Yet Another Cycling Forum
Random Musings => Miscellany => Kidstuff => Topic started by: Jock Stewart on 07 July, 2016, 09:27:37 am
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The lad has just completed his GCSEs. He'll do well, having worked hard. Does loads of sporting stuff and is very sociable. He's also off to Reading Fest this Summer and Sixth Form in Sept.
However, he has never had a paid job. How much pressure would you put on a teen to get a job? Is it important that they do? Is it an essential life skill to have worked as a teen? I ask as a feel a tad guilty as I told him off very firmly yesterday for not trying hard enough.
My concern is that if he doesn't pull his finger out now, Summer will be over and he'll be on the A level/Sixth Form activity treadmill, and may end up at Uni having never worked. He's a decent kid but I don't want him spoilt. We live in SW London so the region is not short of jobs.
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He's got another two summers during sixth form to work before going to uni, give the guy a break!
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Yes, help him get something. GCSE might be a bit early, but a good start. The process of writing a CV, however short, then traipsing round potential employers and getting rejected is good experience. Ours did volunteering in a charity shop, and an old folks home, working in restaurants, selling raffle tickets at the local football club, putting up market stalls, then progressing to being registered at the local temp agency and doing cleaning, labouring, etc.
Working with people, things, money, etc is all good experience. Also it gives them more money and things to fill the CV out with.
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My daughter worked in a local café and the village pub and my son washed up at the pub for 4 years. Both learnt a lot about working with other people and dealing with customers and it gave them a sense of responsibility, it did them both a lot of good. It also extended my son's vocabulary, although not in the areas that my wife approved and taught him about the perils of alcohol - the chef was an alcoholic. It taught them that a good boss does value reliable hard-working staff - my daughter used to get plenty of extra shifts in the holidays while other girls complained they never got anything extra - guess which ones turned up on time for work and never messed the boss around and which ones didn't. All essential life skills. Plus it taught them that it's worth putting in a bit of effort at school so that you don't have to spend the rest of your life working behind a bar.
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I agree with Little Jim
Out of the 6 kids/stepkids, 4 have worked before they were 18. It has done those 4 a load of good.
I don't think a lot of pressure is warranted, and the job needn't be much. However, it is a very good experience to earn a bit but also to learn about *having* to get somewhere on time etc (and for your own benefit/money).
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We encouraged our son to work in the village pub from as soon as he was old enough (14 I think). He did it until he left for uni. One night a week and one afternoon at weekends to start with and when he was 17-18 sometimes he did more on a weekend if they were short. Washing up to start with then also being a waiter.
He didn't enjoy it much but it did give him a respect for money and gave him confidence in dealing with people.
He saved up to buy his own car unlike a lot of his mates who just had one given to them and I think he appreciates it more (I paid insurance for him etc).
Its also nice for them to have their own money that they can spend on what they want without justifying it to their parents. As I said my lad was pretty good about saving but he like to blow his tips on computer games etc.
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We are in the same situation, our 16year old has just finished GCSEs and is now bumming around the house. She has the tendency to be lazy and apathetic so it's going to be interesting to see what her results are like (a day in August I am dreading). Pressure about getting a job has already been brought to bear and will increase if she does nothing.
A job will do our teen a power of good as she is very shy and doesn't like stepping outside her small comfort zone. But, deep down she is a smashing kid and put in the right work environment she is likely to blossom like the biggest flowery thing you've ever seen.
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Tricky one.
Whereas our generation worked from a pretty early age, school age jobs have been practically legislated out of existence. The result is, as you say, young ones reaching university - or beyond - having never worked or earned in their lives. No concept of the benefits and challenges of one of the most important aspects of adult life. Fine if you have a trust fund to inherit but a very poor start in life for the rest of us.
I have two sprogs. The eldest was like yours - and like you - I worried. However, the first thing she did at university was get a part time job. She loved it so much she jacked in university (I approved as I'm not a big fan of the university for all mantra).
