Sleepless nights. Double shifts. COVID-19 is forcing high school students to help support families

[Demovictory9]

Sleepless nights. Double shifts. COVID-19 is forcing high school students to help support families

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And when her dad lost his factory job in March at the onset of the pandemic, it was never a question that the 17-year-old would do whatever was needed to keep her family afloat.

Her parents do not speak English, so she researched how to sign up her family for food and rental assistance at various community organizations. She held garage sales on the weekends, selling blouses and shoes from her South Los Angeles home and dropping off catalogs for Tupperware — which she helps her mom sell — to family friends.

But it wasn’t enough. So she told her parents that she wanted to take on shifts at the embroidery factory where her mom worked.

“Tell your boss I’m ready, I can do this,” Stephanie, the eldest of four children, said to her mom at the dinner table. The next week, mother and daughter stood side-by-side at the industrial sewing machines, lining up snap-back hats that would soon be stitched with the logos of local sports teams.

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Counselors and teachers across California tell similar stories: One described a senior at Oakland High School who, before starting to work full-time this year, had a 3.9 GPA, but is now failing almost all of her classes. A counselor at South L.A.'s Communication and Technology School worries about a student there who works two jobs, from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m., five days a week and was so overwhelmed he tried to drop out — until the counselor dissuaded him.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-05/la-students-take-on-jobs-help-families-amid-covid-19

[Luciferous]

1. That is heartbreaking, those poor kids

[Laelth]

2. Far too common these days.

The young can get jobs (sometimes). The old usually can’t, but somebody has to pay the bills.



-Laelth

[AwakeAtLast]

3. My daughter put off college

Not because we need the money like the people in the story, but she feels she does. She doesn't want to go to college staring at a screen, so right now she is working at the factory my husband works at. She is making $16.00/hour, will have a car paid for by summer and will be working on money for housing. Because her tuition is paid for from her Dad's Indiana National Guard disability, she should be able to get a degree without debt.

I am very proud of her choices!