It is extremely important to teach kids about money, but equally important is to ensure they get the most they possibly can from their education. I grew up in a small town of around 30 000 people, and saw far too many of these kids I grew up with decide by the time they hit grade 10 that they wanted their first job so they could buy a car, and then proceed to have their grades drop as they were neglecting school. So the question becomes: when should kids be allowed to get their first job?

Personally, I don’t think kids should get a job before they’re at least 16. By the time they’re 16 they will have fully understood the fundamentals of school and many will have the mental capacity and life experience to understand the importance of working at school to ensure they have a bright future. However, there are some limits I would impose, were I a parent:

1. No more than 10 hours per week. Minimum wage in Ontario is $8 per hour, and in BC it is $6 per hour. That gives kids around $110-150 of take-home pay every two weeks. For a 16-year-old, who for the most part should be only needing to spend money on things like new clothes, this is enough. They’ll learn the importance of working for their money while not having to spend so much time at it that it detriments their schoolwork. If they’re saving for a new car and want more hours, that’s what the summer holidays and spring break are for.

2. No working after school. One of the major problems I noticed in high school was a number of students would take weekday shifts, working from 3-9pm, and then not doing their homework. By only letting school kids work on the weekend, they have time during the week to finish their work.

3. If the grades drop, the job is the first thing to go. This is a fairly obvious one: students need to make sure school comes first, and if their grades drop, taking away their job is normally a good way to give them more time to focus on schoolwork.

This might seem strict, but I have seen a number of people’s futures ruined by overworking in high school for minimum wage. I didn’t get my first job until after I left high school, in part because my mom recognized this and wouldn’t let me get a job. I don’t necessarily think this was the best way to go about things, as I feel there is value in having teenagers learn about working for spending money, but at the same time I strongly believe it should really be secondary to school.

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