The second worked weekends and holidays from a very young age. She's still at school so we'll have to wait and see if the work ethic holds into later life.
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Another one with a teen of the same age. She's been doing a lot of bumming around, and has done the whole of Netflix and not much else, so we have been nagging her a little bit to get a job. She is the least streetwise person of anyone I know, her younger sister often seems so much older, so I genuinely thought it would do her good to actually take responsibility for something in her life- which she just doesn't currently do. Maybe that's been bad parenting, I dunno, but she really expects everything done for her.
Anyway, I disagree about school age jobs being legislated out of existence, because there are plenty around near us. The most common way to get your mitts on one seems to be through FB groups. She had her first interview on Tuesday, and started a job at a fish and chip shop on Tuesday night!!! 2 shifts done, and she's actually enjoying it, I really think it will be great for her, and increase confidence. She's had a very difficult year with some hard medical stuff to deal with, which have definitely affected exams/school, and it's good she's got something that can get her out of her comfort zone, and give her money to spend on whatever she wants. It's a 1 minute walk from our house, so hopefully she'll keep it up through 6th form as well.
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I have four children all of whom can be held up as conflicting role models (of a sort).
My daughters both worked in their school hols, one with a school friend in the local park's café, taking the piss out of the clients as they served drinks ("Buggeremup?" "I beg your pardon?" "Mug or a cup?"). T'other one worked at Waitrose and earned a fair bit of cash. She is the most driven of all our children.
Younger son took the laid-back approach. Finished A levels and took a gap year, doing nothing other than becoming one of the world's top 20 at "Unreal Tournament", started Uni at the age of 20 (a good move: I was only just 18 when I left home and suffered considerably from home-sickness) and he declared to me early on "I am going to take a Swedish wife!". Well, they are not married, but after 10 years collecting degrees, and living together for a good deal of that time, they are each titled "Dr" and her family is fabulously wealthy.
Dez is Dez. There is no other.
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Another one with a teen of the same age. She's been doing a lot of bumming around, and has done the whole of Netflix and not much else, so we have been nagging her a little bit to get a job. She is the least streetwise person of anyone I know, her younger sister often seems so much older, so I genuinely thought it would do her good to actually take responsibility for something in her life- which she just doesn't currently do. Maybe that's been bad parenting, I dunno, but she really expects everything done for her.
I think our daughters might be clones ;D
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Anyway, I disagree about school age jobs being legislated out of existence, because there are plenty around near us. The most common way to get your mitts on one seems to be through FB groups.
Nope. No work *at all* until 13 and then only part time. My youngest got round it by working illegally. A criminal £5/hr is still £5/hr.
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But 13 is a school age job? And part time is still a job?
But yes if you mean full time work at 12- yes, errr, I guess that doesn't exist!
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I had a paper round for a couple of years when I was at secondary school, and jacked it in as soon as I was old enough to get shop work. Worked in a Saxone concession at Burtons for 4 hours on Saturdays, then did Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons on the tills at the Co-op supermarket, more in the holidays. My parents encouraged me to work, but not at the expense of my education. I didn't have term time jobs when I was at college; our course was too intense, but my summer jobs were child-minding (worst job I ever had), waitressing and care home work.
My parents were very clear that as long as I was in full-time education, I didn't have to pay any contribution to the household, and they would keep me clothed and shod, but anything else I had to pay for myself.
My brother did bugger all.
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I worked from about 13 onwards, I had to get a work permit signed by my school. I mostly worked in supermarkets. I think teens should be working part-time for all the reasons stated above.
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I've always worked, from as soon as I could. I had expensive habits.
Sons worked during 6th form, daughters did not. They all like financial independence, but for No2Daughter that came from her Dad. :facepalm:
There's nothing like cutting off income to persuade them to work.
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My child labour history was farm work from about 10 through to 15 or so. Pretty hard, cold, and relentless. For some reason, I particularly disliked turkey killing and plucking. But paid for my computing habit (ZX81!). Then an abattoir. That actual work was the grimmest of grim but there was a good team spirit. But it paid for my first ever new bike. Then university and office jobs with temp agencies. Bloody fantastic - free coffee and no throat cutting to do.
