Many teens want their jobs to be exciting, glamorous and be the envy of their friends.  But those jobs only exist on MTV.  Or, at least they don’t exist unless you have experience.  You can’t get a job as Fashion Editor at Vogue or Executive Chef at The Ivy in Beverly Hills without proof that you are employable.  You would be surprised at the applicable skills and people that you meet in the most unlikely jobs.  Climbing the career ladder starts by avoiding these traps:

Trap #3: Getting a job at McDonalds or Walmart is not constructive for my future.

Many teens make the mistake and think that a job flipping burgers or stocking shelves is beneath them or won’t help them in their future career.  That is totally incorrect.  Firstly, there is no shame in working – at any job.  Even if you plan to be a doctor or a movie director, these types of jobs teach you communication skills, networking, managing relationships and customer service.  All key skills needed regardless of your career.

Secondly, a lot of these jobs also teach business skills such as money management, inventory tracking and working in teams.  It is these types of skills that will be highlighted on your résumé that you will use to get your career launching job in the future.  You can’t get these skills watching Jersey Shore reruns.

Plus, you may actually have fun at these places.

Trap #4:  Volunteer work is useless because I won’t earn money.

Not true.  You can get the best work experiences through volunteering.  Many charitable organizations such as animal shelters are desperate for volunteers.  This means that you may be able to do tasks that a paying job would never let you. For example, you may start working at an animal shelter scooping litter boxes but, once there, you may offer to help with fundraising or event planning or marketing or graphic design.  These organizations can’t afford professionals and don’t require someone to have experience to do these tasks.  Sure you won’t get paid, but you will get an opportunity to try out your graphic design skills and be able to put that on your résumé.  Besides, charities are the best places to network and meet really great people.

Parents can help their teenagers through the oftentimes stressful waiting game of college acceptance. How?  Here’s how parents can help their college-bound children understand that a rejection is not personal and not a judgment on their character or abilities.

1. STAY CALM. If parents remain calm, it is likely their children will, too.  Adopt a ‘let’s wait and see’ attitude about the other applications. Let your child know that a letter of rejection does not invalidate him or her in the least, just as a letter of acceptance will not validate.  Don’t treat rejection as a personal failure.
2. STEP BACK AND LET YOUR CHILD LEAD THE PROCESS. The college waiting process is an important and anxiety-ridden time in your child’s life, but allow him or her to take ownership. This sends a clear message that you are confident in his or her ability to get through it. Stepping in and over-managing only diminishes your child’s own sense of ownership of the process and does nothing to build confidence through a challenging time.
3. STAY FLEXIBLE. This is really the first adult decision your kids will make. You can help out by reminding them that (1) There is no one perfect school, even if they have their heart set on one; (2) If they are accepted into their second- or third- or fourth-choice school, they will still enjoy the benefits of a good education, they will meet friends, grow, and have life-changing experiences. That happens wherever we go to school. So encourage kids to stay flexible about the plan — after all, plans can change.
4. TURN OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES. Parents can help their children do this by reminding them of what is really important in life. That is, the kind of adult they become, their health, how they stand up to their future successes and challenges — and that this is one in many important phases of difficult decision-making that will pass and make them better equipped to face the next.

Motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of untimely funerals for 15 to 20 year olds. Almost 30% of the teen drivers killed had been drinking. Can anything really change these statistics?

A study in the March 2001 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research found that just five hours of school-based instruction about alcohol abuse significantly dropped serious traffic offenses among teens (by 20%) – for one year after the class. Then the effect disappeared.

I hope that driver’s education and alcohol prevention become annual events in high school and college.

Think how many precious lives could be saved.

Music is a key to the inner world of children. It’s also a great way to teach adolescents (and younger children) about health and social responsibility. Between the ages of 13 and 18, the average teen listenes to 10,500 hours of music. Two family physicians, Drs. Matthew and John Clarke, have produced a series of CDs that use truly cool music (rap and ‘health-hop’) to deliver important messages.

Asthma Stuff, the first in the series, covers symptoms, triggers, and dosing of asthma medication.

Have It All covers the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse.

Bad Breath and Brown Teeth nails smoking.

Talk It Out deals with violence and bullying.

Sex and Drugs portrays HIV as a gangster.

You can find online information about these CDs at www.healthhopmusic.com. The Clarke brothers are also looking for funding to produce a music video to use as a public service announcement on MTV.

HIV is a time-bomb. Because the moment of infection is silent, and because the symptoms of AIDS often don’t show up until many years later, we may be misled into thinking that HIV is not a major problem for teens. But the Office of National AIDS Policy issued a sobering press release in October 2000: fully half of the new HIV infections in the US each year occur in youth! And the number of new HIV infections is not going down. But there is something we can do: the youth with the lowest risk of HIV are those with the best education. Let’s teach our children well.