Summer Jobs

I’ve held down a job pretty much as long as I can remember. At age 12 I proudly went into a hardware store with my own money, earned from years of birthday gifts, to buy a push mower. In the summers, my cousin and I roamed the neighborhoods, dragging our mowers, soliciting lawn service for $10 to $20 per job. That wasn’t much after splitting the income!

Yet I remember the tremendous sense of accomplishment taking home sometimes up to $100 a week. That was a lot of money in the mid 1980’s! Just a couple of years later, I fibbed about my age to get a job as a cashier at Payless Cashways, a now defunct big box hardware store. When I actually did turn 16, I had to go see HR who had been hounding me to provide a copy of my driver’s license. When they saw my license, they immediately clued in that I had been working there as a 15-year-old!

Thankfully, I didn’t get canned. There were numerous other part time jobs through the rest of high school and in college before beginning my career in the Army in 1995. Probably the most memorable part time job was working as a 3^rd shift janitor at the hospital in my college town. I worked there continuously for three years and made pretty good money for a college kid in the early 1990s. I saw a lot of cool (and gross) medical stuff, became an ace at operating a buffer and gained a newfound respect for our medical professionals. That being said, I was pretty happy to give my two weeks’ notice and move on!

In total, it was about 10 years from age 12 to 22, that I worked summer, after school and part time jobs. I am firmly convinced that decade of toiling at what may seem like insignificant work, taught me a lot about life. And it is for this very reason, I demanded my 19-year-old son returning from college a few weeks ago immediately get a summer job.

I am certainly not implying that my son never worked until now. Quite the contrary. In addition to chores around the house, he has worked for our rental property management business. Everything from lawn care, to painting, to general repairs and moving refrigerators! He put in a lot of hours helping me over the years and listed the work experience on his summer job applications.  

Additionally, I fully acknowledge the tremendous work and dedication he put into his high school academics and sports team. He graduated 4^th out of a class of over 500 at a tough school while simultaneously improving his tennis skills to be one of the better players on the team. The kid has worked his whole life and I would never take that away from him.

That being said, working for dad and hitting the books in high school just isn’t the same as working an hourly job. Additionally, he wants to take a new car with him back to campus in the fall. I want him to contribute most, if not all, of the downpayment and feel the sting of making monthly car payments. The pride of ownership is just something that must be experienced, it can’t be taught!

I was very pleased when, during his first week back home, he was able to land a job at a major shipping company as a package handler. He works the graveyard shift 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. but so far, doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he appears to be thriving. My prediction is he will learn a lot this summer about himself and about life in general, perhaps even more than back on campus in the fall.

I realize my views on summer jobs may be a little old fashioned these days. Some may even think I’m punishing a high performing child by forcing him to work. While I respect those views, I stick by my premise! Holding down a summer job is a key developmental task on the road to adulthood.  

I’ve experienced firsthand how hard work starting at a young age positively impacted my life. I want even more for our sons! They both possess immeasurably more potential and opportunity than I ever had growing up. With a little nurturing and hard work, there is no telling what those kids can achieve!

Looking for a good how-to on wealth building? Check out my book, Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget: Five Financial Truth’s to Build Wealth at Amazon!

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