25 things vanishing in America, part 2: Kids to do odd jobs

Kids who come to the door looking for "work" aren't asking for a pittance these days. $20 to mow my postage stamp of a lawn? It is a 15 minute job at best. Even if you figure that $5 is for gas for the mower, how many adults do you know who make $60 and hour? When I have hired a teen to do yard work, they back down when I teel them I expect them to do the edging too. They only show up when they need the money, not when the lawn needs mowed, and they don't call when they aren't coming at the pre-appointed time. For just a little more, the pros come every week, mow and edge, and are out of here in less than 30 minutes.

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I agree more people are hiring professionals. However, have you tried to find a young person who really wants to work and EARN some spending money? Unfortunately the generation of young people today have a poor work ethic because so many of the parents give them everything they want and then some. They have no desire to work. They EXPECT to be given to and believe they are OWED something from their parents and others.

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I teach my kids to work, they have certain household jobs they are responsible for. (the oldest is 7 so nothing requiring the use of heavy machinery!) However, for their safety I would not allow them to go door to door looking for odd jobs. I like my neighborhood, but I don't know everyone well enough to trust my kid to go over and do things for them. I don't have any known "offenders" in my neighborhood, but that doesn't mean they aren't here. My oldest wanted to earn some money to buy something recently so he did some extra work with his grampa and earned some money from a garage sale we recently had. (he helps his grampa out frequently for no pay because they like to hang out together too) I don't buy my kids presents unless it is a birthday or Christmas, I keep the grandparents gift giving to a minimum (with four grandparents always trying to give them stuff it can be a problem...it isn't just parents who spoil kids!) With that meaning that they aren't already given everything they want so they don't feel the need to work. My point is that today as parents we are scared for our kids safety. I don't know if there are more occurances of abduction/and or molestation etc. or if it is just more reported on, but I would not let my kids go door to door to do jobs for strangers (or aquaintances). I teach them to work, but in a manner I feel is safest for them.

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I agree that this is one of those things that is hard to explain. I cut lawns for people into my early 20's. 25 bucks for a quarter acre lot. In and out in 50 mins or so. PLUS you could (back then) pop a tape in your walkman and jam out while doing it.

The biggest problem is the "professionals" as they were referred to as being. What a load of garbage! There isn't a crew of landscapers you will find ANYWHERE that doesn't have illegals working on it.

For once, let us be intellectually honest about it. Adjusted for inflation, the average suburban family would not have been able to afford "professional" landscapers 30 or 40 years ago. Why? Because such workers would have been American workers trying to support a family from their landscaping labors and thus would have been unaffordable to the average suburban quarter-acre lot owner.
Why do you think they used teenagers in the first place? The labor was cheaper!!!!!

Today these "professional" landscaping companies ALL use illegal labor because, again, IT IS CHEAPER!

When will you folks wake the heck up and HONESTLY assess what is going on around you? Remember when we were growing up and those afterschool jobs like being a busboy in the local restaurant or in a McD's or working in the movie theater were so abundant you could trip over them. Well they don't exist now. Why? Because our kids, our teenagers, when they work, are subject to child labor laws. They have to work on work permits. Illegals don't! They work as long as they are told to and keep their mouths shut because they are here illegally.

Wake UP America!!!

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Our neighborhood kids love to earn extra money doing odd jobs, We live in a community of 2500 people, so, though there is every type of person good and bad, most of the folks watch out and report activities for each other. We establish guidelines of who, what, when where and how to look for odd jobs. It becomes OK to try entrepenourship. No inside or off site work unless its been chaperoned or cleared with parents. Follow-up calls to the people to evaluate the situation. As for how much kids ask for, no harm in shooting high, but if someone is offered, say, 1/4 the price for a real job, the kid would probably take it gladly. Perhaps they could negotiate once the job is regular and known what it takes (time and materials) to get it done. Also, plenty of kids do things free for their community service hours.

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I have rental property and wanted to hire a neighborhood kid to mow the lawns. He lived a couple of houses down. the problem isn't that he doesn't want to work and I don't want to hire him- the problem is the possibility of getting sued if he were to hurt himself while working on the lawn. A lawyer would gladly take a case like that and it would ruin me. It's not worth the risk.

