Should Teenagers Have Jobs?
This was written by a woman who writes for Blessed Homemaking, which is a beautiful blog!
When children become a certain age, some Christian parents think it would be a great idea to allow them to get a job to “keep them busy” and earn some money. Not only is this popular for boys, but it has also become popular for teenage girls. Why parents want to send their teen daughters out into the world to earn money is beyond me. It is not in a young woman’s nature to hold a job, and certainly doesn’t prepare her to be a wife and homemaker.
My parents did this with me, and I had several jobs before I was saved. One summer before I was even old enough to hold a paying job, they sent me to a camp to be a camp “counselor in training” to “keep me busy”, and they even paid me to do it since it wasn’t a paying position. All of these places of employment did me no good and actually caused much harm.
Before parents consider allowing or even encouraging their teens to get a job outside the home, there is much to think about Biblically, especially with concern for their souls and how a place of employment might affect their future. Jobs outside the home hold a lot of danger and temptation for young people who still are not mature. It is very similar to sending them off to public school.
Consider the following:
At a job, teens are exposed to and cannot get away from
Their boss. They are at the demand of their manager to be available to do what he/she wants at whatever time he/she wants (though with some restrictions due to their age). This boss most likely won’t care about things like your teen keeping the Lord’s Day or having convictions about not doing certain things.
Their co-workers. Co-workers can be the worst “companions” that your teen will naturally have to be around and cannot get away from in the workplace. If you send your teen off to a job, do not be surprised if they are exposed to filthy language and jokes, drug use, alcohol use, people fornicating, along with the more subtle views of their coworkers that are prevalent in our society, such as feminism, environmentalism, evolution, etc. Teens are still very much in their formative and immature years and will find it hard to be the only one standing against such evils in our society.
Wicked music. Often in places of business, raunchy, inappropriate music is played, and your teen will have to listen to this all day and cannot get away from it. Co-workers may also play their own music, which your teen may be exposed to.
Customers. Depending on the type of job your teen has, there may often be customers that your teen has to interact with that expose them to things you wouldn’t want.
Sexual advances. It is a sad fact that if you send your daughter off to a job, you can expect that someone will at some point act inappropriately toward her. And in our backwards society, even young girls feel emboldened to make sexual advances towards young men, so you can expect this if you have sons as well. If you want to keep your children pure until their marriage, sending them off to a place of employment is not a very good way to do it.
Technology. Co-workers these days most likely have smartphones where they freely show other people porn or other wicked photos and videos. Are you ready for your teen to be exposed to this? Also, would your teen have other access to computers or other technology where they could search for or even accidentally stumble upon some of the wickedness that is on the internet? The temptation for teens is very real in this area, and once seen, these things cannot be unseen.
Immodesty. Many places of employment will expose your teen to high levels of immodesty that they wouldn’t have to deal with at home. This is especially problematic for teen boys who are trying to keep themselves pure in thought and deed.
Your teen most likely will be asked by coworkers to “hang out” at other times other than the workplace. Don’t be surprised if your teen forms an attachment to the people they are around at work, wanting to be around them instead of their family.
There are many dangers of sending your teen out to work in our modern world, and loving, Christian parents would do best to seriously consider these. Even homeschooling parents who have foreseen the dangers of public school sometimes send their children out to jobs where they will be exposed to many of the great evils they were seeking to avoid at school.
Even if you send your teen to work at a place that you are familiar with, or even to a place of employment where the owners are professing Christians, you will run into many of the same issues.
What is the solution then?
For young women, I see no reason for her to ever need “job experience”, as the Bible has made it clear for what young women are to be concerned with.
The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. ~Titus 2:3-5
There is no reason for a daughter from a Christian home to get a job outside of the home. Let her learn beside her mother, the many and varied skills of homemaking while she has the time on her hands! It makes no sense for her to wait until she is married to learn these needed skills. There are always more things to learn, and before she is married, she has the ability to become very good at these things. Older daughters at home can be a tremendous blessing to their mothers. Daughters at home should be learning contentment within the home sphere and not be led by selfish desires.
For young men, it is a bit more difficult. Obviously, young men need to at some point learn to be providers. At what time this occurs and in what way will greatly depend on the individual young man, his walk with Christ, and his maturity. But do not be fooled into thinking that your teen boy is beyond being tempted or lured away from his faith by the above-mentioned dangers. Even if he is not led away into a snare, if he’s working at a place of employment, he will be exposed to things that will most likely leave an impression on his young heart for the rest of his life. That’s why we must be ever so careful and wise in our decisions. It would be best if his Christian father had his own business that his son could get involved in. That way his father can still be with his young man and guide him as he steps out into the working world. Other options are if your teen son can have his own “business” doing yard work or other such things for neighbors where he is still close to home and has a sense of accountability. If he has a brother or even his own father to come alongside him, even better, as they can provide each other accountability.
Other ways to keep teens busy are to have a family life that is busy with regular family dinners and family worship. These are important duties that should be happening every day, and many teens start to miss out on them if they are at jobs in the evenings. Families can also minister together to other people in many ways, as well as share the Gospel. Don’t forget family walks, outings, and other enjoyable leisure activities. Doing things together as a family is so beneficial for all family members, and prepares our young teens to one day have their own families and spend time with them instead of leading their separate lives.
