School holidays: 5 home-based paying jobs that can keep your teen out of trouble
From age 13-19, millions of parents tend to be overly wary and keen about their children’s development and well-being. This is because at this time, puberty and all its accompanying hormonal changes are finally knocking on the door, peer pressure is rife, teens tend to seek more independence and autonomy so risk taking behaviors and experimentation with substances and sexuality among other things is highly likely and their journeys to identity and self discovery begin- often a self isolating journey if one can say so.
In Kenya, at this age, children are either in Grade 7, high school and some are just about to join higher education institutions. Currently, primary and secondary school going children are home for the end of year long school break. There are about 8 weeks remaining and parents are on their toes governing these impressionable lot.
Much has been said about how parents can keep their children busy and engaged over the holidays but little has been said about how financially productive they can be. Nairobi News now brings you five home based (because we all want to keep a close eye on our children) paying jobs teens can undertake to earn their allowances or even help out with paying for small things around the home:
- University joining students, or those in their first year at age 19 can take up tutoring jobs. They can conduct extra-tuition for those completing primary school or those in secondary school especially if they excelled in certain subjects known to be problematic for many (math and sciences!).
- Older teens can take up baby sitting jobs and charge per hour. If you know that your teen is the responsible type, then it would be permissible to allow and have them watch over small kids (preferably not babies) and engage with them in games and sporting activities in or just around the home.
- If your teen is the creative type, you can provide them with capital to buy more raw materials to make handmade crafts they can sell for profit. This can be creative artwork and jewelry. What’s even better is that you can support them by marketing their work on your social media pages.
- In addition to being creative, if they are great cooks and bakers, you can invest some capital in them and set them up for a home based cooking and delivery services to homes around the neighborhood. Cold foods, snacks and confectionery can sell greatly especially if the neighborhood is full of younger children.
- For the older teens who are allowed to have mobile phones and have access to social media, from home, you can arrange for them to be social media managers for certain family friendly companies/sites/businesses. They can also do online reselling of items on market places and take part in freelance online writing if they are creative writers.
At the end of the day, you as a parent having peace of mind that your teen is occupied and out of danger of engaging in vices is greatly assured. What’s more, you will be teaching them life lessons in entrepreneurship, financial management and personal growth.