Close to 100,000 kids suffer job-related injuries each year. Federal law only restricts the number of hours kids can work for kids 16 and under. Experts recently issued a warning about the hazards of teens working over 20 hours a week. Grades should always come first. If your child's grades begin to slip as a result of working, hours need to be reduced or the job should go.
School is a job in itself.
On average, kids spend 30 hours a week at school, not including time spent on homework and commuting to and from school. If a child works 20 hours a week at a job that's a 5o hour plus work week. Teach job skills at home. A generation ago, kids needed to work to help their families, today they mostly work for spending money. If your child doesn't need to work for financial reasons, they can learn skills they would learn on the job at home, such as how to be responsible, manage money and how to work with others.