A diverse group of teenagers hugging each other, street style, generation z
My youngest daughter had a teen job and then, after almost a year, she didn’t. It was a devastating blow for her self-esteem and, of course, that disappointment hit us hard as well. The fit seemed great, but problems arose with a supervisor who didn’t seem to understand how to work with neurodiverse employees.
For months afterward, my daughter floundered. She was angry and confused; no one ever clearly told why the job ended. Then, I found a youth job-training program and she discovered her voice, speaking up for herself as a young part-time employee with ADHD. When she finished the training program, she was hired working two to three nights a week in a pet store. After her first shift, she came home crying tears of joy, for maybe the third time in her life. “I have the best job ever,” she said. That was powerful.