How many hours would you allow your teenage son/daughter to work a week?

Question

Lets say that you have a 15 year old son/daughter. they attend school and all. How many hours would you let them work a week?

and why?

Answer 1

im 16 and i dont work. Really working pshhh

Answer 2

im 15 and i worked for like 2 weeks from 8 am to 5pm.

with a bunch of other kids.

but it was cool cuz i made like 80 dollars a day.

it was so hard tho.

Answer 3

First of all to answer your question I would let my child work the folling during school....believe me I have seen it all.  I believe in giving my child a chance but if home or school suffers and you make that decision then they do not work at all!

Mon-NO

Tues-NO

Wed-NO

Thurs-NO

Don't have to worry about them being tired at school!

Fri-4-7

Sat-8 hours (off by 9pm)

Sun-12-5 (off early school on Mon)

Thats 16 that gives the child a 2 hour leeway incase you let them stay longer on Sunday til 7

They are only aloud to work the following when  in school . ( certain circumstances may allow)

Must attend school daily (no school no work)

can't work during school hours

3 hours a day. (after school) off by 7pm

7 am-7 pm (sat-sun) 8 hours a day

no more then 18 per week

They can work the following when out of school

8 hours a day

40 hours per week

must get 30 min break at 6 hours

earliest 7am

off by 9pm

Also they can also only work certain kinds of jobs at certain ages. Check out Tn labor laws its been awhile for me. I can't remember everything now.  I used to manage and had to deal with labor laws before I was married.  I found that the younger guys worked better then half the people who were older because they had their parents to deal with to if they did get into trouble. (calling out, late, etc).  I loved talking with the parents and hiring kids because they understood what we needed as managers.

Hope this helped~

Answer 4

I think that if they can keep their grades up, and work won't interfere with that. then you should let them work as long as they please. Because working is a good way of showing responsibility and working and keeping grades up shows they know how to support them selves and that's real important in growing up and launching themselves into life alone as an adult.  

Answer 5

i think it depends on the child,  and how responsible they are.  Will they be able to keep up with their school work when they are working?  How easy is school work to them - some children obviously need longer than others.

I struggled at school,  but I had a paper round each day so what is that 1 hour a day,  plus once a week I used to do take round charity magazines to subscribers (for which I got pennies but the charity got more)  that was about 2 hours a week and sometimes I worked in a hairdressers on a Saturday and sometimes I babysat for my Mum and Dad's friends. So in all about 16 hours a week - but saying that there was less pressure on children then.  

So going on that basis I would let my son / daughter work 10 - 15 hours a week - I think that is plenty.

But, personally If I could afford to, I would prefer to pay my child to do jobs around the house,  as it is giving them the same value of money (and it may be that you are paying for those things anyway as they don't have any money) and also would ease my workload.

There are big benefits to working,  I understood the responsibility and requirements of working and it gave be some independance and taught me the value of money instead of expecting everything from my parents.

Answer 6

I'm 16 and I work about 40.

My friend at work is 15 and she works about, 20?

Answer 7

During school, only working on the weekends would probably be best. As a 15 year old, I have to say it's way to stressful to balance school, homework, school activities and a job. If you want them to do their best in school, they shouldn't have to choose between homework and a job. Just my opinion. Good luck. =]

Answer 8

However many the state allows without them breaking the child labor laws.

Answer 9

due to child labor laws,

probably whatever is legal.

check up on that on google or something, it should tell you the exact hours they can work, and from what time to what time.

also, grades is a matter too, if they are good, let them work more, if they aren't so good, make them take time from working to study.

EDUCATION always comes first.

you can have all the money in the world, but when people talk to you, and you sound like an idiot, their image of you changes. And also, you  wouldn't want them missing out on that s*x ed class half the world missed.  

Answer 10

Whatever hours are legal lol.  

Answer 11

My mom won't let me work at all because she wants me to be a kid for as long as I can and to focus on school

Answer 12

4 hours..so that they will need to learn how to budget their time.

Answer 13

20 hours is sufficient for a person in high school. 20 hours is basically a 4-hour shift on Friday and two 8-hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Enough to pay for gas, and any fun stuff they might want to spend their money on. Most labor laws prohibit minors from working later than 10pm or earlier than 7am and so they would always be home early enough to do their homework on Sundays. And most states prohibit a teenagers from working more than 25 hours during the school week.

Although when I was 16 I had already graduated from high school and was a part-time college student, so I worked 35 hour work weeks and did quite a few (illegal) 4am-12pm shifts at the place I worked ^.^