When I was growing up in a small town in Kansas, I hired out as an errand girl for those who were more or less homebound...mostly elderly women. I was doing this at the young age of ten or eleven. I was paid about a dime, but in the 1940s it was okay. There may have been one or two other kids that did this, too. Now that I am one of those "elderly", I could use a bit of help with simple errands exactly like those I did as a kid. I am not so naive as to not know we live in a whole different world then it was then. But, still, we have churches and schools who could implement programs to provide this service and what kid wouldn't love to get involved if it meant a little money in their piggy bank. As I remember, the errands were not big, just a run to the post office for a stamp or to the store for a loaf of bread. I would hope that little things still mean a lot, even in todays world. Kids are kids...nothing really changes there. Thanks for listening, anyway...……...I was just thinking of simpler times...…………….Marie
I totally agree. Some church kids are not the best behaved. Hahaha, especially pastor’s kids! Or deacon’s kids! They have a lot of pressure to be ‘perfect kids.’ They are kids and just like any other kid, trying to see where they fit in this world. Sometimes it takes a kid awhile to find their place in life. Everyone deserves a chance.
But if they don’t show up or even call, without a good excuse then I say move on too.
I have hired kids that were great and some that weren’t reliable at all. I had a babysitter that was so goofy. She would have her keys in the ignition and start panicking saying, “Where are my keys?” LOL. I would calmly tell her, “Honey, they are in the ignition.” She would start giggling. The girl was a straight A student! Just scatterbrained! She was great with my kids! My kids absolutely loved her.
Like you say, not all at risk kids are bad. They made mistakes but many when reached early enough and shown that others care can turn their lives around. It’s when people look down their nose at them and make them feel worthless that they have no incentive to improve their behavior.
Speaking of pregnancy, I once knew a woman in my circle of friends that kept trashing our friend’s daughter for becoming pregnant and getting married in a wedding gown. She wasn’t even ‘showing’ yet.
The young woman was deeply in love, her college sweetheart and he was a wonderful man. They were happy about the upcoming baby. The family accepted the fact that a baby was on the way and were happy as well.
During the reception the mother of the bride’s ‘so called’ friend kept talking about the bride saying the daughter had no business wearing a wedding gown, other ugly comments about this or that and kept saying how embarrassed she would be if it were her daughter.
A few of of us called her aside and told her to please let the family enjoy their day and if she did not approve she should not have come and insulted her to everyone.
Well karma is a b****! A few months later her daughter became pregnant too! She wore a wedding gown too! All of a sudden her she changed her tune and apologized. She adores her grandchild.
The neighbors were much more responsive, didn't meddle, and had more real life experience.
Yeah, no guarantees about help these days, no matter if they come from church or anywhere else.
I used to manage a craft craft shop years ago. I hired a guy from a nearby church that I regretted doing. A couple of women that I hired from the same church were wonderful. They were very self motivated and I didn’t even have to tell them what to do. If they saw that it needed to be done, they did it. Guess who got raises?
I walked in on this man that I hired that was reading the Bible on the job when he was supposed to be stocking the shelves. I had no problem with them reading if there were no customers and all of the work was done. That was rare. We stayed busy most of the time.
When I asked him why he was reading he said, “I am reading the word of God.” I asked him if he got to the scripture about hard work yet! Proverbs 14:23 says, All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
He closed his Bible and started stocking the shelves.
I do also get allowing them to do this when all work is done and no customers are around, but I had it out with some like that who were laughing, joking, gabbing WHILE doing data entry and as a result were not careful and were making mistakes, many mistakes. My philosophy was get it done and then if there is nothing left, then you can chat or whatever. I had to comment on the loudness of this as well - we were tucked away behind a brick wall and a partition, but everyone could hear them halfway down the hall! The responses I got made up my mind - I need to move on to another position here. THEY didn't make mistakes (HAH!) and THEY came to work to have fun! SHEEET, you want fun, join a sewing circle.
Todays children do not work, most don't even do chores around the house, they are not required to, so they just sit around and play video games.
I agree tho, it would help our children of today to develop some type of a work habit.
Does a neighbor have a young un that would want to help. What about phoning the counseling office at local schools.
Some people have been a bit negative about kids being willing to help out so I'd like to put in my two cents. I'm looking at it as a mom of two teenage boys - one is driving but the other is too young.
Because my older son is mobile, he helps his grandmother when he can. On top of his school classes, he is in the gym 12 hours a week and has a part time job. Most of his friends are the same hard-working people that he is.
My younger son doesn't help Nana with her yardwork as much and that's partly a transportation issue. He can only help his grandmother when his brother or I go over. As a klutzy thirteen year old, I am just beginning to trust him around power equipment or to be cleaning the 2nd story gutters. I won't leave him there without me in case he gets hurt. That means that when he's helping like that, then that's where my day goes also. That being said, I do drop him off to do the less dangerous chores.
I will also say that, if you are paying the kids to help you, please be fair to them. They should be paid for their time and gas if they are driving for you. Nana pays my boys and usually has pizza delivered also.
One woman from church offered my son $5 to cut her yard (about an hour long job). He had to tell her no - it would cost him more in gas to drive over there than he would get paid. She was offended..."Children these days..." when the reality is that she wanted free labor.
And, if you want them to come back, please don't add to their chores with "while you're here" or talk so long that you make them run late.
Definitely, there are kids who are given everything and are lazy as a result. Those parents will regret their actions when the kids are thirty years old and living in their basements!!
Good luck! I hope you can find some kids who are reliable and capable. If you do, ask if their friends can help also...kids who are responsible usually hang out with other kids who are the same.
