The Best Summer Jobs for Teens

Having a summer job is a right of passage for teens. Somewhere around the ages of 14 or 15 – usually coinciding with getting a driver’s permit – many teens start thinking about getting a summer job. But we as parents have a unique opportunity to help guide them into a summer job that will help them earn money and be worthwhile in terms of teaching valuable life and job lessons. Sometimes, learning lessons at a young age is a trade-off for earning a lot of money. So depending on your family’s circumstances and needs, you may have different goals for your children in their summer job quest.

Here are some of the best summer jobs for teens, whether the goal is to make a lot of money or gain valuable experience – or both!

Internship

We often reserve the idea of internships in our heads as applicable only to kids in their last two years of college. But kids even in high school can be eligible for an internship in their desired field.

To find an internship, you have a couple of options. Your child can inquire with their school guidance counselor, who may be tied into opportunities specifically for high school kids.

Or, if your child is in a specific club, that teacher may be able to help them out. For example, in high school, I took Journalism and was on the student newspaper team. During my junior and senior years, I was accepted into an internship specifically for high school students at our city’s newspaper. It was an amazing and eye-opening experience that taught me the necessity in that industry of meeting deadlines – and it allowed me to network, as I was able to work with a reporter who went onto become a best-selling author.

Camp Counselor

Summer camps all over the country need help during the summer months. As parents scramble to place their kids into activities to keep them busy, they desperately need qualified staff.

Check your city’s parks and recreation website as a starting point. All the various parks may host their own summer camps, and this is a good opportunity to find a wide range of options.

A simple google search is always a good idea as well, and you can also simply ask your friends where their kids may be going to camp next summer to get some different ideas.

Whatever you do, you’ll want to start asking early – around the late winter/early spring mark – to be prepared.

Nanny

As mentioned, parents need help during the summer! Families with little kids all the way to middle schoolers may use the services of a nanny during the summer months.

Nannies are able to provide immense support to working parents, by helping with meal prep, shuttling children to and from activities, and even tutoring so kids don’t experience the summer slide.

Your teen can gain valuable life experience and learn to be compassionate toward other parents and kids in the process.

Lifeguard

Whether you have a local pool or a local beach, your water-loving teen can both have fun, be social, and make good money by becoming a life guard. While you always hope your child will never actually have to be put to the test, the reality is that these positions are much-needed, and pay competitively.

Crafting

Creativity is underrated – but starting a creative business can be very fruitful. Your creative child can consider a crafting business over the summer. Etsy is a great place to start in terms of selling online. And it can be supplemented with in-person sales at a craft market, or by selling to local boutiques.

This type of work entails a lot of time doing other tasks besides just making things, so make sure your teen is aware of all the steps he or she will need to do in order to make this successful.

Photo Album Designer

This is a service many a parent can use. I don’t know about you, but I have about a billion pictures eating up my phone storage. As opposed to a few decades ago, photos are not so readily printed out and put into albums, because we can always access them electronically – and because of that very fact, we take immensely more photos than we used to.

If your child has a knack for creativity, they can start a photo album design service, helping parents create beautiful keepsake albums for their families, and giving parents hours back into their lives by not having to do this somewhat stressful and very time-consuming task.

Lawn Mowing Service

If you do not live in a community that offers lawn-care, then starting a lawn mowing service is a great option for your teen. It’s hard, manual labor that will teach your teen the value of time-management and paying attention to detail.

This is one of those jobs that even by starting with one or two paying clients, your teen will benefit from word-of-mouth advertising if they do a great job. People love to tell others who they’re using for these types of services – so by sharing a few business cards and flyers, this may be all the marketing your teen has to do to build a decent, and manageable, clientele list for their summer job.

Summer Camp Service

If your teen loves being active, and can put together fun and engaging activities for kids, and is responsible, then starting a summer camp service is also an option for a summer job for teens.

If you live in a gated community, this is a great option, because you can take advantage of the proximity to your own home, as well as having your child only work with families you know – and, it’s more of a leveled- up babysitting service than a full-blown “camp” where you’ll need more licenses and insurance to get started.

So Many Summer Job Options

Regardless of their interests, there are so many options out there for fun and fruitful summer jobs. I hope you’ve enjoyed our options for the best summer jobs for teens, and I hope your own teens have a great experience in their own summer jobs. As always, let us know if they try any of the options on our list! Happy job hunting.