When I blogged about my summer jobs a few weeks ago I received an interesting comment from a reader who wondered why teen-agers never seemed to do paper routes or work for landscaping companies anymore as he did when he was young. That got me thinking about how life has changed for our kids here in East Hampton in terms of summer employment.
I seem to remember we didn't have quite as many options as today's kids do. There were the beach attendant and life guarding jobs, the golf caddie jobs, the paper routes, and some opportunities in local retail shops (which is where I gravitated). But things are much different now. Today we have so many restaurants they're impossible to count. (The only one I could come up with that was opened at night when I was young was Rem & Mil's on Newtown Lane. I know there were a few fancy places like Judges out on the highway, but really, people didn't go out for dinner in the 1950s & 60s quite as often as they do now!) Today there're more restaurants - and therefore more jobs at restaurants - than you can imagine and some of my children did busing and hostessing duties during their summer school breaks.
Another huge change is the abundance of swimming pools to be maintained. I remember few people having that luxury forty years ago and those that did generally took care of them on their own, unless they lived on estates where they had staff to do it. Now, there are as many swimming pool companies as landscapers.
I think most of our teens still have summer jobs out here, but they're far removed from the ones we labored at. They have many more choices and make plenty of money in one season, often funding their entire college education. My own four had to save their summer earnings for college money. It was a wonderful thing!
So they do still work in the summer here in East Hampton. I'd venture to guess that the large percentage of them do at least. Because there's just too much opportunity out here to pass up. Just like in the old days...
I seem to remember we didn't have quite as many options as today's kids do. There were the beach attendant and life guarding jobs, the golf caddie jobs, the paper routes, and some opportunities in local retail shops (which is where I gravitated). But things are much different now. Today we have so many restaurants they're impossible to count. (The only one I could come up with that was opened at night when I was young was Rem & Mil's on Newtown Lane. I know there were a few fancy places like Judges out on the highway, but really, people didn't go out for dinner in the 1950s & 60s quite as often as they do now!) Today there're more restaurants - and therefore more jobs at restaurants - than you can imagine and some of my children did busing and hostessing duties during their summer school breaks.
Another huge change is the abundance of swimming pools to be maintained. I remember few people having that luxury forty years ago and those that did generally took care of them on their own, unless they lived on estates where they had staff to do it. Now, there are as many swimming pool companies as landscapers.
I think most of our teens still have summer jobs out here, but they're far removed from the ones we labored at. They have many more choices and make plenty of money in one season, often funding their entire college education. My own four had to save their summer earnings for college money. It was a wonderful thing!
So they do still work in the summer here in East Hampton. I'd venture to guess that the large percentage of them do at least. Because there's just too much opportunity out here to pass up. Just like in the old days...
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