close ad  6 Solutions for Teen Job Problems  Help your kid land
and keep a gig with these take-action strategies.   • Share   •
Print Teen jobs Enlarge Image Michael Byers  Teens today want
jobs for many of the same reasons you did when you were their
age: money, freedom, responsibility, and a desire to be treated
like an adult. Though the number of employment opportunities
continues to decline, nearly 80 percent of teens say they want
to work, and some 1.9 million 15- to 17-year-olds actually held
gigs in 2009. For those lucky (and cunning) enough to find work,
it can mean so much more than a paycheck. "Your child will begin
to interact with coworkers, and possibly customers, and as a
result, gain knowledge about how the workplace operates," says
Beverly F. Slomka, author of Teens and the Job Game (iUniverse).
"It's important that kids take their first job seriously and
understand that it's a stepping stone to bigger things later
on." Anticipating the problems that a kid might run into in a
new venture—and t