We’ll create a workshy generation
Jobs & exercise good for teens
WE’RE creating a generation of lazy young adults who have no concept of hard graft.
By not working and avoiding exercise, we’re enabling our teenagers to turn into lethargic couch potatoes hooked on screens.
By discouraging our kids to get a part-time job and not insisting they get up and train, we are robbing them of a balanced upbringing.
How can we expect teenagers to understand the value of money if they’ve never had to earn it?
It’s inconceivable to expect young adults to thrive in life if fitness is not part of their daily routine.
We give in too easily when our youth tell us they don’t want to partake in after-school activities as they don’t feel good enough.
We say the reason we allow our kids to hide behind the Xbox and not get off their backsides is because technology is moving beyond our control and we don’t understand it.
We never had it in our day, so maybe this is a new age thing!
In reality, we’ve become like mates to our offspring where the children have become the rulers of the roost but this type of acquiescence will not serve them well in the long run.
Lack of discipline is infiltrating our kids’ psyche because we’re too wrecked and not bothered to set proper ground rules.
Parents are mollycoddling their children, believing that by teens finding work part-time their studies will suffer.
With anxiety levels at an all-time high, it’s proven exercise reduces stress and releases happy hormones, yet we’re not insisting they do this either.
We’re breeding a bunch of overly-protected snowflakes, where the screen has become the centre of their universe and we’re unwittingly witnessing our babies descend into mush. We assume we’ll put too much pressure on our kids to excel in their exams if they work part-time and play sports or dance at a competitive level but the opposite happens.
By becoming independent and earning a few quid on the side, you end up managing time better and living a more grounded existence.
By training or doing any form of sport or fitness, we think more clearly.
A recent study sparked fears of the “death of the Saturday job”. The Resolution report found a quarter of 16 and 17-year-olds were in work between 2017 and 2018, falling from 47% in 1997 to 1999.
The UK research found young people were being urged to prioritise study over parttime work.
So in the last 20 years the amount of teens working part-time has halved.
Anecdotally, in Ireland we’re hearing the same tale that although stores need temporary sales staff, youngsters just couldn’t be bothered applying.
If we don’t give the youth something other than study to focus on they will inevitably end up glued to screens or worse still become hooked on a substance. If they don’t exercise their mood will be affected and yet the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal found 71.8% of Irish children aged 11 to 17 don’t get enough exercise.
We rank as one of the worst in the world falling behind only Bangladesh and Slovakia.
By getting fitter we become more productive, by working we learn independence.
Give kids sport and you show them the way.
The job market favours those who have experience, so proving you can hold down a part-time job demonstrates you can balance work and education at the same time.
By working, teens can develop connections, potentially leading to more opportunities when they leave school.
College is expensive and earning their own money will serve as a lesson in what their parents had to sacrifice to provide, making them a more fully-rounded human being.
Employers offer a kind of adult supervision to kids who may otherwise be idle, mixing with the wrong crowd, or spending endless hours online where the pressure to be popular is ever increasing.
Keeping teens busy, instead of idle, is key in keeping them out of trouble, particularly if they’ve already experienced the poverty trap and they can see a brighter future by applying themselves.
Rather than hindering grades, working can in fact lead to better results. Studies have shown that students who work 10 to 15 hours a week during the school year earn higher grades than those who
don’t.
At 12, I was selling homemade pot- pouri door to door. By 14, I was writing letters to the neighbours saying I was available to babysit and when I was 16 I was working in Dunnes two days a week. I still nailed the Leaving Cert and I did ballet up until the end while taking part in amateur dramatics. My parents encouraged it and I hope and pray I will have the tenacity of purpose to do the same for my kids.
With anxiety levels at an all-time high it’s proven exercise releases happy hormones