Jobs For Juniors? Yes!

By Rosanna Trestman

With summer around the corner, many a parent begins the annual scramble to fill the three-month stretch of unstructured time facing their children. Cobbling together activities for younger kids, such as week-long soccer and art camps, the library Summer Reading program, and long days at Tobey Pond plug a substantial portion of that gap.

But one day your child will age out of day camp and sandcastles. Hazy, lazy days should, in the opinion of many parents, be substituted with some meaningful activity, if only to get the kids out of the house and weaned from addictive electronics.

Typically the parent’s frustration is equal to the child’s apathy. From the adult’s perspective there are a basketful of social and practical benefits to working outside the home: kids will discover the satisfaction of earning their own money; by joining the work force they will learn the value of being productive; and they will appreciate that their actions (good or bad) have consequences.

Of course Norfolk poses a special challenge with a small population that can sustain only a handful of jobs targeted to 14- to 21-year-olds. In fact, a myriad of jobs abound, people just need to identify needs that do not immediately come to mind. Norfolk has plenty of potential employers, they just donít know it. Below is a small list of entry-level job ideas to get started:

Lawn care: mowing; gathering sticks left from winter storms which can be snapped for kindling; aerating the lawn; building compost bins…

Office assistant: filing; creating an index for an unfinished book; researching for a writer; handling bulk mailings…

Summer school: private tutoring; group math lessons; outdoor science lessons…

Kids’ events: starting an arts and crafts workshop or reading group; babysitting en masse at the playground; organizing scavenger hunts and nature walks…

Helper with special events: hanging signs; setting and taking down tables; distributing flyers…

Artist’s assistant: stretching canvas; cleaning paint brushes; hanging art for an exhibition…

Computer skills teacher: from basic navigation of an operating system to tips on selling on Ebay.

Garden assistant: building raised beds; mulching; planting seeds and thinning seedings; and the job that keeps on giving—pulling weeds.

Home improvement: painting a fence; fixing wobbly chairs; patch plastering; decluttering the attic; staining furniture…

Deep house cleaning: tackling those long-delayed projects such as scrubbing floors and washing screens; dusting pictures and lampshades; organizing closets…

These pursuits probably won’t influence your child’s future vocation, but for now they will fulfill the symbiotic goals of the young adults, their families and neighbors. It’s a win, win, win.

Through September, Norfolk Now will offer free advertising space to residents and businesses who wish to offer or seek employment. Please submit copy to editor@nornow.org by the 15th of the month. Limit of 20 words.