon learning of this, my wife impressed upon him that he was not to bring his friends to work with him.
She stressed that he was not being paid to play on the job and that he was to give a full hour's work for an hour's pay.

When I arrived home from work, my wife advised me of these events. I called Michael to my side and asked him if what I heard was true.

With downcast eyes, he said, "Yes dad, I did."

I responded, "O.K. Michael, you know what we have to do, don't you?"

"What, dad?"

We have to go back to Miss Avila's house so that you can finish your work the right way."

Michael: "Aw! Do we have to?"

"Yes son. Let's go."

We returned. After on-half hour, his work was completed and the matter was closed.

During the third week, the excitement of having a paying job wore off and Michael became bored. He considered quitting

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