How Old Should Children be Before They Start Working

I think young teenagers should go out and find a job for many reasons; it teaches them about responsibility and money management at the same time. They know that they are responsible for getting up in the morning and going off to work for the day, which in turn, they would get a paycheck at the end of the two week period.

When I was just 12, I got a job babysitting for our neighbors. I did not realize at the time that I was the only one who had to make sure I was at the neighbors on time for them to go out to their previous engagement. It was the second or third weekend that I thought it would be all right if I showed up about half and hour late, I was promptly told that if I was going to make a habit out of being late, I would not be asked to baby-sit again. That was the last time I was late, I liked having money of my own and if I wanted to continue to earn that money, I would make sure that I was at the neighbor's house earlier than they needed me to be.

I think it is a great idea for teenagers to work when they are in their early teen. I does not matter what kind of work they get, it could be babysitting, cleaning a neighbors yard, shoveling driveways in the winter, delivering shoppers news or news papers. There are a million little jobs that a teenager can find if they really want to earn some extra spending money above their allowances.

Teenagers that work outside their homes learn some very important lessons like how to make their money last from pay day to pay day. It teaches them that if they want something more expensive than their pay checks would allow them to buy at that time; they would need to put some money away from each pay check until they had saved enough to purchase that certain item.

Teenagers that work outside their homes learns responsibility, it is up to them to get to work on time each day, without excuses on why they are late. They learn the value of time and how to plan out their days around their work place, their schooling and their entertainment time. They learn that other people are counting on them to be at a certain place at a certain time to enable them to do whatever project is required of them.

A young teenager getting a job is so beneficial to their futures that I cannot tell you all the little benefits it brings to them which will carry them into adulthood. It is not the big things that help them; it is all the little things put together that brings them to fully understand what it will be like to be an adult.

Learn more about this author, Linda Shrigley.
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