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I've always worked too :) My first job was in the village bakery when I was 14, I got £2.57 an hour :)
Then I worked in the local Italian restaurant, still at the bakery, and also newsagents when I was at 6th form. Looking back I'm not sure how I did that amongst all the music stuff I used to do as well (and all the drinking at 6th form ;) ) Oh the joys of being young I guess! That restaurant was great money, the tips were more than the wages.
I wouldn't even think of asking teen1 to make a contribution to the house while she was in full time education, it's just pocket money, but some independence is definitely beneficial for her.
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Anyway, I disagree about school age jobs being legislated out of existence, because there are plenty around near us. The most common way to get your mitts on one seems to be through FB groups.
Nope. No work *at all* until 13 and then only part time. My youngest got round it by working illegally. A criminal £5/hr is still £5/hr.
Blimey. No chimneys you could throw them up from 5am to 10pm at 10? What is the world coming to? (And you tell the young people of today that, etc, etc!).
Both mine worked from around 15-16, and both enjoyed it. One in a local hairdresser, the other in the local pub and more recently as a lifeguard in the local leisure centre. The one at university (who did the hairdresser job) hasn't even considered working while at uni, so I need to have a word with her! The other is off to join the Army.
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Life is getting increasingly harder fro the working population - by the time he is retiring age he will probably be 100 years old and have been stressed out for much of it. Do you really need him to work? I'd be strongly inclined to give him a break, otherwise.
Peter
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I've always worked too :) My first job was in the village bakery when I was 14, I got £2.57 an hour :)
There's inflation for you! I was paid 25p/hr babysitting for a lecturer at university and I was rather older than 14!
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I got £1.20 per week for a 6 mornings a week paper round!
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I got 25p an hour working on a building site in December.
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I got my first job when I was in primary school. The local farmer drove his tractor up and down a field full of potatoes whilst a device turfed the tubers out of the ground. My sister and I collected them, along with many other villagers, and put them in bags. We were paid by the bag.
"A good woman can pick 50 bag a day," said Cyril Wilby, farm hand extraordinaire. His wife did indeed pick 50 bag a day. My sister and I were lucky if we managed 5.
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Thanks for the comments all. Very useful.
I told the lad this morning:
"I don't care if you don't get a job as long as you try your best to get one. And if you try I'll buy you that ticket to go and see Harelquins at Twickenham for the London Double Header."
I thought that experience of trying at this age would, almost, be as actually working (as a poster above has already noted).
Off he went and asked around a few cafes in Kingston, having tweaked his CV (which had already taken 2 months to complete). Has an interview with the owner of one cafe on Sunday.
I bought him that ticket.
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I didn't have a job until my gap
yah year! I spent that failing to be an au pair in Geneva followed by failing to work on a renovation project in Provence (I tried both and have the scars to prove it) followed by working for most of that year in The Colne Bookshop. Not the most glamourous gap year but it it was one of the happiest years of my life and I managed to build up some funds for university. What lovely memories I have of spending all day surrounded by books. :D
Anyway, well done to the lad for getting an interview! I'm sure he appreciates you giving him a helping hand. There's plenty of time yet for the world of WURK.
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I got 25p an hour working on a building site in December.
Brave of you to take that on at your age!
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I got 25p an hour working on a building site in December.
Brave of you to take that on at your age!
;D
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Thanks for the comments all. Very useful.
I told the lad this morning:
"I don't care if you don't get a job as long as you try your best to get one. And if you try I'll buy you that ticket to go and see Harelquins at Twickenham for the London Double Header."
I thought that experience of trying at this age would, almost, be as actually working (as a poster above has already noted).
Off he went and asked around a few cafes in Kingston, having tweaked his CV (which had already taken 2 months to complete). Has an interview with the owner of one cafe on Sunday.
