Reasons teenagers should not be allowed to work.

Today, many high school students are entering the work force. Students are becoming more and more eager to start working and become independent. Although a beneficial balance of school and extracurricular activities as well as employment can be productive, it is very difficult to maintain. If a student is intending on going to college, he or she should only hold very minimal and flexible employment.

A part-time job interferes with school in many situations. Even if the job is held after school and on weekends, many beneficial extracurricular activities operate at times that do not conflict with education. Most employers are hardly willing to a busy student's schedule. When students do successfully plan out-of-school events in accordance with a work schedule, hours of school followed by hours of work and hours of homework may be overwhelming for high school students. All of this considered, a student will sacrifice homework and actually be encouraged not to participate in school clubs and sports if working part-time.

An employed high school student will suffer the loss of time spent with friends and family. Do you really think a working teenager will keep up with household commitments, such as chores? PARENTING.COM reports that all parents that participated in their survey with employed children say that their working teens often neglect chores and end up with slipping grades. That same website also reports that 94% of those same parents have missed out on family events such as birthdays and day trips. Not only will a part-time job harm a student's educational stability, it will harm a close family.

Besides damaging a student's family life, a job may harm his or her social life. A student may not be able to spend as much time with their friends as usual if employed. This according to child psychologists can be very harmful to a teenager. First, teenagers receive many daily reassurances from friends, and without this unobvious benefit of friendship, a teenager may begin to feel low self-esteem and feel feelings of guilt for neglecting friends. Emotional turmoil for feeling of abandoning peers and neglecting family is hardly positive for a teenage student.

Many students do successfully balance school and work. Only a few students though manage to maintain this balance before parts of their life begin to fail because of employment. One must consider all the above possible conflicts before jumping into the workforce. This of course, is no easy task. With parental support and a good employer willing to be flexible, it is somewhat accomplishable. Take caution before entering the world of employment.