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Let’s face it — between school, home, friends, and extracurricular activities, life as a teenager can be chaotic. Many teens view summer as a time for relaxation and vacation, but for some, it’s all about the money. Summer jobs for teens should be fun, social, and flexible. Here are some popular part-time jobs that let teens earn extra cash while gaining valuable experience for the future.

Camp Counselor

If your teen is interested in gaining knowledge and experience in leadership, brainstorming, and team work, working as a camp counselor is a perfect choice. As a counselor, your teen will be a mentor to other young people, modeling good behavior and other positive qualities. She will probably also be exposed to a variety of people from different backgrounds. Camp counseling is a great opportunity for teens to gain self-esteem as well as leadership skills, which they will carry with them when summer ends.

Life Guard

If your teen is at least 15 years old and a proficient swimmer, she might consider training to be a certified lifeguard. Besides spending her working hours in the sun soaking in the rays, she will learn valuable lessons in responsibility and safety. To become a certified lifeguard, a 37-hour course is required, which includes training in CPR, AED, first aid, surveillance techniques, proper use of rescue equipment, and managing spinal injury victims. Your teen will also have to pass a written test and a swimming test. Life guarding is a rewarding job that develops confidence, decision-making skills, conflict resolution, and professionalism in your teenager.

Starting a Business

Starting his own business for the summer is a great way for your teen to earn some extra cash and learn the ropes of running a business at the same time. If the business begins to flourish, your teen’s services could continue long past the summer months. Some ideas include babysitting, cleaning, messenger/errand service, car washing/detailing, house painting, and pet care. Entrepreneurship is a great opportunity for your teen to enhance her professionalism, time-management and organization skills, reliability, and confidence — while providing a helpful service to the community.

Landscaping and Lawn Care

Landscaping and lawn care are booming businesses during the summer months. Many people don’t have the time or aren’t physically capable of caring for their lawn and garden. Landscaping is a challenging job that entails manual labor and long hours. If your teen doesn’t mind getting dirty and loves the outdoors, nature, and designing, this job is right for him. She’ll hone her creativity and benefit from the physical activity, while learning about responsibility, hard work, and time-management. Plus, her hard work will be on view in the community - a free advertisement for his services.

Concert/Event Venue

This is a job fit for a teen. Jobs at concert or event venues include ticket sales/stubs, reception, concession stand, parking, security, and cleaning services. Your teen could also get involved in the technical, marketing, and coordinating side of event planning. It takes a lot of people to make large events successful, and jobs at concert or event venues can teach teamwork and build people and leadership skills. Plus, your teen will see all his favorite bands or sports teams for free!

Food Services

If your teen is a social butterfly and loves interacting with people, restaurant employment might be right for her. She can choose from such positions as cashier, host/hostess, server, bus girl, food runner, dish washer, and prep cook. Many towns have popular and unique diners and drive-ins, which make for a fun and social working environment. Food industry positions can help your teen develop people skills, self-esteem, and responsibility, while enjoying a bit of socializing.

Sports Instructor

Many teens are involved in extracurricular activities and sports during the school year. Your teen could take his soccer, tennis, swimming, lacrosse, running, jump rope, or other athletic skill to the next level while earning some summer cash. If she is personable and likes to interact with adults or kids, working as a sports instructor will be a fun, outdoor experience. This is a great opportunity that will boost your teen’s confidence, provide healthy physical activity, and improve her people skills.

Movie Theater

Free movies, free popcorn, and socializing are just a few of the benefits you get when working at a movie theater. If your teen is a movie buff, this is the perfect environment for him to spend his summer working hours. Concessions, tickets sales, ticket stubs, and usher are a few of the positions your teen can choose from. He can choose to beat the heat during hot summer days, and maybe catch a free flick at night.

Internship

Some teenagers have it all figured out and know which field they want to pursue. If your teen wants to gain experience for her professional future, an internship is the best summer employment plan for her. Many internships are unpaid, but the job experience can lead to future employment. If the experience is more important than the money, an internship will propel your teen in the right direction as she gains confidence, professional knowledge, and real-world experience.

The easy way to get kids to love doing their homework? Reading the directions to them in a funny voice! Studies at John Hopkins University found that students perform better on tests when the directions are humorous instead of straight-laced.

Physical fitness has tangible effects on classroom performance, says a new study….

What’s the Latest?  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) surveyed 5,000 students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade and found that girls who got from 70 to 300 minutes of physical education per week scored consistently higher on standardized tests.  More exercise also translated into increased classroom participation and concentration skills.

What about Boys?  The study found no correlation between gym class and test scores for boys, but that may be because elementary-school-age males tend to be more active outside school.  And according to the CDC, boys are often more physically fit than girls, meaning gym-class dodgeball might not be enough to give them the same beneficial physiological effects. 

Why Does it Matter?  Many school districts are slashing PE to meet budgets; math and reading are what count on standardized tests–and in assessing schools’ performance under No Child Left Behind.  As a result, most kids have gym class only once or twice a week.  The lack of physical exercise could be adversely affecting girls’ academic development.

Although an entire class can sit through the same presentation, not everyone receives the information in the same way. Do you know which way you learn best? Identifying this can help you improve your learning technique and can even improve your grades.

There are three main styles of learning, and most students fall into one of these three categories: auditory learning, tactile/kinesthetic learning, or visual learning.

Auditory learners are more receptive to presentations that are oral.  Do you find that the information in class is easier to absorb if the teacher stands at the front the room and talks about a subject?  Do you find that you are quicker to understand information given on audio tape or MP3?  If so, one way of making your grades better would be to record yourself reading from the text book of any subjects that you find particularly difficult, and then listening to the spoken word – because of your learning style you may find that it makes the subjects easier to understand.

Tactile/kinesthetic learners on the other hand learn best in a hands-on environment.  They understand the physical form and being able to touch the material allows them to understand the subject matter easier.  Unfortunately this isn’t the easiest of learning styles to work with in a school setting as many subject areas don’t easily lend themselves to a tactile approach – and school resources may limit those subjects that do.  Consider how you can make a tactile model for subjects you find difficult and then use this to increase your understanding of it.

Visual learners are best with things they can see.  They much prefer the written word or illustrative diagrams to listening to a teacher speak.  Books and charts are the best educational tools for those of you who have this learning style, and therefore you ought to do well in a school environment.  Classes that provide handouts, or use an overhead projector will be your best classroom experiences, but for those where handouts aren’t given, your own notes should provide the best source of information for homework.

If you aren’t sure which learning style you have, pay attention to how you learn next time you’re in a classroom.  Familiarize yourself with each style beforehand, and then try to follow each style in turn to investigate which one of them gives you the easier learning experience.  Once you identify it, and can use this style more thoroughly in your school work, you’ll find that you’ll understand things faster and consequently should see an improvement in your grades.