Teens Employed and Stressed
Teens with Jobs, Friends and School Work Are Many Times Disorganized
School, extra-curricular activities, friends, boyfriends or girlfriends, and a job can equal too much stress and too little rest for teens.
Keeping stress and a workload at a healthy level for teens with a full schedule can be difficult. The added stress of a job in high school can wreak havoc on a teen’s school, family and social life. Being overworked can wear teens down, and some catch colds or mononucleosis.
Teens must learn time management skills and set priorities. Parents need to guide their teenager on how many activities are healthy and to not become over committed. Many teens want to purchase expensive cars that in turn require expensive insurance. Many teens end up working the maximum hours allowed to pay for these “want not need” items.
In order to avoid becoming run down, teens need to prioritize and organize their school work and after school life.
Prioritize All Activities in Teen's Life
Parents need to sit down with their teen and help them to prioritize their life after the school day. Together, they need to decide what is a healthy amount of hours for extra-curricular activities and work. In addition, time needs to be set aside each day to complete homework.
Some teens are over committed because they have not learned how to tell someone "no." Parents should discuss which activities are important and which activities need to go.
Organize a Teen's Life
High school students need to learn how to function within a hectic day. Becoming organized means purchasing an agenda or date book. There are electronic versions of this as well. Teens can keep track of homework, work hours, sports practice, club meetings, dates, etc. Parents can keep up with a busy teen as well by keeping their own calendar of the teen's activities.
Teens Working an After-school Job
If a teen must work, then consider the option of only working in the summer. If parents want the child to focus on school work during the school year, then the teen can work full-time in the summer and save the earnings for the school year expenses.
If the teen works during the school year, then parents and teens need to make sure that other priorities are not left incomplete. And, parents and teens should know the U.S Department of Labor's laws about teens and the workplace because a few unscrupulous employers do not follow the law.
Hours that 14-15-year-old teen can work in a non-agriculture workplace:
- The limit is 18 hours a week during the school year, no more than three hours on a school day or no more than eight hours on a weekend or holiday. They are not permitted to work during the school day, before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. between Labor Day and June 1st
- When school is not in session, they are only allowed to work 40 hours a week or an eight hour day. In the summer, they can only work between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Overworked Teens and Sicknesses
Teens who try to do too much sometimes become ill from the stress and little rest. They many have migraine headaches, catch a virus or colds and/or contract Mononucleosis.
The website Medline Plus defines Mononucleosis, Mono or the Kissing Disease as a viral infection that causes fevers, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands, especially in the neck. It is transmitted by saliva.
It may begin with fatigue, headache, and sore throat. Slowly, the sore throat becomes worse. Often swollen tonsils will become covered with a whitish-yellow covering. A sign for parents to watch for would be a lump on the neck where the lymph nodes are swollen and painful. Teens need to rest, and some don’t recover for up to six weeks.
Teens need to learn a healthy balance of school, work, family and friends. It is a life-long lesson that many adults have yet to learn.
