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Tween Scene: Go! Get a Job!
- June 26, 2012
- on 6/26/2012
- MoJo: DonnaMarie Needle
It’s summer. The carnival, the ice-cream truck, the mall, the water park, the movies; can you say cha-ching? If summer fun puts a pretty big dent in your pocketbook, here’s an idea; tell your tween to go get a job!
My 13-year-old daughter is pretty high maintenance. I’ve already put her on notice she will need to work her butt off in high school, get into a great college, do really well, graduate in the top of her class, land a great job out of college and make a lot of money to compensate for her “champagne taste.” And there’s nothing wrong with liking nice things, but understand the nicer things in life come with a big price tag.
The problem, of course, is that 13-year-olds can’t exactly get a job. We are stuck coming up with odd jobs and paying them out of our own pocket. It recently occurred to me there’s a niche our tweens and teens can capitalize on, when to my surprise, my 13-year-old landed herself a job helping a fellow teammate (who is also our neighbor) improve strokes and work on her flip turns. Truthfully, I was shocked! My daughter doesn’t always show the highest level of enthusiasm or give 100% effort to her own practices, but it was amazing the enthusiasm she showed and the proactive approach she took to land and organize this job! Obviously, she likes cash. And yes, that’s a good thing!
I think my 13-year-old may have unknowingly opened a new world of opportunity to kids ages 12-15. Our kids have many more talents to capitalize on than we did at their age. Think about it: our kids are so much more involved and dedicated to a sport, music or the arts than we ever were. Parents may think they need to call on professionals for private lessons of any kind, but think about the pool of “not quite yet” professionals parents can possibly choose from. The benefit? A kid, with no axe to grind, no league or club politics to sell, simply sharing their love and passion of a sport or talent they’ve been focused on probably since they were five or six. And they may be able to provide exactly what you were looking for at half the cost.
Kids naturally gravitate to their peers and look up to older kids who act as role models. They can relate to them on a totally different level. So if your tweens are whining about things they want do this summer and asking you for cash every time you turn around, perhaps tapping into their natural talents and abilities could be the wave of the future!
How else can you get your tween to pay for all their extracurricular activities this summer? Think about what sport they play, what instrument they play or where they excel academically. What other things do they like to do around the house to possibly produce income? Washing cars, garage organization, landscaping and watering flowers are just a few areas that come to mind.
As for my daughter’s new little job, the first session went really well; she Googled some routines and created a schedule. She physically got into the water with her teammate and did some of the work out with her. She also reviewed her strokes and took notes! Her teammate reported that the session was great and she learned so much! Wow! I was impressed. Who is this girl?!? The best part? I wasn’t involved at all; she did this all on her own!
So parents, save your cash, and tell your tween to go get a job!
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