Tutoring and extracurricular activities for kids...

[msomnipotent]

Where we live, you have to play a sport year-round to have any hope of playing on the high school team. So you're all-in, or you're not. But if you're all-in, there is no time for a job.

This is our area, too. My daughter tried out for basketball, volleyball, and track. All the kids that are on the teams are already in traveling leagues. She didn't even bother trying for soccer. There are a lot of private coaches around here and they are all Olympics medalists and national champions, so they are expensive and highly competitive. Her fencing instructor was some Romanian champion. Her swimming facility was owned by an Australian gold medalist and had all kinds of award winners as coaches. At least they were very effective. She took swimming lessons for 2 years at the YMCA and still couldn't swim. The olympic facility had her actually swimming under water in 3 lessons. Even then it was a giant time suck. Their minimum package was 3 lessons a week. I just wanted a "we will teach you to not drown" package.

[disneysteve]

He painted curbs throughout neighborhoods (the street number of a particular house) for $20 each. On days he didn't have tournaments, he had some time to do this and make anywhere from $40-100 per day.

You've mentioned this before and it's a great example of thinking outside the box. For a teen to earn money, it doesn't have to be a traditional job. It just needs to be something they can do in their spare time to make a buck. Babysitting is always a typical example as is lawn mowing. What your kid did fits perfectly too. No set schedule. Entirely flexible. When he had other responsibilities, he didn't have to do it, and he could easily go out and do it when he had the time. If a kid can make even $50/week, that would go a long way to defray costs of sports or other activities and take that expense off the parents' budget.

We pay $30 to have our lawn mowed. Finding a used mower for $25-50 is simple so a teen could pick up a mower and break even after the very first job. Line up just 2 customers and cut their lawns weekly and you're suddenly earning $250/month. It's not rocket science and surely your schedule leaves you a couple of hours each week somewhere sometime to do that.

[rennigade]

Personally, working a part time job as a teenager taught me a lot more about the real world than playing lacrosse ever could.

I only ever worked summers in high school. I never worked during the school year. If the parents are hard on cash then I guess the kid should work if they want to play sports. Me personally...I wouldnt force my kid to work during the school year unless they wanted to. Summers are a different story.

[disneysteve]

I only ever worked summers in high school. I never worked during the school year. If the parents are hard on cash then I guess the kid should work if they want to play sports. Me personally...I wouldnt force my kid to work during the school year unless they wanted to. Summers are a different story.

I wouldn't force them to work but if finances were such that I couldn't afford their extracurricular activities, I'd let them decide: give up the activity or find a way to earn some money to support it.

And a summer job may be all it takes. $10/hour, 40 hours/week, 8 weeks of summer and you've got $3,200. The take home from that should cover stuff for the school year.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

DS has a point about working all summer is more than enough to cover many extracurriculate expenses.