The Rules For Parents and Teenagers – Safety and Communication
When you’re out there looking for a job there are rules both parents and teenagers need to accept and in many ways these are similar to the rules applied the first time you do anything away from home. These rules and the engagement of parents are purely for your protection and in many cases will help you get the most out of your work experience. As always – good communication is the key!
Consider the following:-
Getting Started
There are many ways teens can find work that encourages greater responsibility and all the other qualities parents hoped an after-school job would instill. But finding that kind of work, and steering kids away from work that may be a detriment, requires taking a hard look at the teen workplace. It also requires parents to understand the nature of the work their children do. Here’s how to get started.
Scout It Out
As obvious a precaution as it may be, many parents do very little investigation into the nature of the jobs their kids have. This can lead to kids being exposed to dangerous or unchallenging work environments, questionable authority figures, and worse. Besides asking their kids questions about the nature of their job and the kind of work they do day to day, parents should go and check out the job site, preferably on a day when their child isn’t working and check whether their child is under the supervision of a responsible adult.
Note:- There are roles and restrictions imposed by law on young workers. Please refer to Youth Employment Laws to understand more about Minimum wages, restricted roles and when there exists a need for employment contracts.
Logistics
Discuss the logistics of a job with your teen before they apply. How will they get to and from the role? Will the parents be asked to pick up and drop off? Will you expect them to be home by a certain hour and could this impact on meal times? Will you require them to be awake by a certain hour? While these questions may change depending upon the situation, it is best for teens to know of your expectations before taking a job so that there are no hurt feelings or shocked surprises when parents decide a job interferes too much with the rest of the family to let you take the role.
Set a 20-Hour Rule
What is absolutely essential, all adolescent experts agree, is regulating the number of hours a teen works weekly during the school year. Experts recommend no more than 20. More than that, and they’re in danger of becoming overcommitted and overstressed.
“Youngsters who work more than 20 hours are absent from school more, are less likely to participate in extracurricular activities, report enjoying school less, spend less time on homework, and earn lower grades,” Steinberg says. “This occurs both because teens who are less interested in school choose to work longer hours and because working longer hours leads to disengagement from school.”
Remind Them of Their Priorities
If a teen must work, it’s up to the parents to place their job in the proper context. Tell kids that their first business is school. Work comes in second, always! If there seems to be a conflict or grades decline, the job goes.
Don’t Automatically Forbid Them from Working
Despite this glum picture, working can have its upside. “Some teens are not tremendously motivated about their future,” notes Berger. “They have time on their hands that they are not putting into schoolwork. These kids might get into mischief if they didn’t have some employment to fill up their time and give them a sense of worth.” The trick is finding a job that gives the teen some measure of responsibility, such as babysitting or assisting a manager. “In jobs where kids are given a good deal of genuine responsibility, allowed to make decisions, and perform challenging tasks, they’re likely to come away feeling competent,” Steinberg notes. While many teen jobs carry a certain amount of menial tasks, such jobs as custodial work, fetching coffee, or making copies should account for less than half of the work day. Or if kids are required to do menial tasks, they should be offset by at least one or two involved projects, requiring them to be accountable for results and carry tasks through to completion. Such a balance keeps the overall job from becoming tedious and uninspiring.
Help Them Explore Alternatives
Remind your teen that there are many definitions of “work” and not all of them revolve around punching a clock. “She can get a sense of self-worth by tutoring or mentoring a younger child,” Blum suggests. Volunteering on any level can make a child feel important. Another way kids learn responsibility is by pitching in with extra chores, for which parents might consider paying them wages.
Keeping Track
Young people who are serious about their education are pretty much worked to death with academic demands. It’s a tight squeeze, given that modern kids are also expected to be involved in community service, athletics, clubs, extra-curricular school activities.
• How many hours are spent on school (including homework)?
• How many hours are spent on extracurricular activities (not job-related)?
• How many hours are spent on his job (including time getting ready for work and commuting to and from the job)?
• How much actual free time does he have?
• How many hours is he at home with the family?
Drawing up a schedule can help you both see just how easy it is to become overcommitted. And if your child doesn’t have enough time for himself, he can also use the schedule to start figuring out how to whittle down the hours spent working and doing numerous extracurricular activities.