Help Your Kid This Summer

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The only job I would avoid are those where you sit and observe. Like yours, a job with real consequences and results teaches a lot to a kid. I think an 60-day, Army bootcamp type arrangement, available only for high school seniors to be, would be an interesting program. I think parents might even pay for it.

GL of MN 3:35PM May 28, 2008

... but so what? It's a lesson we should ALL have to learn, and the sooner the better! I think all kids need to find out what it's like to have their funds cut off and have to earn it themselves. It's a lesson they'll thank mom and dad for later.

Robert Hruzek of TX 3:30PM May 28, 2008

it's probably good for kids sometimes to extend to the point of failing at some jobs. Or coming close enough to wonder if they'll make it. They learn perspective and scale - that you survive failure in some things with no lasting damage. So you may as well take some risk.
I was the lousiest milkman in 5 states for a month. When that job spilled down the drain, I didn't cry over it... but I knew what I wasn't cut out for and had a new respect for people who could pull it off.

Conrad of CA 3:14PM May 28, 2008