When I was growing up, my parents ensured that I learned valuable lessons about what it meant to work a job and make money with your own time and hard work.
So, the summer after I turned 16, I had to have a job. I got a job working at the local baseball park home to a High-A baseball team.
For those who don't know what that means, it was three steps down from the major leagues. Players would first have to prove themselves in A, then double AA, and finally AAA before making it to the big times.
It was a great job. Probably just as good as any 16 year old could ask for. The other lads and I ran a BBQ grill area that was usually rented out for corporate events before the games.
That meant an endless supply of fresh, tasty burgers and brats (which were often leftover in copious quantities.) for the entire summer. And, if we were quick with the pack down, we could usually catch the game on from the bottom of the second inning.
Cash was in hand. My parents probably would have preferred that it made it to my savings account, but the reality is that it seldom did. After all, what were savings when there were Oakleys and video games to buy? Plus, I had hefty monthly payments to consider. My World of Warcraft subscription wasn't going to pay for itself.
Looking back, I was fortunate and privileged that my earnings didn't have to go back into supporting the family at that point in my life. For that reason and several others, I don't think that I ever quite caught the lesson that my parents were trying to teach.
To this day, shiny things often catch a paycheck before it makes it into my savings. (The shiny new glowing mechanical keyboard that I'm typing this on now is a testament to that fact.) But those building blocks my parents provided me were essential to me becoming the (relatively) well-adjusted and (somewhat) functioning adult I am today.
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The point is… What I'm trying to say… The whole reason for that drawn-out soliloquy… is that the kid has a job. At the age of 16, he seems to have a firm grasp on how important it is that he is at that job. That is a lesson most parents wish their kids would learn.
Your sh***y boyfriend then punishes him for wanting to go to that job instead of watching his sh***y children. (Who your son has no obligation to babysit.) What do you think that whole thing teaches your son?
Then you, his mother, come along and reinforce that lesson.
Nicely done. Great work. Good parenting.
From that, it should be easy to extrapolate an answer.
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