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We need to change the liability laws and allow kids to do work again. I think that the standard of neglegence needs to be adjusted to allow for youth to do jobs, participate in recreational activities, etc without creating a massive liability for the organizers or person hiring.

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I loved this post and actually just wrote some similar last week about my experience of buying my first car. Saving up since I was 12 and having my father match the amount and I did it by mowing lawns back in 1987. I bought a sweet 1967 Ford Mustang convertible and rebuilt it which reminds me of your other post about not being able to work on our cars in the driveway. My BMW scares the crap out of me and after a bad attempt at an oil change I am stuck going to the dealership. Man I miss old America.

Here is my Mustang article:
http://blog.networksolutions.com/2009/what-you-can-learn-from-a-12-year-old-about-budgeting/

Thanks,

Steve

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Maybe having aborted 50 Million since 1973 has something to do with no neighborhood kids available.

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I believe that it is not the fact that teen agers don't want to work or because they are fat and lazy. That is insulting. Maybe it is the other way around. Maybe kids are overweight because we won't let them do anything. The article reads that one of the reasons the pool of teenagers has dried up is because: "Many of our kids are fat, and find physical labor difficult and unpleasant." Maybe many of our kids are overweight because we are sooooo scared of letting kids do anything at all these days. No don't go for a walk that is dangerous, you might get sick blah blah blah. In addition I would like to point out that not all overweight kids are lazy! I have seen many thin lazy children. They are lazy because we tell them to be lazy! For example I recently was in a car accident which demolished my car. My kids and I are use to walking we walked before we got our car and we walk now. I recently was called unfit because I allow my kids to walk (they are 12 and 16). Point being is i agree that we need to lighten up on the laws and let kids earn a few bucks deliving newspapers and cutting grass. We have gotten crazy with law suits. I do have one comment to BJ don't complain about the 20 dollars that is rather inexpensive compared to what my landlord pays the so called professionals that come to my house. They come here once a month charge 75 dollars and I pay that in my rent, for my small yard! They don't even trim. He hops on his mower and in 15 minutes is done!

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When I was a kid back in the 70's, I worked in a bar bus-ing tables, shoveling driveways, mowing lawns, raking leaves, and owning a paper-route. But kids don't work today. Now their parents just buy them whatever they want. And if they don't, then the kid will claim that it's a case of neglect and call the state department of social services. I've seen it happen.

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In 1947, I mowed lawns in Santa Ana. Ten cents for a small yard and 25 cents for a bigger one. This fed my habit for neat stuff at the magic store. In the early 1950s, i shoveled snow in driveways for 50 cents to a dollar in Nevada City. I don't remember what I did with that money - probably saw a double billing at the Del Oro movie theater in Grass Valley.

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When I was a teenager I worked every weekend with a group of my friends, there were five of us. We would do at least three yards every weekend and charged $20 per yard. After our first summer we never had to look for work, word of mouth got us all we could stand. I don't think any of us saved a dime, but we saw all the new movies at the drive-in and bought our cigs and beer as well. I have tried to help kids that I now know get into doing yardwork, but they are so addicted to A/C that they will not work when the temp is over 90*. So I still do yards myself, some for customers that I first worked for 30 years ago. I don't know about being fat or lazy, but today's kids are soft.

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It's true that you can't find kids to do odd jobs anymore. This past winter, not ONE CHILD came by my house to shovel my snow. My neighbor, my boyfriend and I each did it once. However, when the other two weren't available I had to do it alone. At 54, it's kind of labor intensive. Kids don't seem to want to earn money anymore. They are used to having it given to them.

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I was one on those "lazy" kids, prefering to read my books or study for school. However, being on welfare, my only source of income for my books was doing oddjobs for my nieghborhood friends. So I learned the value of hard work and still practice it. I work at a local eatery and we employ teens for the spring and summer. I expect hardworking members on my shifts. I'm not a slavedriver. I just want my boss to get his moneys worth out of the workers, even the kids.
Most of them aren't ready for the workforce. They (girls) would rather sneak in the back and talk on cellphones or (boys) not show up.
Then there are the ones that were not hired that show up everyday WANTING and WILLING to work. Wish I had the final say as to who gets the job or not.......
A couple of the teens I've hired to help my wife and I in the yard, after I spoke to the parents (turns out Mom is not only a customer but is a nurse at my new Doc's office)
As far as hiring a Pro...most of them hire illegals and I won't have that. My hardearned money needs to stay in America, not sent to Mexico by people that are stealing jobs from American Citizens!!!
With the economy in such a poor shape, unemployment at such a high, American Families losing thier homes to unscrupulous business practices...what does the Government want to do?
They want to open our borders to even MORE Immigrants!!!
So forget about the "pros"...go ask your friend's kid, talk to someone at church, just hire a local kid to do the work (they are there) just keep the money where it belongs!

