Teens (and parents), listen to Georgie

Georgie Turk was puzzled.

A retiree living outside Rathdrum, she had some light chores that needed to be done around the house.

Nothing heavy duty, she said, but the kind of thing a teenager should be happy to handle for some walking-around money.

“Back in my day,” Georgie said, “kids all worked if we wanted anything to spend.

“The girls did babysitting and the boys did things in backyards — work like that.”

But when Georgie went searching for some young help, she couldn’t find a soul. She even tried two local high schools but got no response.

Totally frustrated, she wrote to The Press — and the email landed in my computer.

That in itself was a little piece of serendipity, since it turned out that Georgie and I are neighbors.

So right off the bat, I was able to give her the name and number of a local high school student — Chris Jenkins — who seems to work before class, after class and on weekends.

The kid makes me feel like a laggard.

Needless to say, Georgie was happy with that piece of good fortune, but …

This hard-working woman from Ohio remained baffled at the lack of available teen help.

“I think parents must just give kids everything on a silver platter these days,” Georgie said, “and I don’t believe it’s helping them at all.

“What happens when they get out in the real world, and nothing’s free anymore?

“They won’t be prepared for it, and I’d like to spread that message if I can.”

At this point, perhaps it sounds like Georgie came up the hard way — but that’s not true. She described her family as “well-to-do,” but noted that she received no special favors.

“I remember very well how I left our car in a no-parking zone, and it got towed away,” she said. “I called my father to help, and he told me: ‘You got yourself into this, so get yourself out.’

“Back then, both parents and schools tried to make sure kids were prepared for adulthood.”

THERE’S ACTUALLY another piece of good news in this story.

Despite how it looked at first, there are quite a few teens (and some adults) willing to take odd jobs for their spending money.

We put Georgie on the trail of Nextdoor Neighborhood, a national yet localized website that connects folks with others in their general vicinity.

You sign up and choose a neighborhood by using your ZIP code as a starting point.

Pretty much every day once you’re a member — and it’s all free — you receive notices from neighbors alerting you to everything from extra firewood to lost dogs …

Plus folks who want to work.

Georgie is checking it out now, and I think she’ll be pleased with her new sense of community.

If you aren’t already familiar with the site, take a peek at: https://nextdoor.com.

You can find someone to handle your chores.

Or you can offer to do theirs.

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Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.

Email: [email protected].

Facebook: BrandNewDayCDAPress.

Twitter: @BrandNewDayCDA