GenX parents, what's with the "kids today don't work" thing?

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Frigidspinner@reddit

is there anyone who truly wants to work? - I only did it because I needed money and if I had hit the lotto I wouldnt be working anywhere

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9inez@reddit

Sweeping generalizations by old people about young people made since the beginning of time because young people don’t do exactly what old people want and don’t do it the way they want.

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denzien@reddit

My kids have a strong work ethic. They tell me about the other kids and how little many of them actually do.

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I work retail and when I hear customers say this because we are short staffed I think to myself it isn't that kids don't want to work, it's places don’t want to hire anymore. At least where I work. They figured out during Covid how to work with as few people as possible and still get the jobs done.

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Dramatic-Elk4181@reddit

My 16 year old wanted to get a job this year and I’m encouraging her to wait. She takes college level classes and works hard in school. I’ve worked since I was 16 and honestly wish I hadn’t put in so much time and effort for other people.

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CSILalaAnn@reddit

Not really... my daughter is almost 16 and has had a job since turning 14. She coaches younger children in gymnastics at the gym where she trains. (She is a competitive gymnast.)

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BmanGorilla@reddit

The kids that are grabbing the world with both hands, who can show up on time, who can look you in the eye and communicate in full sentences are doing just fine.

The kids who want a trophy for making their bed in the morning, blame everyone but themselves for their issues, well, they’re on Reddit whining about how the world is unfair.

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MikeyRocks757@reddit

Our generation grew up believing that hard work would be rewarded and we’d all be ok and financially secure. And not we find ourselves rapidly reaching retirement age with no retirement funds.

My kids are in their early 20’s and can already see what time it is. They’re both trying to navigate this world but there doesn’t seem to be much to look forward to.

It’s not that they don’t want to work, it’s they don’t want to work and still not be able to survive or be able to save. We’re all in the same boat.

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Icy-Map9410@reddit

My daughter is 21, and same sentiments.

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MassCasualty@reddit

The number of new hires who "got in a car accident...and won't be in" that never show...

My great aunt in Rhode Island died....

Basically they accepted employment and then flake out.

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BmanGorilla@reddit

That’s really one of the biggest problems. Just show up, and show up on time. This part seems like the toughest for them, it’s as if no one else exists in their world sometimes.

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BombadilGuy@reddit

They don’t read

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Aria-Part-Time@reddit

Generally the people who say this are really saying kids don't want to work for their benefit for the wages these antiques want to pay that are decades of inflation out of date and in ways that society have agreed are generally physically or mentally unhealthy.

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LAARPer@reddit

I think each generation has always been seen as lazier, weaker, or lacking in character by the generations preceding it. I remember we were collectively seen as slackers, even though most kids I knew started working right after HS.

One thing Gen Z has that we didn’t is it is very hard to find even part time jobs without knowing someone.

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Goldie1976@reddit

I don't see it. Our kids, nieces, nephews and their friends they we know have all worked from high school on.

I'm sure there's some out there but I honestly don't know of any.

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coopnjaxdad@reddit

All the jobs we had as kids are filled with retirement age adults from what I see.

My oldest son is a hard worker. Makes his own way but I see the “what the fuck am I doing this for?” In him because he has already been lied to by employers and had his work ethic taken advantage of. This is the norm. Hard workers get fucked over as well.

My youngest is still figuring shit out.

Folks who think it’s the same for these kids as it was for us can get straight fucked. The opportunities are not the same nor are they evenly distributed.

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elphaba00@reddit

My oldest got a summer job last year. But they never put him on the schedule. He’d keep calling to ask what was up. He’d ask the manager face to face when he’d be put on the schedule. They always said they’d get back to him. He went out to the place one day and saw a whole crew of new people. After that, he was just done. This summer, they were asking for applications again. He was like, “Screw that. They had their chance”

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zombie_overlord@reddit

I don't really want my son to get a job yet. He's got mostly A's and focusing on basketball. He'll be a junior next year. He'd be exhausted if he was working too. Plenty of time for him to work after school is over.

My youngest is already talking about getting a job and he's 13. He definitely wants to work, but I'll only allow it during the summer when he's old enough. Their job is school right now.

