Christian Family Network

Our 14 year-old is desperate for some extra spending money, but most jobs aren't open to her until she's 15 or 16. She's very responsible with money and doesn't ask us for loads unreasonably, so we'd like to help her find something that will earn a little at weekends. What do others do? We don't want to deny her things if we can afford them, but it's good for her to learn that you have to earn money before you spend

Well, I'm reasonably fortunate in that much of my own work requires me to obtain help with sometimes routine tasks so we've used these as stepping stones for our children until they were old enough to work outside. I guess that's one of the benefits of self employment. On the other hand it doesn't assist the independence of the child but that wasn't a problem for the year or two.