Teens and working in Covid

[bisous]

I am also sad that DS1 is missing out on the opportunity to work. I think we could probably make it work and some of the suggestions that PPs have made sound safe enough to me. The thing is, our family is very strained right now with all the distance learning, working from home and the whole 9 yards so it doesn't make sense for our family right now. I think if circumstances were even slightly different we'd be open. I think different circumstances are different for different families.

[bcafe]

DD works for Chick-fil-A 4 nights a week but they only work outside. DS is a soccer ref, so far it has only been outdoor but we do have an indoor facility for winter.

[petesgirl]

Mine works at a neighborhood walmart ( if you don't have those its basically only the grocery part of walmart) He wanted to get a job looked and applied. His main job is cart retrieval and moving them inside with some bring products to the stockers. They pay him $12/ hr he works 2 non school days usually Friday Nights and Saturday afternoon/ nights. Hes outside a lot and got hit in the parking lot by someone not watching backing out while he was wrangling carts. He wasn't hurt the carts took the brunt of the hit

Poor kid! I'm glad he wasn't injured.

[mom2binsd]

DD works at the local ice rink, it's not busy, she is in the ice skating as a "skate guard" and at the desk checking people in, all wearing masks. She also works 1x week at a consignment boutique, mostly sorting etc, not busy at all. Quite a few friend's kids have jobs at grocery stores and Target, none of them have had any issues, got covid, honestly if your area is practicing mask wearing, some of those places have pretty good set ups. Tjmaxx has them basically behind a huge plexiglass wall.

Again our area seems like it is pretty compliant and folks here are going about their lives, wearing masks, but doing a lot of normal activities.

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[Liziz]

In your shoes, I would probably let my child babysit for her regular 2 families, provided you feel okay about the fact they're taking this seriously (aka, if they're anti-mask or covid deniers I wouldn't be okay with it, but if they're acting reasonable, I would). I realize that's an in-person, up close sort of situation, but I'd feel more comfortable with close contact with a small consistent group vs. the dramatically higher number of people and lack of tracing ability in a store situation. With babysitting, you know exactly who you're in contact with, and if you have a good relationship can trust that if someone gets sick or is exposed they'll let you know right away, etc. I'd have her wear a mask, for the safety of the other family as well as her own.

I agree it's a hard question because there's no one right answer. Like the question of "do I send my DC to in-person school?" I don't think there's one right answer that fits every child and every family.

Not exactly related, but I just started a (very part-time) job myself. In my case, there was an opportunity because many of the previous workers were elderly and are appropriately not willing to risk any exposure right now. Like many teen jobs, I don't need the job, we don't need the money. But also like many teen jobs, it's very important for my mental health and improves my chances to get a full-time job when I'm ready for that. Additionally, it's a necessary, important job, and in some ways I feel like it's actually very socially responsible for me, as a young-ish healthy individual, to do this work, so that those in the department who have health issues and higher risk can keep themselves safe without feeling bad that they're letting the team down. I realize that the "necessary, important work" doesn't apply to all teen jobs, but it certainly applies in many situations and is just another framing of how we can best be socially responsible during this time.