Learning to earn and manage money on one’s own as a teenager can be a great way to jump-start adulthood, but for one daughter, the work became overwhelming. Reddit user Let_me_tell_you shared her daughter’s experience on r/povertyfinance, detailing how her daughter made $200 a week at her first job as a cashier. With this new income, the girl could buy and spend as she pleased, and the mother admits she “liked that she did not have to pay [for] those things.”
However, the workload soon became too much for the teen, resulting in her quitting after just three weeks. “She did not like the job anymore. She had a terrible migraine (at work) and to come home. I am sure it was the lack of sleep,” the mother explained. Of course, the mom was completely supportive of both of her daughter getting a job and quitting; however, she felt guilty about how she enjoyed the extra income.
“I feel bad for wanting my teenage daughter to work,” the Let_me_tell_you wrote, which was the title of her post. “I know that right now it’s best for her not to work and focus on school (it is her last year). But God, it felt good having not having to do the Math,” she sighed. To be clear, the mother confirmed she had enough to pay for her family’s essentials; her daughter just had her own money to spend, not the mom’s.
Many Redditors in the comments were understanding of the mother’s predicament: she wanted her daughter to pay for her own personal things while she handled the main finances. “You may feel bad because you are stressed about money internally but imo it is normal for young adults to learn responsibility,” remarked a commenter.
Reddit Argued That The Teen Daughter Needed to Experience the Stresses of Working
Another chimed in, arguing that the daughter needed to have this negative quitting experience: “As a parent of children a few years older than your daughter–college and young adults–I really DO think they also need to experience that discomfort.” Some were a bit colder, saying that Let_me_tell_you’s feeling are irrelevant since the importance of money should take priority.
On the other hand, one person claiming to be a teacher said the mother did the right thing, as the work could affect the daughter’s education and, in turn, her future. In the end, plenty of people had their own reservations about what is best for the teen girl, some saying seasonal work was ideal, with many others sharing a ‘back-in-my-day’ experience.
In the end, this story is one too common among parents, with plenty of moms and dads preferring their children be in charge of earning what they want to spend on ‘non-essentials.’ That said, even though Let_me_tell_you’s daughter’s job lasted just three weeks, everyone agreed that she learned a valuable lesson about work that’ll be useful in the future.
