Having a blog is a great thing. It is a fun and creative outlet. It is a form of self expression and it is a way to connect to others from all over the globe.  While I haven’t ever been paid for my blog or received free merchandise, I know for some it is a way to earn money and/or freebies from businesses.  Yes it is also work. But for me it is a labor of LOVE, especially during the guest blogger Month of LOVE series in February. As this is the third year hosting, some might suggest I’ve heard nearly all types of LOVE stories at this stage.  My answer is, NOPE! Not even close! Why? Because every person who submits a story is totally unique therefore their stories will be as well.

Case in point, today’s blog post by Ron Stefanaski. He contacted me back in August of 2018. He had read one of my stories and commented on the post. Then he emailed and asked if I take guest blog submissions. I shared with him these links for the first Guest Blogger series and the one from last year as well. And I told him for the entire month of February I accept guest blogger submissions but the only caveat is that they must tie into the theme of LOVE!

Ron replied that he had a story that might fit the theme and also help promote his own blog which is focused on helping teenagers find employment. Jobs for Teens HQ is his website which is a resource for teens looking for employment. But I found reading some of his blog articles that adults can be helped by some of his tips for teens in the work place. And Ron’s submission for the Month of LOVE guest blogger series here on Yankee Doodle Paddy is an example. 

How to Help Your Teen Love Their Job

Helping your teen learn to love their job, even if it’s just a part-time job, seems like a daunting task. The problem is this: many adults don’t even love their jobs, and many of them studied or prepared for years in order learn their trade.

Teen jobs aren’t always the most glamorous, either. So how can you help your teen learn to love their job, or at least love working?

Well, it all starts at home.  While you can’t force your teenager to love their job, you can foster positive attitudes and reframe how they view their life on the job, as well as encourage them to look for joy outside the workplace.

Here are a few tips to help your teen love their job, even if the job isn’t loveable!

 

1. Your Kids Will Pick Up Your Cues: Model A Positive Outlook! A lot of us grew up hearing this common phrase: “work is called work, if it were fun it would be called “fun”. While this is certainly sometimes true, it doesn’t have to be that way. The first thing you can do to help your teen love their job is to model positive behavior. Did you have a terrible day at the office? Your teen probably isn’t the right audience for your complaints. On the off chance that your teenager asks about your day at work, try to think of one positive thing that happened and share that. You don’t have to lie: it’s important for them to know work isn’t always satisfying and stimulating, but try not to dwell too much on the negative.
2. Encourage Your Teen To Look On The Bright Side.If your teen comes home everyday after work complaining about how boring their job is and how much they hate their boss, encourage them to find one or two positive aspects about the job that they do. Did they have a really nice customer? Were they especially proud of something they did? Did they resolve a conflict they initially found daunting? Encourage them to verbalize these thoughts. It’s easy to get caught up on the negative parts of work and forget about the positive parts.
3. Real Talk, Loving What You Do Isn’t A Job Requirement.If your teen really, really hates their job, sometimes there isn’t much you can do to change their mind. What you can do, though, is remind them that loving your job isn’t always part of the corporate world, but that it’s still important to do your best. While teens are always receptive to this message (especially younger teens, many of whom have found jobs that hire as young as 14 years of age), it’s a great opportunity to talk about personal responsibility and commitment. Remind them that they didn’t promise to love their job when they were hired, they only pledged to do their best and complete their tasks to the best of their ability. It’s also good to remind them that while quitting a job in your teen years is usually not the end of the world, the stakes are quite higher in adulthood, and it’s a good idea to get used to the idea of not loving every job you land.
4. Taking Pride in Their Work.Because not every boss is a good one and not all coworkers become friends, encourage your teen to derive pleasure from simply doing a good job at work. Positive feedback from an external source, particularly a supervisor, isn’t always easy to come by even if your teen is doing a good job, and this can be demoralizing. Encouraging your teen to take pride in their work, regardless of positive reinforcement from their superiors, is a great way to re-frame the experience of the workplace.
5. It’s OK not to love your job. TV and movies may have given our teens the wrong idea: that every job is fulfilling, stimulating, and exciting. That’s simply not true, and your teen may be feeling particularly demoralized if they can’t figure out why they don’t leave the office every day with a glowing sense of pride and accomplishment. Relieve them of this internal pressure by telling them the simple truth: they’re not going to love every job they have, and that’s ok. Sometimes it’s ok to go to work simply because you need to pay bills, or  you want a little pocket money. Remind them of the reasons that they wanted the job in the first place. Is it still worth it? If your teen thinks that it’s not worth keeping the job, then you can begin discussing if it’s a good idea to quit.
6. Work isn’t everything.It’s also important to remind your teen that work isn’t the be all end all of a happy life. There are tons of people who work simply because they want to have the financial freedom to do the things that really make them happy. Loving your job isn’t the key to a happy life, and it’s good to remind your teen of all the things that working enable them to do (travel with friends, go to the movies, safe for college, whatever!)

 

Byline: Ron Stefanski is the founder of www.JobsForTeensHQ.comand has a passion for helping teenagers find jobs. He created the website because he feels that teenagers need to focus on their professional passions much earlier in life and aims to teach them how they can do that. When he’s not working on his website, Ron is a college professor and loves to travel the world.

There are definitely nuggets of truth in this blog post so thank you very much Ron! Thanks too for your patience waiting for this to be published. And well done, you used the word LOVE at least ten times! Not that there was a quota, as we all know love is more than a word. And the reality is, when it comes to work and love, the two don’t often go hand in hand. But I really do believe we can love what we do if we have purpose behind it! As you know my purpose is to spread LOVE, so wherever I am employed or in fact wherever I go, my mission is to keep spreading the LOVE!

working for LOVE!

YDP