5 Reasons Your Teen Should Get a Summer Job
Many parents wonder when the right time is to help their teens get a job. During the school year, it can be a tricky balance between focusing on their studies while trying to learn about all of the great things that come with being in the workforce. Some parents rationalize that their kids will have their whole lives to work but delaying getting a job could set them back financially. A summer job could be the perfect solution. Let’s examine the five reasons your teen should get a job this summer.
1. Helps Improve Responsibility in Teens
Getting a summer job can help your teens learn the responsibility of being in the workforce. They have to learn how to communicate with their boss and co-workers, show up to work on time, and work hard while on the clock to ensure their job is done well. Outside of school, which comes easy to some while others may not put in the effort, this is the first full responsibility a teenager will have in their entire life.
There are few responsibilities in life that can teach a young person how to communicate, develop healthy habits, and manage their money all at the same time. Getting a job is a perfect opportunity to set up a checking or savings account for your teen so that they can start understanding the basics of their money while learning how to be a part of the workforce.
2. To Gain Needed Experience
Regardless of when someone enters the workforce for the first time, they will be gaining needed experience so that they can later get promoted or tackle jobs with more responsibilities in the future. No one can enter the workforce for the first time, make the money they want to make, and be in charge. It just wouldn’t work that way, nor should it. The longer it takes for someone to get needed work experience, the longer it could be before they can earn a living wage later on in life.
Getting a job during the summer can be a great time to gather experience for a teen that is very focused on their future. A summer job could help your teen get the experience that they can’t get anywhere else, which will help them decide what they may want to do in the future. The longer someone waits to go to school, the longer it may take them to pick a future path.
3. Working Can Improve Academic Performance
An interesting aspect of getting a job is that it can help teenagers improve their overall academic performance. The added responsibility and working on the move can give teenagers a better sense of accomplishment that they start craving and can apply to their schoolwork. Working is a lot different than playing video games or watching movies, so, naturally, your body would start to crave something happening there. The schoolwork in the coming year for your teenager could be what benefits the most.
For the extra-driven teen, getting a summer job might be about putting themselves on the fast track to their future goals. Getting into a great college is rarely done without showing excellent potential outside of the classroom as well as getting good grades. Working during each summer of high school can help paint a picture of a hard-working teen ready for the rigors of their dream school.
4. Can Teach Financial Literacy & Money Management
Getting a job means that your teenager will be earning money, possibly for the first time. Whenever someone earns money they can naturally go through a stage of wanting to purchase all their favorite gadgets and toys. Many people learn very quickly that their money doesn’t go that far compared to how hard they had to work for it, and the whole process can teach them how to budget and manage their money.
This is a valuable skill that your teenager isn’t likely to learn in high school but will benefit from learning as early as possible in their life. In fact, not enough people in the U.S. are learning financial literacy fast enough in their lives. Exposing your teen to managing their own money and making tough financial decisions, relative to their age, as soon as possible will put them on a better long-term financial path.
5. Helps Teens Learn New Skills
One of the greatest benefits of working, regardless of age, is learning new skills. The more skills you can learn, the higher the likelihood that you can be employed using those skills. Young adults are at a large disadvantage if they haven’t been able to work before graduating high school because they haven’t had the opportunity to develop skills the way that some of their peers have. This can put them at a disadvantage in getting a job or even excelling in education after high school.
Getting a job during the summer is the perfect opportunity to develop skills because teens can work more frequently than they can during the school year. Some skills require quite a bit of repetition that your teen may not be able to do during the school year, even if they have a job. Summertime gives them more time at work and much-needed repetition to develop their abilities.
Bottom Line
A summer job can help your teen earn extra money, develop knowledge for financial literacy, or help them get into the college of their dreams. It’s a good practice to help your teen, no matter where they fall. It helps them develop a stronger work ethic and puts them on a financial path with a higher probability of success than if they were to spend the summer just playing games or sitting around the house. A summer job is a significant first step to helping teens adapt to multiple facets of their lives.
