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When I was growing up in a small town in Kansas, I hired out as an errand girl for those who were more or less homebound...mostly elderly women. I was doing this at the young age of ten or eleven. I was paid about a dime, but in the 1940s it was okay. There may have been one or two other kids that did this, too. Now that I am one of those "elderly", I could use a bit of help with simple errands exactly like those I did as a kid. I am not so naive as to not know we live in a whole different world then it was then. But, still, we have churches and schools who could implement programs to provide this service and what kid wouldn't love to get involved if it meant a little money in their piggy bank. As I remember, the errands were not big, just a run to the post office for a stamp or to the store for a loaf of bread. I would hope that little things still mean a lot, even in todays world. Kids are kids...nothing really changes there. Thanks for listening, anyway...……...I was just thinking of simpler times...…………….Marie

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Hi everyone. You've given some great answers about finding some help.

Some people have been a bit negative about kids being willing to help out so I'd like to put in my two cents. I'm looking at it as a mom of two teenage boys - one is driving but the other is too young.

Because my older son is mobile, he helps his grandmother when he can. On top of his school classes, he is in the gym 12 hours a week and has a part time job. Most of his friends are the same hard-working people that he is.

My younger son doesn't help Nana with her yardwork as much and that's partly a transportation issue. He can only help his grandmother when his brother or I go over. As a klutzy thirteen year old, I am just beginning to trust him around power equipment or to be cleaning the 2nd story gutters. I won't leave him there without me in case he gets hurt. That means that when he's helping like that, then that's where my day goes also. That being said, I do drop him off to do the less dangerous chores.

I will also say that, if you are paying the kids to help you, please be fair to them. They should be paid for their time and gas if they are driving for you. Nana pays my boys and usually has pizza delivered also.

One woman from church offered my son $5 to cut her yard (about an hour long job). He had to tell her no - it would cost him more in gas to drive over there than he would get paid. She was offended..."Children these days..." when the reality is that she wanted free labor.

And, if you want them to come back, please don't add to their chores with "while you're here" or talk so long that you make them run late.

Definitely, there are kids who are given everything and are lazy as a result. Those parents will regret their actions when the kids are thirty years old and living in their basements!!

Good luck! I hope you can find some kids who are reliable and capable. If you do, ask if their friends can help also...kids who are responsible usually hang out with other kids who are the same.
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NeedHelpWithMom Oct 2019
I agree about being fair with price. Some people are just cheap! I’m not talking about people who can’t afford it. Many people can afford to pay well. They don’t even tip the pizza delivery person. The bare minimum I tip for pizza delivery is $5.00. But if I order a few pizzas for my kids, I top $20.

When I hired kids for babysitting. I paid very well, always had their favorite snacks that they could munch on too. I always had the best sitters when cheap friends were complaining they couldn’t find someone to sit.

Same with kids who mowed my lawn or weeded my garden. I paid them a great price, plus made a large pitcher of iced water, lemonade or iced tea for them. They worked hard.