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Real-Emu507@reddit

My kid had his first job in 8th grade. He did dual enrollment homeschool/ college, did tier sports so he traveled a lot and worked about 25 hours a week. He also made up to 30/ hour. He graduated 1.5 years early and is in uni now and just does that and works when he wants to ( cuz I mean , he gets paid good ) my other kid works hard now as an adult,but never could've juggled the schedule my son had

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Normal-Philosopher-8@reddit

My daughter is playing volleyball, and it’s at least 2-3 hours a day, five days a week. Full day training for weeks in the summer. She basically is taking a few weeks in July off to go on vacation, during which, she’ll be ready to get ready for fall. Rising sophomore, nearly straight A’s. She’s working hard, just not at a traditional job.

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Dextropic@reddit

"Kids these days don't want to work" has been around since people started having kids.

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AnastasiaNo70@reddit

Your daughter didn’t take any time off? Awww. 😢

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Real-Emu507@reddit

My parents prob said that about me. Even though I worked all through middle and high school and bought my first house the April I graduated.

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Doc-Milsap@reddit

Some people’s kids don’t want to work apparently. Mine has a job this summer while taking summer classes.

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Mjhjane77@reddit

Both my sons had summer jobs starting at 16 y/o. Their first jobs were working for the city we live in at concession stands/swimming pool and recreation center. Just easy fun jobs. Kept them busy. Now my oldest is a manager at Costco and just bought his first home. My youngest lives at home, graduates college next spring and works full time summers and part-time during the school year as a phlebotomist. It’s a hard world out there for young people. I help them when I can. However, they are adulting well and I am proud of them.

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Western-Corner-431@reddit

This is your personal experience. If you can’t have anyone saying that kids don’t work because your 3 do, you can’t say “kids work” because your 3 do. You’re accounting for 3, that’s not a real sampling of the pool. YOUR kids work.

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NerdfestZyx@reddit

“Kids don’t want to work these days” has been said by adults since the Industrial Age.

It’s simply the older generation mad that young people don’t accept doing things the hard way because technology has advanced and made many tasks easier

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Hungry-Treacle8493@reddit

Every generation gets hit with the “kids today” b.s. They’re all “lazy”, “can’t make decisions”, “entitled”, etc. It is all nonsense. Some kids work as teens or in school. Some don’t. Once out in the work world, some are great employees and/or career driven while others aren’t.

I swear there must be something about getting older that gets in some folk’s minds where they need to pretend they and their peers were somehow “better”. Kind of like how every bunch of thirty somethings go through a “everybody before us had it easier than us and life is a lost cause” phase.

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whats1more7@reddit

I think the kids who aren’t working or don’t want to work are just getting more attention than the ones who are working normal full time jobs.

I also think celebrating the fact that your daughter finished school then went directly to work full time the next day isn’t a good thing either.

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cpod_the_elder@reddit

Its bullshit. My daughter went out at 15 to get a job. Our system and teenagers desire to have stuff means that they are willing to work.

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RadioNervous6189@reddit

Watch all these kids try to afford the fancy phones and cars their parents got them once they're trying to deal with their student debt and the rent. I hear therapist appointments being made...

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Designer-Travel4785@reddit

Well, my son will do anything to avoid work. Any time I tried to instill any work ethic into him I was berated as being too hard on him. I final gave up fighting my entire family and now he just sits on his ass and plays video game all day. I'd cut him off completely, but my family would crucify me for being too mean.

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HistoricalFuture6389@reddit

Propaganda

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DefiantPenguin@reddit

Every time I see the word propaganda now, I only see that Christorasta guy “singing” about the gays.

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seemsright_41@reddit

I am not making my 16 year old work this summer. I am increasing her allowance instead. I know this sounds crazy. But she is going to take 2 college classes and volunteer at the Hospital instead.

She is working very hard to get her high school diploma AND her transfer degree at 16. She has worked very hard to do this. And I am going to do everything in my power to allow her to do so.

So she is working on a major goal, just wont be earning an income and I am okay with that.

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foxisilver@reddit

This is still productive “work”. Good for her!

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DoookieMaxx@reddit

Mine have always be studious and hardworking. I see the issue with family and friends and their kids, some more than others.

There are a lot of factors involved in developing a work mentality.

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StopLookListenDecide@reddit

Mine 24 &28, are working and doing pretty much the path many of us took. Some in their age group are not. It is the generation after I am concerned for. Life and expectations for them are just different.

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VeryPazzo@reddit

Im not saying that, thats the old minded GenXers

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emitnemic@reddit

Perhaps the word you’re looking for is “boomers”. I don’t know any gen-xers that say this or care to be honest

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_ism_@reddit

same, i'm one of the younger ones, worked since 15 until medically disabled by a car crash

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Critical_Purple_8600@reddit

I didn’t work until the summer after I graduated high school. Neither did most of my friends. School kept us busy and I didn’t have a car to get to work. Parents weren’t going to pay for that. I borrowed a car when I was 18 to get to work.

