“I Feel Bad for Wanting My Teenage Daughter to Work”: Mom Says She Enjoyed the Financial Breathing Room Before Her Teen Quit After Three Weeks

For three weeks, the household math finally felt easier. A teenage girl in her last year of school had picked up her first job as a cashier, earning $200 a week, and suddenly she could pay for her own clothes and outings. Her mother no longer had to cover those things — and then, just as quickly, the job ended. Now the mother is left with guilt for enjoying the break while it lasted.

The mother shared the story on Reddit’s r/povertyfinance, explaining that her daughter’s earnings meant the girl could buy and spend as she pleased. The family could already cover its essentials, she stressed. Her daughter’s paycheck simply meant the extras no longer came out of her own pocket — and she admits she liked that more than she expected.

But the workload caught up fast, and after only three weeks, the teenager quit. “She did not like the job anymore. She had a terrible migraine (at work) and to come home. I am sure it was the lack of sleep,” the mother wrote. She supported her daughter’s decision completely — yet still felt torn. “I feel bad for wanting my teenage daughter to work,” she titled her post, adding that right now it is best for her daughter to focus on school. Still, the relief of those three weeks lingered.

I feel bad for wanting my teenage daughter to work
byu/Let_me_tell_you_ inpovertyfinance

Reddit Split on the Lesson

Most commenters were gentle with the mother. One wrote: “You may feel bad because you are stressed about money internally but imo it is normal for young adults to learn responsibility.” Several said wanting a teenager to handle her own spending money is not the same as depending on her income — and her guilt shows she cares, not that she did something wrong.

Others saw the short job as useful experience in itself. “As a parent of children a few years older than your daughter — college and young adults — I really DO think they also need to experience that discomfort,” one commenter wrote. A few were blunter, saying the mother’s feelings matter less than learning how money works early. One person claiming to be a teacher disagreed, warning that too much work can eat into school and a teenager’s future.

In the end, the thread landed in a familiar place: the tug between teaching responsibility and protecting school time. Seasonal work came up as a middle ground, and readers shared their own first-job stories. The job lasted just three weeks, but the lesson it left will probably last a lot longer than the paycheck did.