I bought him that ticket.
Made me smile, that. Good on you both. Sometimes we're very po-faced about this stuff, but that isn't how it worked for us. It was a bit of cheek, a bit of luck, a lot of rejections, and some crappy days when you thought you'd never have the money for whatever it was you wanted. And yet your Mum would have given anything to have you home all day, and your Dad would have quite happily swapped you having a job for having you do all the crap that he was 'supposed' to be doing in the house and garden! Ok, that's the selfish side - and we all want our kids to be able to get on in life - but I'd happily have mine home at any time now they've gone.
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I got my first job (illegally) at 10, in a fruit shop earning 50p/hour to pack spuds and stuff into pre-weighed bags. Walked out on point of principle in the face of management stupidity a year or two later :D
Started a Sunday paper round the week I was legally able to, got myself a couple more paper rounds along the way (one of which I kept going until 18), picked up a job as a Saturday girl in the chippy at 14 and ended up averaging about 20 hours a week through the GCSE exam season (well, I was on study leave) and about 15 hours a week through sixth form and got given a long service engraved (alarm) clock when I 'retired' at 19, plus had assorted agricultural labouring jobs in season and worked a few summers for a contract cleaners mucking out student houses in the nearest uni town. Plus plenty of baby sitting and stuff over the years. I paid for all my own clothes, holidays and leisure stuff from about 14, and valued the independence it gave me - plus I was able to apply for gap year jobs and give references from people I'd worked for for several years, so I rapidly got the pick of the temp contracts at the supply agency.
I have to say though that I reckon the work ethic came before the jobs for me. I didn't learn the value of money because of working - I worked because I already understood it. Cash handling is really good for your mental maths though.
The EldestCub has muttered occasionally, prompted by his dad, about getting a job. I'm leaving it up to him, although if he asks for help with applying for anything obviously I will, because if the decision to try to get a job doesn't come from him then I reckon it wouldn't fly.
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I started at 14 with a morning paper round (shared with my sister and assisted at the weekends by my mum in a car*). By 16 we had a round each and then when she stopped, due to working hard in a dress makers, I had both and I kept it up till I went to a pre uni summer job. At £30 per week per round (shared), they paid for my driving lessons, music etc. and I went to uni with savings. They also ensured I got good exercise cycling ~5 miles a day and the route ended with my own street.
I didn't work during term time at Uni but did two summers temping in an artist paint manufacturers. Packing tubes of oil/acrylic/or watercolour paints into retail sets. It was mindless drudgery but provided good motivation to complete my degree and get a graduate job.
* The round was ~30% Mail, 40% Telegraph and 25% Times so the saturday and sunday papers would have taken four or five trips to the shop.
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Other than the paid gigs that I did lighting/sound tech for in the sixth form, I never had a paid job as a teenager. Unless you count the IT support I did for various people (usually for tokenistic reimbursement); the data entry type stuff I did in my Dad's lab on a couple of occasions mainly out of boredom (hanging around the lab was interesting enough); or the endless data wrangling and slide layout I'd end up doing whenever he was presenting at conferences because it was less painful than watching him fight the software.
You see, the problem was that growing up you're surrounded by people telling you to be sensible with money, and I was stupid and listened. I wasn't exactly rolling in cash, but since I had neither friends or a CD/substance habit, being sufficiently frugal with the inevitable annual gifts was enough to keep me in geek toys and books. I saw my brother get shitty cleaning and bar work jobs in order to pay for his frittering and underage smoking, and come home stinking of sweat and fags. Why get an exhausting menial job in order to pay for crap I didn't really need? So I didn't.
What nobody tells you is that you need experience of some shitty job as a teenager in order to bootstrap your slightly-less-shitty-job career path, until such a time as you're either a a shiny recent graduate in something employers care about, have accidentally developed enough of a reputation for competence that people start paying you to do things, or that you can rely on nepotism to get you a real job.
