Working Teens

How to know if you should be working teens. Working Teenagers may end up working after school, but is it right for you? Before teens earn money evaluate the risks.

Should You Be Working Teenagers?

Before getting jobs for teenagers consider which is more important: Work or School. On one hand teens will get valuable real-life experience from working during school, but on the other hand school may end up taking a back seat at times if work gets in the way.

On one hand teens will get valuable real-life experience from working during school, but on the other hand school may end up taking a back seat at times if work gets in the way.

Everyone's situation will be different, but a good balancing act between school and work may be just the thing for good teenagers money management.

According to the National Consumers League:

• 70-80% of teens worked for pay at some time during their highschool days
• 50% of working youth put in more than 15 hours during a school week
• About 17% of working youth put in more than 25 hours during a school week

I like to see my kids earn money but not put too much effort into work during school. I would rather have them do better at their school work, with the idea that they will boost their potential future earnings by getting an education.

To me, school academics and school extracurricular education rank very high on the to-do-list, but what about work-based learning? Work study and internships are invaluable in being able to provide real-life education and hopefully an income. They are also an excellent way to help teens learn what field they want to focus their career on.

Rembember that if you decide working is for you to practice good teen finance, to use a teen budget, and to be cautious of teens and credit cards.

Risks of Working

What about safety for working adolescents? Parents should take an active role in their teen's work. OSHA suggests several ideas to help protect your teens:

• Realize that teen workers are entitled to a safe and healthful work environment
• Parents should take an active role in the employment of teens
• Parents should discuss the types of work and work environment that the teen is in
• Watch for signs that the job is not taking too much of a tole on the teen
• Parents should support the teen in reporting hazardous work environment
• Know the Federal child labor laws and the State child labor laws

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