Getting job experience as a teenager isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there’s a balance to be had. High school is supposed to be a time for figuring out what to do with the start of your adult life, not to mention trying to figure out who you are as a person and enjoying the final years before you become an adult with adult responsibilities that only seem to get rougher with each generation.
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But one father is stirring up criticism after seemingly not getting the work-life balance memo.
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A man named Chris Crawford posted to Facebook praising his 14-year-old son’s supposed work ethic.
In the post, Crawford says that his kid “has a [part-time] job at Burger King, [and] not only does he work every day he can including weekends when most kids are out enjoying their summer he goes in early and stays late almost every time he works.”
According to Crawford, this means his son “loves every minute” of work and is “being responsible in his decisions.” He also chastises “lazy, grown ass people out there” who he believes “should take notes.”
Whew, there’s a lot to unpack there.
First of all, comparing a 14-year-old child who is brand new to the work force to people who have already been carrying the weight of a broken economic system that rarely lets the poor and middle class get ahead is an embarrassing choice.
Second, while having a job for the first time can absolutely be exciting, that any kid would willingly choose to spend all his free time there raises a ton of questions — Does he feel like he has a choice? Is he getting paid for the extra time he spends there? Does he have friends? Does he just really not want to spend time at home?
Twitter users were all over the post, criticizing Crawford’s parenting as well as lamenting a system that encourages minimum wage workers to start working as soon as they can and hustle until they drop.
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As a former 15 year old McDonalds front line employee, I can vouch for pretty much all of these happening
—
Super Swim Team 7
(@superswimteam7) June 11, 2021
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Of course, there were adults that encouraged this kind of situation, but they were generally shot down.
Hopefully, once this kid comes to his dad and tells him he doesn’t want to keep devoting his life to Burger King, Crawford will be just as proud and encourage him to spend time being a kid instead of exhausting himself in the work force before he’s even old enough to need the money. But based on his post, it seems a lot more likely he’ll just call him lazy and guilt him into going right back to work.
*First Published: June 11, 2021, 8:01 am
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