Mike and I have received a fair amount of grief -- mostly from well-meaning folks, but who also don't have an idea of the layout of our geographical location -- over not having Victoria search for a job in one of our neighboring towns (each one being approximately 20 miles away). She currently helps out a lady at our church one day a week doing just about anything and everything, and she also babysits. She has applied at a few places locally but has thus far only received the dreaded "we'll call you if we decide to hire anyone else" speech. There is a new branch of the base day care opening in November and she is hopeful for a position there but nothing is guaranteed!

It isn't that we don't want Victoria to have work "experience" but rather that we can't afford for her to gain that experience to the detriment of the rest of our family. We are a one vehicle family and there is no job she could currently work at for part time wages that would pay enough to even cover our gas costs, let alone any other incidentals such as clothing that she may need. Plus, because she wants to be a wife and mommy, I'm not sure any job she might be hired on for would give her any more experience than what she does to help me out here at home. It seems ridiculous for us to look for a job as far away as some suggest simply so that she can gain workplace experience. As a homeschool family, that statement sounds much like another one that might be thrown our way: What about socialization?

This morning I read an article on yahoo news titled Soaring Teen Unemployment Could Have Lifetime Effects. The article starts off by saying,

The summer job used to be a staple of teenage life. Paper routes and ice cream parlors provided work experience, paychecks, and a psychological boost in the form of independence and self-esteem.

The worst recession since the Great Depression has changed all that.

I can't believe I have finally read an article that admits teen unemployment is a problem, even if it is a bit on the psychological side!! At least I am finally reading that other folks think its a reality! I blogged about my perception of this problem last July after reading another article that talked about unemployment numbers, but completely left out the teenage/summer-hire portion of our economy.

Teenage unemployment isn't a fallacy. It really does exist. The trick to not letting it affect your family, though, is to decide what is important for your own family, and the individuals within your family!

For our family, we really do believe that boys are different than girls. If our boys were 17 or 18 years old, we would be pushing them to find jobs -- whether it be McDonald's, or lawn mowing, or car washing, etcetera. Boys Men must know how to provide for their own families, without being too prideful about the jobs they might have to do to supply an income, in order that they won't need to live off government unemployment benefits for an excessive amount of time.

As far as Victoria goes, being at home and continuing her education in many areas that will suit her future life to come seems more important. If a local job comes up that will expand her horizons in view of the track she wishes her life to take, then she's more than willing to snatch it up if at all possible. Until then, we will continue to rely on God's providence and blessings! Besides, I'm happy to have her working alongside me and sharing moments and memories that will last us both a lifetime! And I haven't heard her complain about working with me yet either ;-)

What are your thoughts on teenage unemployment? Does it have any affect on your family?

Sallie

To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless acts of a single day. ~ Sir Winston Churchill

September 11, 2001 was an evening affair for our family. We were stationed in Okinawa and surviving cabin fever through the third or fourth day of a typhoon (Nari) that had stalled and turned back around to drench us with winds and rain more than once.

Everyone had already went to bed for the evening when I felt the pressing need to check email. When I logged on, one of Mike's high school friends sent me a yahoo chat message telling me to turn the TV on, that there was some kind of plane crash or something that was looking unusual. I turned AFN on in time to see the second plane hit. I woke Mike up and he came out in time to see the Pentagon hit. He sat with his uniform on and bags packed by the front door all night. He knew that his group of Marines, who had just returned from a 6 month deployment in mid-August, were the most ready trained Marines to go. He was right. They were gone three weeks later. A second typhoon that their ship attempted to plow through detoured them to Australia when its heavy winds damaged all of the helicopter rotors. Mike arrived back home from that deployment the day before Thanksgiving. In the end, I view the combined typhoons as a miracle that kept my husband, Mike, a United States Marine, safe and sound in those early days!

The next morning, the 12th in Okinawa but still the 11th in the states, showed that the winds and rain had finally cleared but we were still confined to our apartments because the base had not sounded the all clear signal. A local Okinawan man who lived directly outside the gate (which we could see from our balcony) decided to burn his trash. I will never forget the site of a Humvee with mounted gun sitting on the road with his gun pointed in the direction of the mans yard. The base was small.... I could walk the main drag in 10 minutes! I didn't even know they had Humvee at that base!

Bases overseas were considered easy targets and we were on high alert constantly for many months to come. Many of our friends at the Air Force base could not even leave their base to attend our church for several weeks, maybe it was even months. Many of us had husbands that deployed quickly. Many of my friends had their husbands gone for far longer than mine was. They were wonderful examples to me of strength, and patriotism.

I will never forget those days... will you?

Sallie

"Big Brother is watching and taxing at his whim and our favorite nasty habit -- sweet tea, french fries, chocolate, Starbucks lattes, you name it -- could be the next thing on the list!"

 

Well, obviously, from the latest Drudge Report link to a report from CBS, I was right. So, what is our new favorite "bad thing" to get taxed? Soda. Because taxing it might combat obesity. I will admit that 3 cents is nothing compared to the 298% tax increase on tobacco but still it is a tax based on a legal substance that the government is not willing to make illegal. Therefore, it is a discriminatory tax based on what the GOVERNMENT deems is or isn't healthy for you.

We should all really consider whether or not this is how we want to live, with Big Brother telling us what's good for us. Do you not see the roads this leads us down, especially when they take finally over our health care?

Be afraid... be very afraid... or take a stand. It's up to you!