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We are the ones to change a lot of things...and we have by the way we raise our kids. We are the ones to set goals, boundaries and ideals. Our children follow our lead...I have a son who is now 33, almost 34. I raised him by myself, after his dad and I divorced when he was not quite two. He got asked to cut a neighbors lawn when he was not quite 13 and from that was the beginning of his working out side of the house day. He did a good job and soon was cutting for the whole neighborhood! The first family that asked him to cut the grass also owned a pizza shop and he was hired to work there clearing tables and doing dishes and huge pots and pans. At 14, he was doing very well. He knew the value of a dollar and the effort it took to earn one. I was divorced for over 10 years before I remarried and had no child support. I worked long hours myself to keep us afloat. My son was also cooking and cleaning very well as a young lad. He graduated high school and become a military policeman in the USMC. He is a great father today of my 10 year old grandson and unfortunately is one of many out of work because of our current economy. He is out of work but not because he doesn't know how or won't work.
I remarried when my son was almost 11 years old. My husband and I now made a decent living between the two of us. We took precautions not to have move children since I had my son and he had a daughter 2 years older than my son. I asked the Lord to just let my son graduate from high school because he had had a rough and hard early childhood. My son graduated on June 7th, 1993 and on June 17th, 1993 I discovered I was 3 1/2 months pregnant at 40 years old! I had a tubal ligation 6 years before that and this was not supposed to happen! Needless to say, God kept His word...my son did graduate and also got a baby sister that December. He went into the Marines when she was 5 months old.

Once again I was a new mom, an older version, and lots of experience behind me this time. As I started to raise this generation, I did so with the idea pressing on me that I was a much older mom and needed to instill a good work ethic and how to survive when I am gone. Many people assumed that she would be spoiled and lazy because I was so happy with my surprise and had financial funds to do so this time.

When she was 7 years old, my husband had a stroke, I was downsized from my "secure job" of over 21 years service and my dad was diaganosed with cancer. All this happened from August 8th 2000 till January 2001...a 5 month span. I started cleaning houses for money and also because I could take my daughter with me on holidays and during summer vacation. My husband went back to work and had to come home due to severe vascular problems...he became disabled permanently after several operations and suffering from PAD--vascular blockages throughout his arteries. My little girl learned to clean houses, huge showers and whirlpool jet streamed bathtubs, clean swimming pools and plant flowers for people. I paid her a portion of each job we finished. She learned to clean and organize and could easily be on HGTV to teach grown-ups how to organize! She has helped me out over the years and at the ripe old age of 13 went to a course on first aid and babysitting from the local red cross. The instructors told the director to hire that girl as soon as the kidszone opened. They didn't realize she was only 13 at the time! She earned all her awards and we posted signs up for her to babysit for local familes. She got 2 permanent families from those posters which I babysit for while she is in school. The YMCA babysitting center opened and she got her work permit and will be working there a year this May. She babysits on weekends after her "Y" job, tutors students and has had straight "A" s since 3rd grade and is now finishing 9th grade. She has already received a scholarship for $8,000 dollars last year and is going to be giving piano lessons soon. She is very active in our church and in our newly formed youth group has asked to help teach Sunday School to the adult ladies!

I had a new hip replacement back in November and now my husband is fighting a very bad cancer. Our children are our joy and our strength comes from the Lord.

Things do change over time but good parenting and guidance is never out of style or need....We adults should be responsible enough to take the lead and mentor our children into the best life possible. Give them roots and watch their wings spread as they go through life with joy.

My family moved from Ohio almost 5 years ago. It was so hard to leave behind my son and grandson but my children are still the evidence of seeds of love and respect sown. My son and grandson surprised us this week by coming down from Ohio and right now helping my 78 year old mother clean and help her with her yardwork. We need to instill the skills our children need and do it with love beyond our immediate boundaries.

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