My sister and I were not allowed to have traditional after school jobs. We HAD to work during the summer. We had to keep our grades up. AP and/or honor classes were a must. In our home Cs were just as bad as Fs.

We were not paid for doing chores. As members of the family, we were required to help keep the house clean. Paying for chores implies that the kid is free to opt out of helping around the house.

I raised my son the way. He had to do chores around the house. He got an allowance but it wasn't tied to chores. He worked during the summer not during the school year.

He's 21 now. He attends college out of state. He only works when he's home for school break

I understand some families want their kids to focus on top grades and ivy league colleges, and if the kids are actually getting the grades, taking advanced classes and taking college prep seriously I don't see a problem with that.

But I think getting a part time job is critical for most teens. Especially in stepfamilies with overly permissive parents. It would help these kids so much to be held accountable to someone else other than Disney dad. It would also help skids like mine who have social development problems.

When I was a teen getting a job was not an option. Ever. And in a way I'm glad, I think I'm better off for it. I've always been kind of shy, and working jobs has helped me immensely. Especially when it involved customer service.

I don't think this is a one-size-fits-all situation. To me, school is their primary job. Some kids need more time/effort to do well than others. As long as they're working hard and rising to their abilities, we could go on to talk about extra-curriculars, be they work or something else. Sitting around the house playing video games in all their free time was not an option.

My son has always found academics a breeze - a full slate of AP classes didn't faze him - so had plenty of spare time. He had music lessons, and spent a fair bit of time at home working on practicing/composing. He did also work p/t during the school year, f/t during the summer.

My daughter attended a highly competitive HS, and academics have always been a bit of a struggle for her, so she needed to put in more time. She's also an athete, so part of her spare time was spent playing, training, etc. A p/t job during the school year didin't wok well with that schedule of schoolwork/athletics. She did dogsit for our neighbors when they went away (which was frequently), but she could do work, run with the pooch, so that was kind of ideal. In the summer, she volunteered at a sports camp for disabled kids, as well as worked p/t at a farm.

Both kids work p/t while in college - one works in the tech lab, the other tutors HS students. Neither makes a lot, but it gives them some extra spending cash. Both tend towards frugality anyway...

Personally as a mom and smom, I think chores are great for kids, extra chores for an allowance teaches great budgeting skills, and part time jobs and/or summer jobs starting at 16ish is a great way to teach kids responsibility and real life skills AND it cuts down on what another poster was complaining about - adult kid leaches!! When my kids were small before I got divorced I had a wonderful chores chart set up on the fridge and $$ amounts assigned to different chores. My kids all loved it and would save their money for different things they'd want. If they wanted something they'd have to save. My older son even tried the borrowing aspect at a young age of about 8 and it was an opportunity for me to teach him about saving rather then getting into debt. My skids were never taught that but we've been successful to a certain degree teaching ss16 some of these skills, but when I came in on the scene ss19 was too old to teach and he's the one struggling the most with work and money. Bm always gave him $100 bills for food and whatever he wanted all his life, always throwing it down on the counter for him and causing him to not have the skills for life. It's sad now watching him struggle and now that dh is with me he is stricter with ss19 and ss doesn't get it and now blames me for how strict his dad's gotten but dh just figured out how to parent correctly once we got together. He still gives in sometimes. BM just bought a phone for ss19, why he cannot buy his own and have his own phone plan is beyond me, I cut him off of my plan b/c he stole from me. BM freaked out on us saying she pays so much cs but she forgot she doesn't pay cs for ss19 anymore. lol I think the family has money/spending issues. Crazy.

My parents allowed me to start working at age 14 (I was a freshman in high school) as long as I kept good grades and continued to do all of my household chores at home as well. I also had to get a job within walking distance and they limited my hours to a few after school during the week and one weekend day (not both sat and sun since they felt I did need SOME off time between school and work).

I saved my money for almost 2 years so I could buy a car when I got my license at 16 and also to fund any clothing purchases my parents couldn't afford. If I wanted new jeans that cost $50, I bought them myself and never asked my parents.

If DD15 lived with us full time, I'd allow her the same privilege, with the same conditions.

Stepdevil14 is too lazy to ever want to work so that issue would never present itself.

I'm all for working unless the student has special needs or has an extracurricular activity that leaves no free time.

You can really tell in the work force with new college grads the ones who have been in the work force more than just a fun summer part-time job.

Now if a students is not capable of making passing grades while working (not capable not just not doing the work) then of course school should come first. Students are of different abilities. Some are going to have to really struggle just to pass.

But if a student is supposed to be "bright" then they should be able to manage some work. I worked at least 25 hours a week (would have worked more if I could have had the hours) while taking 18-21 hours in tough subjects at a hard school - with good grades. Was it easy? No - but most jobs for new grads require unreal hours.

It's good preparation for the real world. Holding a job, raising a family, etc. is going to take more than a few hours a week.

I wasn't allowed to work during the school year. Well, I was, but I could find no job that would accommodate me. My dad said I couldn't work on the weekends because that was my time with him, and what part time job is going to hire a teen with no weekend availability over one with weekend availability? None in my town. I was required to keep my grades up and in turn I was given spending money for the week and money deposited into savings. I was required to work the summer between my junior and senior year and they gave me a car to drive myself back and forth. Then at the start of senior year I kept the car, got gas and spending money and money in my savings account.

Now at 23 I'm working my way through college- working full time, college part time at night.