Sallie

I was reading an article earlier today which gives nine reasons why the economy is not getting better. You can read it here. I don't have a problem with the article. I think all of the reasons it states are dead on. However, it seems to be lacking one important factor in all of its reasoning. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to say there aren't just nine reasons, but rather ten.

So, what is my tenth reason for judging that the economy is not getting better? 

Teenage unemployment.

Many teens find themselves loosing out on summer job opportunities because unemployed adults are filling in applications for those positions, and getting them. However, because newly come-of-age teenagers have not previously worked, or maybe they have but perhaps only as summer hires, they don't seem to be mentioned in the count for the mix of numbers. It is possible that I don't know what number they figure into, but it seems like they just aren't being counted at all

Let me give you an example of this adult taking over teenager jobs theory I'm working on. A month or so ago in our Sunday School class at church we talked about a local job opportunity that had over 100 hopeful applicants waiting in line for over an hour just for the chance to submit their application. What job was it? Unbelievably, it was for the position of dishwasher at the local golf course. Folks, this isn't your top of the line CEO position we are talking about here. This was a no benefits, barely making minimum wage type job. Typically jobs like this are filled by teens wanting to make a few bucks after school and on weekends. Unemployment is so high right now that every Tom, Dick, and Harry are applying for the job that Johnny High-schooler would probably be doing.

A second example centers around our local commissary. Baggers in military commissaries work for tips only. This isn't a bad deal because any typical day can give a regular bagger upward of $75-$100 a day in tips. That's really not a bad source of income when you realize many of these guys work 5 or 6 days a week for at least 8 hours a day!! Most summers find the commissary full of high school baggers. That just isn't the case this year, at least not in our area. I've been helped by maybe two teens so far this summer!!

The harsh truth of the matter is that out of all the teens we know through church and other activities, only one so far this summer season has been able to get a job. There just aren't jobs -- full time or part time -- anywhere to be found! I'm very thankful that our daughter has been working for quite a while as a helper to a lady in our church. She only works one day a week but at least it is job experience, as well as it gives Victoria a little bit of spending money.

Have you noticed this trend in your own area with less teenagers working in places that you would expect to see them at? I'd love your comments on the subject..

Sallie

Sallie

"Last Night 3 Cargoes of Bohea Tea were emptied into the Sea.... This is the most magnificent Movement of all. There is a Dignity, a Majesty, a Sublimity, in this last Effort of the Patriots, that I greatly admire."

~ John Adams, diary entry 17 December 1773

On December 16, 1773, after town officials in the city of Boston REFUSED to return to Britain 3 ships that were loaded with taxed tea, local citizens proceeded to board the ships and dump an estimated 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

What the citizens of Boston did was completely unexpected. Governor Hutchinson needed to make a political name for himself and he wasn't going to let his colonists make him do something he didn't want to do. Boy, was he in for a surprise?! Rather than simply obey his rule, the good people revolted and destroyed the tea in the ships rather than accept it and the taxation without representation that it signified. It was a turning point in our Revolution!

On November 5th of last year I wrote a post at the sbcvoices blog that included the following:

"The first thing you have to remember is that God is always in control. Men who run a race sometimes… OK, quite often… do it out of selfish ambition, but they are not in control. They are not the end all and be all of our society and our own election process proves that they can, and will, be replaced a short span of years from now. As a matter of fact, one does not have to search the scripture very far to find Words of assurance for that very fact."

I still completely believe what I said! I still believe in the scriptures I quoted following that portion of the post.

BUT...

I also believe that occasionally we are called to rebel and make a stand for what is right. Proverbs 31:8-9 (HCSB) says:

"Stand up for those who have no voice, for the justice of all who are dispossessed. Speak up, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the oppressed and needy." 

Our countries leaders are bankrupting our children's children! They are not just doing this materially but spiritually as well and I MUST make my stand. No longer can I stand by and be silent.

I must SPEAK UP and say I don't agree with you!! On soooo MANY issues I don't agree!! But, for starters, let's just say:

I must SPEAK UP and say you are MURDERING INNOCENT CHILDREN everyday in the abortion clinics.

I must SPEAK UP and say your schools DON'T WORK and neither does the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND policy!! My children are MINE... gifts and blessings given to my husband and I by God alone... not YOURS... and I RESERVE the RIGHT, HONOR, and PRIVILEGE of teaching them how and what I want!! Without interference!!  

I must SPEAK UP and say I DON'T WANT YOUR STIMULUS MONEY because I DIDN'T EARN IT through my own blood, sweat, and tears of labor. Let the man who is rich keep his money that he legally earned. Don't take from him to give to me. If I want his money, then I'll ask him for it myself!!

I must SPEAK UP and say I don't want you to give the small amount of money I do make to the BIG WORTHLESS COMPANIES WHO AREN'T SMART ENOUGH TO KEEP THEMSELVES AFLOAT LET ALONE OUR COUNTRY!

I must SPEAK UP and say that I believe my CHURCH LEADERS have the RIGHT to talk to me about politics and policy, what the Bible says regarding them, and how policies might affect my spiritual life, WITHOUT them having to worry about the IRS auditing them or shutting their doors.

That's not all... BY ANY MEANS... but it's enough for now...

• New Tobacco Tax Discriminates
• The Fallacy Behind the Economic Crisis
• A thought for Mr. Biden to consider...

**Thanks to marshbaby for the free tea party signage. Click here to download your own.**

Sallie