So yes. I'd say it's worth doing the odd crappy summer job here and there, but nobody's going to really care about how long you did it for, so don't turn down opportunities for real experiences in favour of them. It'll work out (or all go to shit) in the end regardless.
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... What nobody tells you is that you need experience of some shitty job as a teenager in order to bootstrap your slightly-less-shitty-job career path, until such a time as you're either a shiny recent graduate in something employers care about, have accidentally developed enough of a reputation for competence that people start paying you to do things, or that you can rely on nepotism to get you a real job.
So yes. I'd say it's worth doing the odd crappy summer job here and there, but nobody's going to really care about how long you did it for, so don't turn down opportunities for real experiences in favour of them. It'll work out (or all go to shit) in the end regardless.
True is this ^^^
Experience is what matters as experiences should lead to a great attitude which matters even more if you are to progress to having a fulfilling adult life that is as stress free and as fun as possible. Cos what really, really matters is having fun. I doubt nobody takes their final breath having just thought "Flippin' heck, I wish I'd done more work and had less fun!"
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You see, the problem was that growing up you're surrounded by people telling you to be sensible with money, and I was stupid and listened. I wasn't exactly rolling in cash, but since I had neither friends or a CD/substance habit, being sufficiently frugal with the inevitable annual gifts was enough to keep me in geek toys and books. I saw my brother get shitty cleaning and bar work jobs in order to pay for his frittering and underage smoking, and come home stinking of sweat and fags. Why get an exhausting menial job in order to pay for crap I didn't really need? So I didn't.
That post made me laugh. And true. Thing is, my lad's a party animal and needs the gazoodlies and I can't - or rather won't - be an open wallet and sub him the amount he needs. Don't mind dropping him the odd tenner but he'll be needing more than that. Trendy clothes, gigs, beer, gym membership, phone deals etc....
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Ah, his "requirements" were not mentioned in the original post. Not all teenagers have these requirements, though probably most do!
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You see, the problem was that growing up you're surrounded by people telling you to be sensible with money, and I was stupid and listened. I wasn't exactly rolling in cash, but since I had neither friends or a CD/substance habit, being sufficiently frugal with the inevitable annual gifts was enough to keep me in geek toys and books. I saw my brother get shitty cleaning and bar work jobs in order to pay for his frittering and underage smoking, and come home stinking of sweat and fags. Why get an exhausting menial job in order to pay for crap I didn't really need? So I didn't.
That post made me laugh. And true. Thing is, my lad's a party animal and needs the gazoodlies and I can't - or rather won't - be an open wallet and sub him the amount he needs. Don't mind dropping him the odd tenner but he'll be needing more than that. Trendy clothes, gigs, beer, gym membership, phone deals etc....
My brother definitely got the better deal out of parental subsidies. It turns out that parents are much more likely to slip you the odd tenner (not to mention the even tenner) or pay off your phone bill if they know you haven't got the money yourself.
The other important life lesson is that you can save for a decade as a child and at the end of it you'll be able to afford ...a month's rent on your student digs. Spend it on sweeties and plastic tat while that stuff still matters to you, I say. It's a drop in the ocean to a grown-up, and not much more to a teenager.
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I managed to save over a grand, which paid for my first Proper Adventure to France...
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I had the problem of teen-work being unsuitable for me as it all involved repetitive manual work, heavy lifting or being able to hear. I was also rather unwell aged 15-17 due to what I suspect was sensory and physical overload from trying to manage school nevermind anything else. I did apply for some supermarket type work when I was at 6th form but even with a friend handing my application in I never heard back. This is in the context of EVERY single other person I knew who applied (most of my school year) got a response and the majority got an interview. Disability discrimination was alive and well - I didn't even get the chance to discover supermarket work would probably have killed me. Then my mum got cancer so looking after her was a higher priority for someone like me who didn't need all that much money.