Even though this may seem “different”, don’t cave into the pressure of those around you to do what everyone else is doing or what seems right in their own eyes. What is most important is our children’s souls, and so we must always have their spiritual well-being in mind.
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7 thoughts on “Should Teenagers Have Jobs?”
I would speak only for teenage girls because it is easier to deceive them than boys. This is so true. I work at an undergarment store. I work with teenagers. They have learnt the worst things from one another. They talk about their boyfriends, going to clubs, drinking, wears, college dreams, excited to leave their home to go to college. They have connived to sneak out of their houses to go see boys. Two have done abortions. I even try to counsel those that are interested in college to consider marriage and they will be like “oh, no i want my own money. I want to be independent so no man will do this to me or do that to me. I can’t depend on a man” etc. It’s so horrible. They engage in so much gossip, backbiting, jealousy and envy. So, imagine a teenager who is godly and comes into such environment. I don’t care the training she got…she is bound to fall. There is a saying in my country that goes like this “if a goat that does not eat yams start following a goat that eats yams then in a while that goat that does not eat yams will start eating yams”.
I wish I hadn’t been pushed so hard to get a job in my teen years. I was so innocent and was exposed to so much wickedness…working outside the home was not worth the money. I would have been so much happier helping out at home. It caused health issues both physical and mental. No believed me when I said I was exhausted and depressed. I got written up at a job for “being too tired and not enthusiastic enough”. Turns out I had thyroid problems. I had many boys take advantage of me because of my naive nature. My daughter is 6 and wants to just bake and cook when she grows up. I encourage her in this and let her help me as often as I can. I tell how blessed her family will be in the future. I’m trying to forgive my mother for a of lot feministic ideas she pushed on me and honor her. But I tell her that daughters should be protected at home and learn homemaking skills. There’s too many options for young girls, like babysitting or house cleaning for the elderly, to push them into the nasty workplace.
Thank you so much for this post. It really encouraged me.
We have four daughters and one son, and my oldest daughter will be entering 12th grade next year. We are already starting to get questions like, “What will she do for the summer? Have you found her a summer job?” Even at church, we are encouraged to send her to camps or Bible schools so that she can gain experience and become better equipped to serve in ministry.
But honestly, none of that resonates with us. We believe she needs to complete her education at home, learn how to care well for a household and a family, and be intentionally prepared for the responsibilities God may give her in the future. We also don’t believe it would be wise for her to work outside the home and be exposed to influences that could undermine the values we are trying to instill in her. We homeschool our children, and we are trying to be intentional about the kind of young women we are raising.
This conviction is not something we apply only to our daughters. Even with our son, it seems very natural to us that there is wisdom in young people remaining at home and under the guidance of their parents until they marry. Scripture says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). I know our culture has changed tremendously, but I don’t see why God’s Word would have changed with it. We want to follow the biblical pattern rather than simply adopting whatever our culture now considers normal.
Recently, even at the doctor’s office, we were questioned about why our oldest daughter doesn’t have a job and what she is studying—although the appointment was actually for my two youngest children, who are four and six! The conversation somehow turned into recommendations about what our oldest should be doing with her future.
Even some of my Christian friends encourage their daughters to get jobs, and by the end of high school, many of them are preparing to go off to university. Even within our homeschool community, I sometimes feel like I’m missing something because so few families seem to be taking this approach.
So, thank you for writing this and for encouraging families to remain faithful to their convictions.
I do have a question, though. Do you have a book, another post, or perhaps a biblical resource that explains more specifically how you believe we should prepare and occupy our young daughters while they are waiting for marriage? How do you teach them to use these years well and prepare them for womanhood, marriage, motherhood, homemaking, and service to the Lord?
I know this may sound like a strange or overly obvious question, but because I don’t really have anyone around me who is doing this, I would genuinely love to have a good example or a solid biblical reference to learn from.
Thank you again for sharing your perspective. ❤️
Hi Dorcas,
I’m sure I have posts about it, but I would have to search for them. Here’s a page from my Daily Wisdom For Biblical Womanhood book:
What can young women do who don’t want to go to college? They can babysit, nanny, teach music, voice, or ballet lessons, tutor, photography, attend cooking school, dog grooming, become a NTP and teach people how to get healthier, housecleaning, help the elderly, volunteer work, garden, serve at church, work at a bakery, sell crafts, take online herbal classes, and I’m sure there are many other things young women can do besides spending a boatload of money on an expensive, godless education in which few even use their degree. Encourage your daughters to want to marry and raise godly offspring by being keepers at home. If you don’t, the culture will convince them to be career women.
If I remember to look for posts, I will add them to this comment!
We are supporters of our older teenage boys working outside the home but very much against that for our daughters in the same way as we would not allow them to live or study away from home.
What advice about teenage sons? Our son will be driving on his own in a few months, and he is thinking of getting a part time job. We have been speaking with him about being wise with whom he becomes friends. Lori, how did you handle this with your sons?
Thank you!
Hi Suzanne, our older son worked when he was 16. He bagged groceries and worked in a sports store. Our younger son never did. He was too busy. As long as they were busy and productive, we supported them!