Occasionally, a slacker would show up. Simple! I didn’t hire them again and was loyal to kids who earned their pay. I always worked hard. My dad taught me strong work ethics and I never expected anyone to do what I didn’t do myself.
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Metoo111 I loved your response . Times have definitely changed but isn’t that the cry of every generation? I remember ( I’m 72) when as teenagers we were compared to our parents who grew up during the depression and “walked miles to school in the snow with newspaper in their shoes” I remember the Beatles were going to destroy us and so was TV. I am very lucky as an elderly woman with a husband with AD. My children and grandchildren help greatly and like others I think it’s what they saw parents and grandchildren doing as they were growing up . However life is different and lives are so busy with work , school , young children and living a bit farther away than we used to . As a gift one daughter enrolled us in one of those grocery delivery services and it’s such a life changer for me . I now can order what I need from my phone anytime I need to and within an hour it’s being carried into my kitchen . If you have a Target red card they have a 2 day free delivery and you can order anything they carry . ( plus get 5%off) Now I don’t have to wait for the evening or the weekend when my kids are able to come over . Instead I can visit with them or take a nap while they sit with their Dad ( grandfather ) I also have
a “ nextdoor “ app on my phone which is an app all your neighbors join and ask for and give access and reviews to people they have used for different projects . The one thing I’ve learned is the only constant in our lives is change so as hard as it is I’ve really tried to change with the times. It is what it is , not it is what is was unfortunately . I know where you’re coming from believe me . As my mother used to say “ old age isn’t for sissies “ and boy was she right . As a child of the sixties I actually believed LOVE was all we needed and was the magic word . She told me the magic word was adjust and I now know what she was talking about . Wish I could tell her 😂
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Invisible Oct 2019
Thank you for bringing these delivery services up and the importance of keeping up with the times. I think being adaptable is the most useful survival skill of our times. The other benefit here is that you don't have to feel obligated to anyone and wait on them. You can operate independently. That counts for something.
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I have talked to the Youth Minister at my church on four separate occasions. Made appropriate arrangements and agreed to the price asked. Set up date and time. Reconfirmed the day before scheduled. Not a one showed up, called to cancel. Heard from others at church the same thing happened to them. Scouts came to my house to do some walkway edging. Two of them stole clippers and an electric hedge trimmer. A friend who teaches at risk kids hooked me up with a young pregnant teen. I’ve had her on many occasions and she is excellent. Plus I get to see her baby girl which is an added treat. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Scouts and the church kids aren’t always the clean cut kids they’re purported to be.
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NeedHelpWithMom Oct 2019
Usedup,

I totally agree. Some church kids are not the best behaved. Hahaha, especially pastor’s kids! Or deacon’s kids! They have a lot of pressure to be ‘perfect kids.’ They are kids and just like any other kid, trying to see where they fit in this world. Sometimes it takes a kid awhile to find their place in life. Everyone deserves a chance.

But if they don’t show up or even call, without a good excuse then I say move on too.

I have hired kids that were great and some that weren’t reliable at all. I had a babysitter that was so goofy. She would have her keys in the ignition and start panicking saying, “Where are my keys?” LOL. I would calmly tell her, “Honey, they are in the ignition.” She would start giggling. The girl was a straight A student! Just scatterbrained! She was great with my kids! My kids absolutely loved her.

Like you say, not all at risk kids are bad. They made mistakes but many when reached early enough and shown that others care can turn their lives around. It’s when people look down their nose at them and make them feel worthless that they have no incentive to improve their behavior.

Speaking of pregnancy, I once knew a woman in my circle of friends that kept trashing our friend’s daughter for becoming pregnant and getting married in a wedding gown. She wasn’t even ‘showing’ yet.

The young woman was deeply in love, her college sweetheart and he was a wonderful man. They were happy about the upcoming baby. The family accepted the fact that a baby was on the way and were happy as well.

During the reception the mother of the bride’s ‘so called’ friend kept talking about the bride saying the daughter had no business wearing a wedding gown, other ugly comments about this or that and kept saying how embarrassed she would be if it were her daughter.

A few of of us called her aside and told her to please let the family enjoy their day and if she did not approve she should not have come and insulted her to everyone.

Well karma is a b****! A few months later her daughter became pregnant too! She wore a wedding gown too! All of a sudden her she changed her tune and apologized. She adores her grandchild.
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GA and Usedup,

Yeah, no guarantees about help these days, no matter if they come from church or anywhere else.

I used to manage a craft craft shop years ago. I hired a guy from a nearby church that I regretted doing. A couple of women that I hired from the same church were wonderful. They were very self motivated and I didn’t even have to tell them what to do. If they saw that it needed to be done, they did it. Guess who got raises?