I did struggle when wanting proper jobs later as I didn't have the teen job experience employers wanted. I don't think there's much I could have changed as most teen jobs were unsuitable and voluntary work (which I did have) simply didn't count for anything. The employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people is smaller the more academically credentialled the disabled person becomes; this was largely why I went to uni as I knew that was my best chance of employment at all.
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I forgot to mention that my younger son occasionally got paid not insignificant but irregular sums by playing gigs.
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OK. Since I posted this, he finally went down and met the owner today. He has a three hour trial (unpaid) next week, time and day tbc. Pay is min wage, but that's ok. And it's a nice location - down on the Thames, about 500 metres outside the centre of town, so customer base is very twee.
He gets two shifts a week, that's about £50 cash net. Not bad for a teen to spend only on himself.
Taking a while but getting there.
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*sigh* :(
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*sigh* :(
? Is he/she not displaying massive enthusiasm to join the workforce? I wouldn't stress too much. Despite me being a believer in work from an early age, the evidence before my eyes (sample size = 2) is that it doesn't actually seem to make much difference. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
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Well, he has £20 quid a week pocket money anyway. Plus his school stuff, rugby stuff, gym stuff, essential clothes stuff, mob phone stuff, uber... And it's not enough as he also wants extras for take-aways when coming back from parties etc. I'm actually concerned about him getting a sense entitlement. So him doing a couple of shifts for £7 odd quid an hour is to add quality to his already very nice quality of life.
It's not as if he's a boy in Bombay with no shoes. And it's a nice cafe on a nice part of the Thames. The owner has already offered him occasional work if he wants it when at 6th Form. She gave him a trial on Weds and offered him the role. She then also paid him for the unpaid trial.
And, yes, he does need to work for that extra money he needs as I'm not subbing him the extra £50 per week. He doesn't have to work if he doesn't need it.
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£20 a WEEK? I'd say he's rolling in clover.
To put some proportion on it, my step daughter is about to go to uni. After fees and uni digs, she'll have £30 a month for food.
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Have to agree with MrC on this one. £20 a week?!
I've never given my children any pocket money. If they haven't earned anything but they want/need money for something specific, they have to ask. When they are away at (boarding) school they have money with them (and a tab with the school) but they always phone or email before they spend it.
They seem to have developed good habits with money as they are not very big spenders. The eldest, in her first full time job, seems to save every penny.
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£20 a WEEK? I'd say he's rolling in clover.
To put some proportion on it, my step daughter is about to go to uni. After fees and uni digs, she'll have £30 a month for food.
What about books, stationery, clothes and entertainment(etc)?
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She doesn't lack for clothes. We'll help her replace clothes as needed.
That's the money that is available. The student loan etc doesn't cover the cost of accommodation plus uni fees. We'll be paying transportation costs to and from home. Her dad has agreed to give her £30 a month.
She has had a 'gap' year and hasn't worked . . .
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In which case she will either work or accumulate debt.
I was a lucky student in the days when there were grants and our fees were paid. I wasn't a big spender but discovered multiple incidental expenses which needed a budget. I suppose we all do.
I qualified with a positive bank balance, which is more an indication of my age than financial wizardry.
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Well, the lad had his first unpaid three-hour trial over the weekend. He's been offered a couple shifts. I did feel a bit sorry for him when he said he spent the time 'just washing up and selling ice-cream'.
I may encourage him to do a rugby-coaching course, so he can deliver paid-for courses during hols. This way he'll be working on what is a passion for him, and which will let him use his brains a bit more.
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£20 a WEEK? I'd say he's rolling in clover.
To put some proportion on it, my step daughter is about to go to uni. After fees and uni digs, she'll have £30 a month for food.
Well, I kinda guesstimated the average over a year. Includes buying him tickets for gigs, money from grandparents on birthdays/Christmas, upgrading his phone.
He's now asking for driving lessons, which is fair enough. That's a cost we'll take on. And he also needs to start fundraising seriously for his trip to Malawai next year for some Duke Of E thing, which we're not paying for.
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Junior has just been accepted as a Deliveroo cycle courier in Edinburgh.
