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Kids these days, we’re told, are scrolling the summer away on their digital devices.
But some tweens and teens are rebelling — by getting good old-fashioned summer jobs.
They’re bucking a longterm trend. The percentage of teens actively working or looking for work over the summer has dropped by 30 percentage points since the ‘70s, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
These outliers are still using social media, but they’re using it to promote their services and actually get out into the real world — not to hunker down.
One of them is Ali Scheib, an 11-year-old from Dearborn, Mich., who has been offering car washing, pool cleaning and lawn watering services to neighbors. His dad helped him make a promotional Instagram video where he tells locals “I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty, and I want to work this summer.”
Such online efforts, along with knocking door-to-door, have helped his client base grow to 50 local families.
“I’ve got people that call me every week to come clean their pools,” the rising 7th grader told The Post. “They give generous tips and stuff. They’re trying to help me out.”
He charges up to $30 per gig and is saving up to buy an ATV.
Ali manages his own appointments, keeps a schedule, and has learned that “being just on time means that you’re late.”
His father, Hassan, recalled a recent evening swimming in the pool where his son suddenly got up to leave.
“Ali says, ‘Hey, guys, I’ve got to go.’ I’m like, ‘Where are you going? It’s seven o’clock.’ He says, ‘I’ve got to water this doctor’s lawn down the street,’” Hassan said. “He got out of the pool, got on his bike, went down the street for an hour and watered the guy’s grass and plants.”
The 11-year-old said he’s gained interpersonal and time management skills from the experience — but that the most important lesson of all has been about the importance of unplugging from devices.
“Being out in the real world, I’ve learned to take care of myself,” he said. “Most of my friends are on their PS5s, or they’re playing games like Roblox. They’re just playing indoors this summer.”
Ashton Meyer, a rising 7th grader from Ontario, Canada, believes he’s challenging stereotypes about his generation by spending his summer washing garbage cans.
“People think my generation — Gen Alpha — is just iPad kids, and they’re not,” the 11-year-old said. “There’s hope that we’re not cooked.”
Ashton gets clients around the neighborhood by knocking on doors and offering to wash their cans. He told The Post it was pretty intimidating initially.
“I was scared,” he said. “I was like, ‘Oh no, what if they hate me? What if they don’t like my pitch?’ But now I can talk to adults with confidence.”
Of course, his pitches don’t always work. One time, a neighbor let her Dobermans answer the door for her. “They were going to murder me. They would probably eat my toes off,” Ashton recalled.
But most people are pretty nice. Over the past few months, he’s built up a client base of 70 local households, who he charges $10 per visit.
He expects to earn $800 this summer and plans to put some towards a new computer and a scooter. He also reinvests his money into the business, buying his own cleaning supplies.
“I learned that, as soon as you get money, don’t just spend everything,” Ashton said, “because then you have no money left.”
Another kid making bank washing garbage cans this summer is Aidan Larson, a 12-year-old rising 7th grader from Stony Brook, NY.
“I’m having fun and getting paid,” Larson told The Post.
He manages all his own communications and scheduling via text and has collected about 10 regular clients so far, charging $10 per can and occasionally getting a 50% or even 100% tip.
“I’ve learned leadership — like leading myself to start this business — and responsibility, because I have to follow up with all these people and schedule times for them,” Aidan said.
He advertises with posters he made with his dad on Canva, which he hangs around the neighborhood and shares on local Facebook groups.
His mom, Emilie Larson, told The Post that the business was “all Aidan’s idea” and challenged her to reject the helicopter parenting trend and help him step out into the real world by himself.
“I think it’s important to teach him to be cautious, but not to be afraid of the world,” she said.
Aidan is planning to put some of his earnings towards a new bike but also has longer term plans for his money.
“I want to invest in the stock market,” he said. “I just don’t know what stock I would invest in yet.”
Teens are getting in on the action, too. Staten Island brothers Luis and Ruben, 14 and 17, have also been cleaning garbage cans this summer. The brothers used AI to generate a poster of themselves in cartoon form, advertising $20 per can or a $35 for a two-can deal.
“I wanted to grow some responsibility for myself, and I wanted to save up so I can follow my passion for martial arts,” Ruben, a rising senior, told The Post. (Their mom chose to withhold their last names.)
The brother-duo expects to earn $500 this summer. For Luis, an incoming freshman, it’s an important milestone: “I wanted to have that feeling like, ‘Oh, now I can buy my own stuff,’” he said.
Their mother, Amanda, has noticed that her sons are more conscientious around the house and understand the value of money since starting to work themselves.
“When they asked me for money in the past, they just expected me to have it,” she said. “Now they’re learning that you actually have to go out there and put in hard work to get it.”
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