Getting that first job is an important rite of passage for a lot of teens, and a lot of families encourage their children to take their first job very seriously. However, one mom has recently shared on Reddit that she actually did the opposite.
She explains, "My husband and I have three children, a 16 year old son, and two daughters 13 and ten. Our son got a part time job as a lifeguard at a pool back in March (We live in South Florida, so the pools are open pretty much always). It was a good job for him, he liked it and was happy to have the money. The issue was his boss was an *ss about giving time off."
Her son wasn't given time off for their annual vacation.
"Our family takes a yearly vacation to this little beach house we rent for a year, we've done this since the year I was pregnant with my son," the mom continues. "Of course the kids all love it and look forward to it. Well my son told his boss about the week when he signed up, but because that was only six weeks after he started there, he denied it."
So his parents told him he would have to quit his job.
"We made it clear he was still going, it's just a part time job and there are a million of those. He protested, but we made him go, and his boss fired him. He was furious the entire time, he refused to do any family stuff or listen to us, so he was grounded when he got back."
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He feels disrespected.
"It's not that we don't trust him to stay home alone or anything like that," the mom explains. "We just don't want him to prioritize work over family, especially some weekend job. He found a job at another pool two weeks later, so it's not like this impacted him in any way, but he still holds a grudge about it. He claims we didn't respect his choices, and he's right, we don't respect him trying to choose his job over family time, though we don't hold it against him since he's just a teen."
People aren't really on the mom's side.
The top comment reads, "Look, you forced him to go to vacation, causing his his job and income. Then you grounded him for being upset. Unless you offered to make up his income then I don’t see how you were being fair."
They aren't sure the parents are giving their son realistic expectations.
Another person writes, "His parents are trying to impress upon him that a vacation comes before a crappy job, BUT, in the real world your job has to come first.
"Lots of people don't even get to take a vacation because they may not have PTO and the bills have to be paid. I think it's much more important to teach a teenager that your work ethic is the most important thing and it's actually a good lesson for him to have to miss a vacation because he has to work. Just my opinion."
But that isn't true for everyone.
A third person replied, "Respectfully, huge disagree.
"Your job shouldn’t come first in the real world and if it does, that’s tragic.
"If people have to work so much without PTO they never get to take a vacation, that’s indicative of a poorly functioning society. And if that’s his dismal future, why thrust him into it as a teenager?"
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