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Repulsive_Job428@reddit

My good friend has two kids she completely subsidizes. One is about to go to grad school and doesn't even want a summer job. The younger one likely can't hold down a job because she's really sensitive. Honestly, I think she's living with her mother for the foreseeable future. My friend even goes to where the kid goes to college six months out of the year to Airbnb it because the kid can't function. On the flip side, my cousin has two kids. One is just graduating high school and works her ass off. The other still lives at home, doesn't work 10 hours a week at 21, and gets concert money from her parents. She spent ALL her graduation money concert hopping when she graduated high school. There is no money for college and she's doing nothing but loafing around all day.

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Playful-Park4095@reddit

Merle Haggard was crying in 1981 about how men won't work any longer and women can't cook these days in the song "Are the Good Times Really Over?" so our parents said the same things about us. As did their parents about them.

Every generation says the same thing. Like even in ancient Rome they complained about the youth of the day.

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warmfootjack@reddit

It's seems like the availability of college loans has lessened the necessity to work and save prior to or during school. IDK, everyone's situation is different.

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Rocketjen@reddit

My kids want to work but have not been able to find jobs. No one was hiring 14/15 year olds. Turning 16 this summer so hopefully someone will hire them!

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BigLoveForNoodles@reddit

Yeah, it's bullshit.

My kid just graduated college a week ago. She has an arts related degree, and you better believe that she is hustling her ass off right now trying to figure out how to make ends meet. I could not be prouder.

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ZweitenMal@reddit

My kids… the older one volunteered at a scientific institution in our city. In college he did some nature-related paid summer work. The younger has never had a job—to be fair, he was a Covid kid.

Whereas I worked from the age of 12 when I could finally babysit.

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Few-Pineapple-5632@reddit

My kids had jobs from 15, one of them actually started working at 13. They have almost always had jobs since then.

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Reader47b@reddit

Summer teen employment ranged from 50%-60% throughout the 70s and 80s and has ranged from 30%-37% throughout the 2010s and 2020s. So, yes, there's definitely been a steep decline in teenagers working, but no, it's not true that "kids don't work today."

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jetpack324@reddit

I think we mostly did a good job of getting our kids ready to be adults. It’s tougher now economically so it takes a bit longer than it did for us. But all my friends’ kids are adulting pretty well and have good work habits. There’s always that 5% though.

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therinwhitten@reddit

Correction: They won't work if it doesn't make sense. If they believe in it? They will work day and night on it. If not, good luck.

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Sunsfever83@reddit

Mine works a government job and has for the last 15 years.

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moneyman74@reddit

I don't subscribe to this. Plenty of kids out working. There is a longer than usual delay to get drivers license these days. Although mine got it on time some kids have to be persuaded or talk into it.

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Jerking_From_Home@reddit

This has been going on a long time. The older generation always has the same garbage to say about the younger ones.

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djrefugium@reddit

Mine works 2 jobs. I'd never complain.

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LdyWarner@reddit

I work at a Career Tech high school. My kids wanna work. They work, and they work hard. Heavy equipment, welding, electrical construction, culinary, IT… they work. And they work hard. I’m the workforce development person and I get so outraged at the discourse around “kids these days” because I’ve learned when you hold them to standards, give them the tools and support, they will surprise you. My kids do amazing things.

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NeedleworkerLow1100@reddit

Mine took a bit to come into his own (27 now) but he started his own business, and I couldn't be prouder of him.

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Jolly_Werewolf_7356@reddit

My kid makes almost as much as me.

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unrepresented-us@reddit

Younger GenX here. I’ve got one that is adverse to work and one that isn’t. One going into his senior year (Jazz Hands) that I’m on fence about.

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daisychain0606@reddit

My kids have always worked. One is now a stay at home mom, (which is work) and the other owns two restaurants.

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jayfourzee@reddit

Mine do. When they were in school and now that they are in college. But, without generalizing, traditional high school and student jobs in the 80's and 90's really do not exist as much as they did before.

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viking12344@reddit

My daughter is a millennial and works her ass off. My son in law too. I work with a 23 year old that is one of the hardest workers I have ever met. So I'm thinking it's a case by case basis. My cousin is a year older than me, 58, and complains about his job daily. It's all he does lol.

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LizTruth@reddit

Mine got a job, saved like hell, invested like a boss, and now, four years later, he's living on dividends. I am in awe.