Why Teens Should Not Work After School

As teens reach the middle teen years, their desire to drive, have a car, designer clothes, and other popular items builds. This can put a real dent into a parent’s ability keep up financially. At this point, many parents become more than willing to see their offspring begin to earn money outside of the household. However, that after school job may not be the best choice for every teen.

After school jobs may teach teens that it is better to have gratification today instead of preparing themselves for the future. Many teens who get jobs do so to buy car, car insurance, clothes, and have a social life. This type of training does little to prepare them for the long term. Most of these working teens do not save money, but begin a lifetime of buying expensive toys. This type of irresponsible behavior will not serve them well overall.

The most important thing most teens can do is to get the benefits of as much education as possible. Even a small job that soaks up 15 to 20 hours per week can seriously impact their study time. By the time the teen attends school each day for 7 or so hours and works an additional 3 to 4 hours, homework is frequently neglected or performed in an inferior manner.

Likewise, these same teens often do not get enough rest to be alert and ready to absorb new information the next day. Having seen this end of the equation at work in the classroom, a student who spends significant amounts of time with his or her head on a desk, misses much of the information conveyed by the teacher. Also, many teachers are offended by this type of behavior and can end up referring the student to the office for disciplinary action.

Teens need time to decompress. Without some relaxation time, teens, like adult, can become irritable and lose their ability to focus on new activities such as learning. This can make problems with the relationship between parents and teens. This is strained ever more because this work time steals family time. Parents and teens do not have time to bond and stay connected. During the teen years, these young people need parental oversight more than almost any other time in life. By the time parent and teen connect, both are too tired to do anything meaningful in this area.

A job after school can also create problems for socialization in general for a teen. The job takes up time that the teen may have spent with friends learning the give and take of becoming an adult. Instead, the teen begins to prematurely feel the weight of adult issues. They must pay bills and earn more money to keep up with those around them instead of concentrating on their education and building friendships.

In the same direction, the job can take away the teen’s opportunity for extra-curricular activities such as sports and clubs. The hours needed to practice and develop new skills are translated into short-term money making. This can result in a loss of lifetime earnings due to a failure to develop into a well-rounded individual and establish profitable social relationships.

Parents must weigh the value of what is gained from after school work against the cost in other areas to their child. For many teens, the answer is to either not allow after school employment or severely limit it. Since very few jobs allow the kind of flexibility that high school students need, often the answer is to simply discourage the mixing of high school and entering the world of the gainfully employed.