My twins have a part time job and in my opinion it has been great. They have each saved over $10,000 for college /university. It has taught them time management. They have become really good at managing their own time and I don't have to do it anymore for them. They manage school clubs, homework and work. And my one daughter has a boyfriend.

It has allowed them to have much extra spending money, which they use toward little things that I wouldn't love to pay for nonstop. Such as Tim Hortons ice caps, ice cream treats, clothing and the odd extravagance. For example one pair of high end shoes. When I would normally buy just a normal pair for them. 

They pay their own gas and oil changes etc on their car with the money from their job. 

Overall I think their dad is ok with them having a job but he has stated he prefers they did more extracurriculars... But they've been able to do both successfully and get good grades. 

Overall I just feel it teaches them a lot about responsibility and life skills that you won't get anywhere else so I would always recommend a teen job. I had lots in my day and it was excellent life experience. 

I agree with the Pro's.. working can definitely give kids a sense of accomplishment.

The Cons I would add to ..

1.  Sometimes the job is logistically a burden on the parent(s).  They have to provide rides.. If split households, it can set up conflict with the other parent.. and end up adding to communication issues. 

2.  sometimes the cost/benefit of the job is difficult to justify.. if the kid will need a car.. then the pay could be eclipsed by those expenses.. now some parents would be getting the kid a car either way.. but not every family is easily able to afford to provide a car for their teen to use.. esp if there is more than one teen with competing scheduling issues.

3.  Other overscheduling issues.. perhaps the kid is in competitve sports.. they may already have enough "after school" activities to deal with without adding one more.  not discounting the value of lessons learned working.. but some of those same lessons are able to be learned doing other activities..like team sports.

4.  Kid is not thriving with their schoolwork.. don't want to add extra distraction.

5.  The giving time to the employer.. encompasses some of the above.. but just generally can make the child less available for family vacations and other obligagions..and in split households.. where parents are already getting less access to their child.. I can see parents being reluctant

6.  for some parents in some areas.. they may see "safety" issues as a concern.. they don't want their child working certain places.. or types of jobs due to exposure to things they might not approve of.  Example.. restaurant work.. some places can have drug use or alcohol. and the child may make connections with older people that they may not want them hanging out with.. (ahem.. one of my HS jobs was at a pizzeria.. where I worked and hung out with enlisted military .. mostly men.. and dated a few.. it was not all pg activity). 

So, while a job can provide lots of benefits.. it is, in my opinion... SECOND to the child's primary job of getting an education.  Certainly. many kids can do both.. but in divorced households.. it can be conflicted at times.. Yesterday is a perfect example since her EX does not 100% align with her ideas on her kids working. (and I am not saying that in the balance her kids don't net sum gain... but it has set up conflict with her ex several times and it hasn't always been easy to manage)

And.. both sides can have valid points.. working can do good things.. but it also has drawbacks in some situations too.. 

Some of I site to  be prepared to be adult.    Working  equals pay.  You work a hour earn $10. You must save for rainy day.  You must pay for your expenses.  And what's left over ..Having teens ask the question hopefully.  Is a hours work worth a Big Mac?  Is a hours work worth a 1/2 of drink.  

some kids can handle it, others can't. I expected mine to work summers at the least. Oddly enough, they babysat around ages 13-14. Everyone had boys and needed sitters so even before they could work they did work. I expected then to bank most of it. I think if possible it is good because it teaches responsiblity and the value of money. They weren't as eager to waste it when they knew that they had to work to earn it. 

SOs kids needed jobs if they wanted to drive. They had to  pay for their gas and car insurance. SO wasn't getting to let them sit around. Especially his boys who were not college bound. SD has a heavier school work load but still she needed to work. 

I will say... it was a pain in the ass when both the boys were working and not driving.. back and forth rides. Luckily it wasn't too far. 

SDs lacrosse schedule really throws a wrench in working as she has practice from 5-7pm m-f during the season. It's impossible for her to work m-f and even Saturday with games was tough. Worked scheduled her basically on Sundays alone. 

Another funny thing though... SOs friends wife didn't have their 17 year old get a job. He is the same age as my SD and is a senior in high school this year. He is a fantastic kid.. plays baseball but isn't that good.. but one of the reasonings she used was... any income he earns could effect his financial aid.... They make probably 350k a year combined between her and her husband. The few thousands he may have earned wasn't going to do anything haha. 

My older son started working at 15, first summers and then through a program at his high school that allowed him to leave school early and work full time. Now he's in grad school and works sporadically, mostly jobs in his field or internships. It was really good for him to start early because he was always shy and not super involved with extracurriculars. It helped him gain life experience and social skills.

My youngest has not really had a job except for a few days here and there cleaning a business and a brief stint as a scare actor where they dressed like a zombie and ran around the woods, and kids paid to be able to chase them and shoot them with pellet guns. This kid was always super involved with school and band, though, and had less time. I do wish they had got more "real world" job experience, but they dragged their feet with applications.

