This entire summer the kids next door have been inside playing video games.
They never leave the house.
During the school year they come tearing up the stairs after classes, turn on the TV set and play video games until it’s bed time. I hear them every day. I hear them now every day.
It’s pretty sad.
I had an Atari which I bought with my own money when I was a kid. I was not allowed to play it all day, just an hour or so at a time.
TV? Sure, we could watch TV but only at night, only pre-approved programs and only 4 or 5 hours a week. That’s it.
And never tell my mother your bored - you’d be put to work right away.
Do teenagers even have Summer jobs any more?
That's a "darn" good question.
I had summer jobs in college that paid for my room and board, tuition increases and fun money...
They still do have Summer jobs.
I had an Atari too, but could only play it when it was cold, raining or holidays.
If it was nice, my homework and chores were done, then I had to get outside usuall all day until super time. It was either go to a friends house, go to the pool, bicycle, explore, etc... Haha!
Do teenagers even have Summer jobs any more?
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Illegal aliens fill most of the jobs that teenagers would otherwise have in the summer... and also part time during the school year.
My first summer job was delivering papers for the Boston Herald American when I was 13. In the 1970s, newspapers were typically delivered by boys (I do remember a girl or two with a paper route). My first week, I cleared about $25 including tips (which were a pleasant surprise to me). Now that was an incredible amount of money for a 13-year-old kid to have in 1976. And I made it week after week that year.
I saved a lot of it but I would splurge too. I'd often take the subway into Boston to Fenway and walk up to the ticket window to get a ticket for the Red Sox game. Felt like such a big shot!
“Do teenagers even have Summer jobs any more?”
Nope. Ridiculously high minimum wage mandates put an end to that.
I would sometimes babysit a coworker’s child. The mama would insist we spend time outside but the child was not ever be allowed to get dirty. It was just sit quietly in a chair on the porch. Crazy.