The ADOS and the work

What does the society in which adolescent girls and adolescents live today? What do these young people think of school and work? What place do these institutions take in their lives? Why work while studies and social relations with friends and parents seem so important in adolescence?

As a child, an outing at the cinema was almost an event, but now that he is a teenager, the social life of your teenager requires a little larger spending. The pocket money is no longer enough and it demands more autonomy! The time has come for him to enter the labour market. But is that a good thing? Will work harm his studies? Do you have to look at his way of managing his money?

56% of adolescents aged 14-17 receive the work of their parents as
« Stressing », « tiriguant », or « hard ». The main link with the company’s world, namely parents, is not very attractive.

It is possible to occupy a first job from the start of adolescence, but it is necessary to prepare for it. Parents have a role to play in this preparation. You can help him establish why he wants to work and establish with him what he is willing to sacrifice? Because he cannot do everything: study, work, have a social life and sleep. This is part of learning.

For many parents, it can be anxious to see his teenager start "winning his life" by his own means. In general, these are jobs at the minimum wage where tasks are not always very pleasant. However, it is above all a great step towards autonomy that is accomplished. By working, there will be another conception of the money, the efforts to win it. It will also have to adapt to a new figure of authority, that of the boss.

Unfortunately, this autonomy can have perverse effects. For the first time in his life, your teenager makes money. We can find that the wage is very low, but for a young man of his age, it is already a lot of money, especially when he has no rent or accounts to pay. It can then be very tempting to be drawn to gain and to leave his studies quietly.

This is where family supervision plays a great role. We must make it clear to our teenager that his part-time work is not a goal in itself, that it temporarily helps him to pay some expenses here and there. Without necessarily taking a look at his bank account every week, it is important to look into how he spends his money.

Sometimes you will have to close your eyes on some luxury that you find useless, but you must also remind him of the priorities. You are also present to put limits and conditions. If his studies suffer, he must reduce his working hours or give his resignation altogether.

Several dropouts delay the school because of the money they earn at work. Unfortunately, the reality of the world of work ensures that without diplomas, the possibilities of promotions are very thin. The excitement of the gain may therefore be of short duration.

Yet no one forces them to. Again, the gain bait is an important gift. So you have to impose some rigidity on your teenager's work schedule. The key is communication. Don't hesitate to ask questions, take news of his job.

If you detect signs of stress or fatigue, it is better to tell him to decrease his number of hours or stop working. At this age, your teenager doesn't have much experience, it's not always easy for him to know his limit well and demand better conditions for his boss. So your support is very important. It should also be taken into account that studies are very demanding on their part. Between duties, examinations and work, balance is necessary.

It is a special moment that your teenager will live when he starts his new job. It will be its first steps in an adult world, but it will still need support and guidance to adapt to this new reality. Without going to choose the job in his place, we still have time to discuss with him what he lives and how he manages this new reality.