This is something he's just gone and done himself; it was presented as fait accompli ( a technique he probably inherited from me... ).
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It's taken a few weeks for all the bureaucracy to work, but he did his first deliveroo shift this weekend.
5.5 hours, for £52.
He's saving for a Uni Ski club trip which he's going to self-finance.
Ride Report:
"25 miles, not too much , but very start - stoppey and quite hilly and cobblestoney."
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That's over £2 per mile! :thumbsup:
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Our teenager (getting on for 17yo) is still not working, I am getting increasingly fed up with the situation >:(
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I'd chill about that.
Junior is 18 now and has only just started his first work.
Childhood is such a short time, and it seems to be getting shorter with all the pressure of exams etc.
I think the pressure is more than it was when I was a kid.
I'd let them be for now.
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I still have my lad at home, 1st class degree and free hot and cold everything.
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It's taken a few weeks for all the bureaucracy to work, but he did his first deliveroo shift this weekend.
5.5 hours, for £52.
He's saving for a Uni Ski club trip which he's going to self-finance.
Ride Report:
"25 miles, not too much , but very start - stoppey and quite hilly and cobblestoney."
I fekkin *HATE* the cobblestones.
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I'd chill about that.
Junior is 18 now and has only just started his first work.
Childhood is such a short time, and it seems to be getting shorter with all the pressure of exams etc.
I think the pressure is more than it was when I was a kid.
I'd let them be for now.
She's only at college 4 days a week so working a few hours isn't really a hardship. Plus she'll learn some useful stuff, might enjoy herself and earn some cash to boot.
I was working part-time when I was 14 or so and looking back can see how it's benefited me in later life. At the time I spent my earnings on sailing boats and kit and got a massive amount of enjoyment from it.
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Mine did apply for a deliveroo job but was barred on the grounds he is too young to deliver beer. He didn't get the cafe job due to lack of experience (!) He has now got a shift at a boutique hotel five miles away. He works with a couple of other Sixth Form mates, a six hour shift every week or so, serving at parties. Finishes at midnight so I pick him up. Gets £7.90 per hour which is ok for a 16 year old.
I think it's also good for him to work - as he's at a Grammar school and leading a pretty gilded life - in terms of grounding him.
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£20 a WEEK? I'd say he's rolling in clover.
To put some proportion on it, my step daughter is about to go to uni. After fees and uni digs, she'll have £30 a month for food.
Is she in some special situation where she doesn't get the tuition fee loans that everyone else gets?
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Many of my students' full loan does not cover their rented accommodation costs nevermind living costs.
Student accommodation costs (uni owned and private, harder to distinguish these days) have gone up scary amounts in the last 5-10yrs.
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I know ( :o ) but he mentioned fees.
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Probably just legacy language maybe? The fee loan covers the fees, but there are still technically fees...
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Probably just legacy language maybe? The fee loan covers the fees, but there are still technically fees...
My loose use of language.
After paying uni costs, uni halls costs, she has sod all money left and is the traditional penniless starving student. Her current idea of a really good time (well, her big request for a 21st birthday was to be bought an indian takeaway) is a decent meal.
Due to various changes in our circumstances, we are down about £200 a month in income, shortly to be offset by MrsC taking up a new full-time job. So we don't have a lot that we can afford to direct her way.
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Hi
Advice needed peeps.
My son's shift at the posh hotel is going fine. He's doing about 7-12 hours per week, at about £7 per hour.
He's in Lower Sixth and is saving to pay for his trip to Malawi next Summer as some expedition thing.
However, he wants to earn more and was considering Deliveroo (again). He's only 16 so can't deliver booze but can food, etc. He like their zero-hours thing as it gives him flexitime to work around his studies.
However, I'm not sure I want him cycling as a messenger for a company such as Deliveroo - all the health and safety stuff, primarily. He's fit and physically confident but doesn't cycle (he's a rugby/basket ball player).
Am I wise to discourage him?