I walked in on this man that I hired that was reading the Bible on the job when he was supposed to be stocking the shelves. I had no problem with them reading if there were no customers and all of the work was done. That was rare. We stayed busy most of the time.

When I asked him why he was reading he said, “I am reading the word of God.” I asked him if he got to the scripture about hard work yet! Proverbs 14:23 says, All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.

He closed his Bible and started stocking the shelves.
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disgustedtoo Oct 2019
Great that you could quote scripture to him! Set him in his place. Hopefully that continued and if not, hopefully he left or got canned. Great if someone wants to do that, but on their own time (outside of work hours, lunch break, break time), NOT while they should be working!

I do also get allowing them to do this when all work is done and no customers are around, but I had it out with some like that who were laughing, joking, gabbing WHILE doing data entry and as a result were not careful and were making mistakes, many mistakes. My philosophy was get it done and then if there is nothing left, then you can chat or whatever. I had to comment on the loudness of this as well - we were tucked away behind a brick wall and a partition, but everyone could hear them halfway down the hall! The responses I got made up my mind - I need to move on to another position here. THEY didn't make mistakes (HAH!) and THEY came to work to have fun! SHEEET, you want fun, join a sewing circle.
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At our church they are called, they sunshine ministry. They help with lots of things, running errands, cooking meals, taking someone to doctor appointments, etc.
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There are still kids who would like to do stuff like this. In many places, it's hard for teenagers to get any kind of work, but many teens still would like to be able to make some money. Ask your neighbors if they can recommend anyone.
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Hi Marie, I agree. Kids are still kids today but many are not taught to "give back to their communities" like we were. We had the churches on every street corner opening their doors 7 days a week, helping their communities. Nowadays, we see a coffee shop, a fast food restaurant and 2 drugs stores on the four corners of our streets. Churches are open one day a week and if they do mission work, it is often to some other country, not to the person sitting in the pew next to us. As a teacher in a Christian school, we required our students to do "community service". But get this, they weren't allowed to help individuals! They could only get credit if they helped a "non-profit" business. So most of them just filed some papers in the company's offices for credit. And these were great kids who truly had a heart to help...can you hear my frustration?
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For me the time, mileage & energy savers are:
- Instacart - but kinda need to make sure grocer they use “fits”
- Waitr (or their sister co Bite Squad)
- Target red card - really this is the bomb as others have said
- Amazon Prime for streaming, shopping/delivery at home & for shopping @ WFoods and using secure delivery system at WF for some prime deliveries. WF app runs deals, like recent $10 back if you shopped & scanned code 3 times over 5 weeks. Nice!
- Chewy
- Costco.com
- Uber, although I do still use a old-school cab service which my city has
and
if you’re dealing with millennials..... Venmo.
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NeedHelpWithMom Nov 2019
Gotta love these modern conveniences, huh? Great options! Good posting, igloo.
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Check out nextdoor.com to see if they are in your area.
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My2cents I laughed when I read your response as I had just received my Target order of paper towels and toilet paper . Free delivery by UPS and 5% off with my red card . We have to look at what’s good in these modern times not what’s missing or not as good as in “ my day” My kids are great but why bother them when this kind of delivery is available ? Believe me I’ll use children and grandchildren for other things . I use Shipt for groceries even tho they are a bit more expensive . I just get what I need and the savings of not impulse buying in the store makes up for it. Target is great for heavy items and my granddaughter downloaded a restaurant delivery app for me . Ain’t life grand ? On the days I’m tired and had it with cooking I order in whatever we’re in the mood for and sit down like the fancy lady I still like to pretend I am. Chewy and Amazon do wonders for me as well . I am not an Amazon Prime member but $25 to get free delivery is so easy . This all gives us time to sit outside in the evening , me with my wine , DH with some soda , and life can still be good even tho tonight DH asked why we were giving out candy if it wasn’t Halloween yet . My response? “ Well Honey I saw so many kids out I thought it would be a great idea “
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