The biggest benefit to my oldest was motivation to get more training past high school. He found out where he didn't want to get stuck. 

Both of mine had paper routes as soon as the paper would give them one. It was a good working start as it the routes were not large and took only an hour or so a day. Unfortunately, paper routes are not available to kids any more. All routes here are now car routes. The houses that take the paper are not close enough for a kid to use a bike any more.

Work was something that was not a requirement by our parents and DW and I did not require SS to work.

Mainly because we were 3CKs raised overseas.

My brother never worked until his Sophomore and Jr. year of HS when we were back in the States briefly before he finished HS at boarding school after mom and dad returned overseas. 

I worked summers all through HS and my first two years of University. I was a notable competitive swimmer so my summer job was teaching swim lessons and coaching motivated young competitive swimmers. I charged $15 per kid for an hour lesson and averaged about 10 kids per class. I made a notable amount of money during summer break from school. What Expats and Arab parents would pay to get their kids a competitive advantage in the very competitive swim leagues is incredible.  I usually returned to school in the Fall with about $10K in my pocket.

I worked a bit during the first two years of college mounting and balancing tires at Discount Tire in the mid 80s.

My first full time job was when I started my company when I was 21.

DW worked all through HS. at her small town DQ.

For us, SS not working was about convenience for us. He did not work, because it was not convenient for us as we were both working full time careers by the time SS reached work age.

 We did not make SS work.  We moved the summer before he started 8th grade, he changed schools after 10th grade, and mid year of 12th grade.   His first paid job was the USAF at 18yo.  He has been serving for over 13 years .  He is less than 7 years from full retirement.

In our family background, working early has not been a major thing.  For many of the same reasons that my brother and I and SS were not required to work.  Living internationally limits youth employement opportunities.

DW and her two brothers all worked in HS. My SIL, the youngest of 4, didn't.  While DW, BIL1 & BIL2 worked all through HS, SIL didn't.  DW and her brothers all have incredible work ethics.  SIL, has none. She self annointed with "I'm spe-cial!" and still self annoints with that status pushing 40yo.  She has had a couple of dozen jobs and lasts about 2yrs at most at any position.  She usually is well received and makes a solid impression at the start then gets fired for lack of reliability and for self annointing as the smartest and best, while labeling anyone in management as idiots. She invariably gets fired.

For a little over a year she has worked as a teachers aid. This is the second time she has worked for the school district in their tiny town.  The first time she quit to be a home health aid for higher pay. She may just make this one stick. No one within an hour commute distance would hire her since all of the significant employers in that radius has already fired her.

Kids working can be a good thing, or a not so good thing. It really comes down to the quality of the parents and the quality of the kid.  A true double edged sword topic IMHO.

Our 5 kids all worked off and on but each situation was different.  SD worked at a local JC Penneys and enjoyed it, used the $ for clothes.  OSS and DS did yard work, they even had a little "company" with business cards.  DD worked at a steak house.  YSS worked briefly at a restaurant but had year-round sports so it wasn't really possible for him.

I was all for it as long as I didn't have to drive.  I can't say it was what gave them work ethic, I think they got that from example but I saw no negatives.

IMHO, the pros outweigh the cons. As long as the student keeps up with school, I'd ask them to work.

I started my after school jobs when I was 15 and so did my BS and I don't think it hurt either of us.

We both enjoyed the extra little cash and were slowly introduced to the work environment, having to "deal" with a boss, colleagues, etc.

I say, go for it!

I started working when I was 14 and I've never not had a job since then. I feel that on some levels, it was beneficial to me. It gave me an appreciation for the value of money, taught me respect for people working all types of jobs, gave me a pretty clear sense of what I did and did not want to end up doing with my life, and of course I learned a lot of people skills at a young age. 

However, looking back, I'm kind of shocked that my parents allowed it. I also played 4 varsity sports, was president of the student council, and valedictorian of my class. They were understandably proud of my achievements, but I absolutely burned the candle at both ends all through high school. University was actually kind of a break because sports were out of the equation, though I basically replaced them with the volunteer organizations I joined on campus, at least it wasn't as physically demanding.

The negative consequences for me really didn't manifest until well into adulthood when it became clear that I'd used work/staying super busy as a way to avoid dealing with anxiety, depression, and emotions in general. My XH obviously made a lot of mistakes in our marriage, but I was not emotionally available. It took a lot of therapy to recognize that I'd used all of my commitments and responsibilities as a distraction from my feelings and I was incredibly disconnected from my emotions. I'm 41 and still working on that.

All that to say, I'm very conscious of not allowing DD11 to be overcommitted. She's a bright kid, very successful at school and in theater, volunteers on a regular basis, takes music lessons, and has other hobbies that we enjoy together like hiking and kayaking. She stays busy, but I make sure that downtime is consistently built into her schedule and I won't let her take anything on that would interfere with that. For that reason, I don't anticipate her having a job in high school. I'm sure she'll babysit for people, etc, but that will probably be the extent of it.