When I hired kids for babysitting. I paid very well, always had their favorite snacks that they could munch on too. I always had the best sitters when cheap friends were complaining they couldn’t find someone to sit.
Same with kids who mowed my lawn or weeded my garden. I paid them a great price, plus made a large pitcher of iced water, lemonade or iced tea for them. They worked hard.
Occasionally, a slacker would show up. Simple! I didn’t hire them again and was loyal to kids who earned their pay. I always worked hard. My dad taught me strong work ethics and I never expected anyone to do what I didn’t do myself.
And whether parents are military or not is a factor as well, from what I've seen. This segues into the category not only of parental role models, but of orientation and disposition: some people are more oriented toward helping others; it's part of their persona.
I think this happens more often in working class families as well. They know what it's like to be in need of assistance.
Think of those in "helping" professions: law enforcement, first responders, medical, educational personnel, volunteers, and more. They're oriented toward public reach-out, as are tradesmen.
And from what I've observed from friends, acquaintances and cyber-friends, people coming from these kinds of backgrounds are more likely to be involved with volunteer organizations. I don't have any statistics or bonafide research on this though - it's merely an observation.
You make a good point. Both of my daughters volunteer. They grew up seeing me volunteering in the community. My kids made a fortune babysitting though. Some of my neighbors even bring babysitters on fabulous vacations with them! They play tennis, belong to social clubs, sad but they don’t spend a lot of time with their kids.
I think it’s a safety concern too. People are afraid of strangers too. We teach our kids to be cautious.
I am cautious around strangers. Once I was picking up several pizzas for a party that I was having. I couldn’t do delivery because it wasn’t a ‘chain’ restaurant. It was a local place with gourmet pizzas.
Here I was struggling with several boxes, my purse, keys, the phone out because my friend was calling, grrrr. I almost dropped the pizzas. A nice man that was in the parking lot ran over to help me manage. I got a little nervous around a stranger. He asked to give him the keys and he would open my car door.
Are you kidding? This is New Orleans, high crime, car jacking galore. No way was I going to hand him my keys. I politely thanked him, but told him that I could handle it and dumped the pizzas on the hood of my car and opened my own door.
It’s a shame that we are skeptical of others. This was a nice looking man in a business suit in a good neighborhood but that doesn’t mean anything here. Crimes happen all the time in good neighborhoods with people that don’t look like criminals.
Bottom line, better to be safe than sorry and we have to be street smart.
I am right there with you and agree wholeheartedly. There are many wonderful children out there that would be willing to help and would do a great service to us. Problem is finding them in the area where we live. I need flower bed help, Unable to find anyone willing to do the labor for $15-25 an hour, High but willing to pay someone who is dependable, honest and willing to work. Have a Blessed and Awesome day.
a “ nextdoor “ app on my phone which is an app all your neighbors join and ask for and give access and reviews to people they have used for different projects . The one thing I’ve learned is the only constant in our lives is change so as hard as it is I’ve really tried to change with the times. It is what it is , not it is what is was unfortunately . I know where you’re coming from believe me . As my mother used to say “ old age isn’t for sissies “ and boy was she right . As a child of the sixties I actually believed LOVE was all we needed and was the magic word . She told me the magic word was adjust and I now know what she was talking about . Wish I could tell her 😂
I am in my sixties and have helped my neighbors with many tasks like yard clean up, short shopping trips and rides to appointments. If you need food, medicine,stamps etc those can all be delivered. For larger jobs, do a search to see if "Task Rabbit" is in your area.
They may require more direction than your typical helper, sometimes they can work on a volunteer basis, it gets them social contact and they are paid through the Salvation Army, not by you.
My son helped care for my older sister. She was 77 and he was 29. I could not have asked for a more dedicated helper. But the downside: everyday, repeating the same instructions.
Because of this programme, when my mom was in NH there were several girls who came in & put nail polish on their nails as well as a chat .... my mom just loved it
Check out if there is a similar programme where you live by phoning guidance councillor at your local high school - otherwise see if a youngster can be recommended for your mini-job of errand running/shopping
Thanks for sharing those insights.
Names of helpers could be listed in the church bulletin. A guest speaker would be helpful to help kids understand the situation. If they aren’t aware of issues they don’t realize how serious a situation is.
Some churches have ministries (ours does)to help families in need but it generally isn’t teens who help. It’s the adults. I cook meals sometimes to deliver to a family.
Teens do community service projects though to earn school credit. The youth groups do participate here.
My daughter goes with her friends in college and paints classrooms in schools that are in poor areas. My kid has a big heart. These schools are not in good neighborhoods. She grew up watching her dad and I volunteer so I think it came naturally to her.
My other daughter is involved in volunteering with the homeless. Again, they grew up volunteering either with me, church, scouts, school and other organizations in the community. We have church run ministries for the homeless, many of the homeless here are elderly. Yes, there are shelters. Some volunteers go and pick up donuts for breakfast from donut shops to help feed them. Otherwise, tons of donuts would just be thrown out daily.
I think it depends on life experiences too. My younger daughter ended an abusive relationship in college. She ended up having to get a restraining order on this guy. She and another friend who was being abused as well are volunteering at a crisis center for women. Statistics are pretty high for young women being abused.
I also volunteered with a shelter for women and children. I don’t speak about it usually because of painful memories but I was attacked in my youth and it effected me tremendously. So, I think sometimes our life experiences form us to have a heart to volunteer.
Certainly there are many ways to get items delivered, even stamps (easiest if one has some computer savvy.) However some people like the "personal" touch, or perhaps want to instill that same pride in work done for the young'uns.
But, for someone who needs other tasks done at their home (gardening, yard work, mowing, leaves, moving items, etc), you need someone to do the work!