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I don't know anything about Deliveroo but I'd not discourage him as the sort of "get up and go" your lad is exhibiting is commendable!
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As someone who cycles ~30 miles a day across the capital to get to and from work I'd say, at best, if he's not a regular cyclist, he'll need to be pretty savvy and have some fast learning skills if he wants to make the deliveroo thing long term.
Or be lucky.
But, like Oscar's Dad, I see your lad's attitude as one which is commendable.
In the interests of reducing the risks, some 1on1 urban cycling tuition probably wouldn't go amiss - but I understand that may take him beyond the realms of his budget.
Some local councils offer Bikeability cycling tuition for free, I don't know if yours does.
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Which city?
I've rarely seen Deliveroo rider sticking to the law, so I assumed that was either because they didn't know it, or they had to get deliveries done as quickly as possible to make any money.
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I'm in Kingston-upon-Thames. I also trained as a Cycling Instructor over the Summer for the Borough so I could train him myself. The borough also offers free 1-2-1 cycle training.
The Deliveroo cyclists round here are just clumsy and not savvy.
I'll have a ponder. I'm not sure I want him cycling unless he 'gets' cycling, and at 16 his body is developing. Tbh I'd prefer it if he just got a job as a pint collector in a pub somewhere. I think messenging is for Uni aged students, where they have more mature confidence in dealing with other road users.
I think he'll be too passive.
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And thanks for the feedback everyone.
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I'd have thought if he's mature enough to - as a non-cycling teenager - take on the assertiveness and road-positioning lessons of Bikeability, it'll probably stand him in good stead when learning to drive or ride a moped in the next few years.
My concern about Deliveroo is more about their disguised employment model, and the way it's designed to shift as many costs and risks as possible onto their couriers. Mind you, I suppose the same factors didn't bother me too much when I worked as a cycle courier when I was a student, though that was full-time rather than odd evenings. (It was also 20-odd years ago, and I suspect wages haven't gone up.)
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Hi
Advice needed peeps.
My son's shift at the posh hotel is going fine. He's doing about 7-12 hours per week, at about £7 per hour.
He's in Lower Sixth and is saving to pay for his trip to Malawi next Summer as some expedition thing.
However, he wants to earn more and was considering Deliveroo (again). He's only 16 so can't deliver booze but can food, etc. He like their zero-hours thing as it gives him flexitime to work around his studies.
However, I'm not sure I want him cycling as a messenger for a company such as Deliveroo - all the health and safety stuff, primarily. He's fit and physically confident but doesn't cycle (he's a rugby/basket ball player).
Am I wise to discourage him?
I would say that 7-12 hours/week is as much as I would recommend for someone in the L6, anymore and it may impact too much on study. Better option if he needs more money would be a full time summer holiday job (strike that, of course that's when he is going to Malawi). What I did when my kids were working/saving for such trips was to match their savings £ for £, which effectively doubled their rate of pay. You could even link it to school grades and/or time spent on homework if that needs more motivation.
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Daughter and a friend raised money by working (daughter had two jobs, a Saturday one and a evening restaurant one, Friday, Saturday) and by getting sponsorship on 'Cycling the distance to Malawi'. She did this by cycling to school and going out for long runs in holidays. She got the restaurant she worked in to lay on a fundraising evening and she got coverage in the local press.
We didn't tell her but we were on standby to fill a funding gap.
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Cheers all.
We've already told him we'll provide the extra cash if he raises half of what he needs. It's basically the cost of the flight.
I've also decided he can't work more than the two shifts per week as suggested above.
I will also recommend he takes the free Bikeability courses as he can then messenger at Uni if he wants to.
Rider: Of course, all this is liable to change due to peer pressure if his mates decide they have the wherewithal to work more and still get their grades. They all had a sponsored walk to Brighton from Twickenham for the Malawi thing a couple of months ago. They managed 40 miles before giving up. He said it was the hardest thing he'd ever done physically, and he's a tough rugby player. Not a bad effort, so they have chutzpah.