Is it important for teenagers to have a job outside the home?

Mark Gregston of Parenting Today’s Teens shares why all teenagers should have a job!

“We all know that most middle class kids were born on third base and live under the delusion that they’ve hit a triple.”

According to Mark, more than ever, teenagers are growing up with a sense of entitlement. Many don’t understand money because they’ve always had everything given to them by their parents.

Before we can teach kids how to handle money well, we must teach them how to earn money for themselves.

“Hey you’re going to have to get a job somewhere, maybe it’s 10 hours a day, maybe it’s just a summer job, but it’s some kind of requirement that offers the opportunity that no sports program, music lessons, school activity is really ever going to replace.”

Jobs provide teenagers with the opportunity to learn many characteristics that are needed outside the home to affirm what Mom and Dad are teaching inside the home.

As parents, our job is to teach our kids how to behave in a Christ like way. This requires kids to learn listen and apply what they’ve learned to their own lives.

“You’re holding them to a standard that you want them to embrace, but until they have the opportunity to exercise that outside of the home, for that concept to be validated, then you begin to see the need for those things.”

It’s important for parents to give kids an opportunity to exercise what they’ve learned from you and the job site is a great place to do so.

“When they have a job, they learn and understand quickly that respect and attention are necessary in order to earn that paycheck at the end of the week and they start to go, ‘I need to listen,’ especially when they are being corrected, because they see the value of it.”

Highlight: Should my teenager get a job?

Is it important for my teen to work?