Here are some clever ideas that show how your kids can earn money. They can do most or all of the work themselves, but sometimes they may need a little help. In addition to earning extra money, these ideas can help your children learn responsibility and a work ethic.
Types of work for adolescents. — Some of the following items are typical teen jobs that you can get yourself. You can advertise your services in the local newspaper or on the craigslist website. Other items are jobs you can do for commercial employers.
1. Applying Decorations to Clothes: Keep up with the latest teen fashions and then apply the appropriate decorations to other people’s clothes for a fee.
2. Childcare – This is a popular job for teens, especially girls.
3. Grocery Bagging – Go to local grocery stores to get this type of job.
4. House Cleaning: Advertise this service to get a job. The elderly and inmates could be a good source of employment.
5. Redeemable Bottle Collection – Some states charge a deposit on beverage containers. You can pick them up and drop them off for a deposit refund.
6. Gardening – Many people enjoy having a garden, but may be unwilling or unable to do the work required.
7. Delivering Newspapers: This is a popular job for teenagers, especially children.
8. Party Entertaining – If you have a talent for entertaining people, you could advertise your services. Maybe you want to be a clown or an elf.
9. Grooming Seniors and Recluses: Everyone likes to look their best, but they may not be able to take care of themselves.
10. Growing Vegetables: You can grow vegetables and sell them at local supermarkets or fruit stands.
11. Mending clothes: Active children often tear their clothes or lose their buttons. You can advertise this service and make good money.
12. Mowing the lawn – This is a popular job for teens, especially kids. You can earn more money if you have your own lawn mower. Just walk around the neighborhood looking for a job during the grass growing season.
13. Fruit Picking – This is a seasonal job done by orchard owners. The faster you can pick fruit (carefully), the more money you can earn.
14. Provide a babysitter referral service: You can ask for qualified babysitters and store their contact information on your home computer. Charge the nanny a fee when you refer her to people who need her services.
15. Provide a typing service – If you have a home computer with a laser printer and word processing software, you can provide a typing service for students and small businesses. (Be sure to run the spell checker and grammar checker before printing your work.)
16. Provide an Online Research Service – If you enjoy doing research online, you can sell your services to authors, small businesses, students, and websites.
17. Pulling weeds: This can be a good way to earn some money, but make sure you wear work gloves.
18. Rake Leaves — When the leaves start to fall, someone has to rake them into piles and/or place them in leaf bags.
19. Furniture Refinishing and/or Repair: You may advertise to remove old furniture at no cost. After the furniture is repaired and restored, sell it at a flea market or your own lawn sale.
20. Running errands for seniors and homebound: When people are homebound, you may get paid to run their errands.
21. Shovel Snow: After it stops snowing, get out your snow shovel. Ask your neighbors if they will pay you to remove snow from their sidewalks and driveways.
22. Teaching people to use computers — Most young people know how to use computers. They can teach their skills to seniors for a fee.
23. Tutoring Students: If you are very good at certain subjects and can instruct other students, you can earn money as a tutor.
24. Dog Walking: If you live in a big city, there are probably a lot of people who pay you to walk their dog. The more dogs you can handle at once, the more money you can earn.
25. Work as a retail store clerk: Go to the retail stores in your city and leave your contact information. Visit stores every two weeks or so.
26. Work as a shipping department employee: Go to places that have a shipping department and leave your contact information. Visit them every two weeks or so.
27. Work at a fast food restaurant – Go to fast food restaurants every two weeks or so. You will probably be hired eventually.
28. Christmas Gift Wrapping: Many department stores offer a gift-wrapping service. If you have the required skills, you can get a seasonal job.
Rules about jobs for teenagers.
The US has federal and state rules governing teen workers. For most types of work, you must be at least 14 years old; but hours and working conditions may be restricted if you are under 16 years of age. Also, you may need to obtain a work permit. There are separate rules covering farm work.
These age restrictions generally do not apply to traditional youth employment, such as child care and newspaper delivery.
Ways to Search for Work from Employers
There are several ways to search for available jobs. You can search places where employers post their job openings. Some examples would be the “help wanted” section of newspaper classified ads and the “jobs” section of Craigslist.org for the desired city.
You can visit business companies in your local area to see if they have job openings. You may want to leave your name, age, address, and phone number if the business seems attractive.
You can ask your family and friends if they know of any possible job openings that might be a good fit for you.
Websites about job search
These job search websites are an easy way to do your job search. When a website has a search select box that allows keywords, you can usually enter “teen” as the keyword. This allows you to search for teen jobs instead of adult jobs.
http://JobSearch.About.com Ways for teens to find jobs.
http://www.Teens4Hire.org They claim to be “The #1 Career and Recruitment Website for America’s Teens.” You need to register on the site before you get information about available jobs.
