She’s not a regular mom, she’s a cool mom.
Esther Boyd refuses to allow her teenage son to get a job because he should “do what he wants” while he still has time as a kid.
“It seems like I have been working forever — I’m already physically and mentally ready to retire,” Esther, 33, told South West News Service, explaining that she’s been working since she was just 14.
This protective mama bear just doesn’t want her 15-year-old son, Noah, to do the same.
“I told him, ‘I don’t want you to get a job. I don’t think it is a smart idea,’ ” Esther explained, arguing that she doesn’t want him to think “he has to work just to stay alive.”
“You can do this your whole life — why start now?”
While Esther can still proudly “fund his existence,” she wants Noah to discover his passions and find something he “cares about or enjoys.”
After the mom-of-one started working at 14 as a waitress, she spent her 20s trying to find a career of interest. Nearly two decades later, she works as a photographer and marketing co-ordinator in Burleigh Heads, Australia.
Learning from her own experience, she said it’s “insane” to expect a teen “child” to get job experience that young.
“I think it’s insane to tell a small child who is 14 to go out into the world and get a job for experience, as if they are not going to get that experience their whole life,” she said, adding that her son is still “young.”
“He’s not going to retire until he’s like 100. He’s not starting at 15.”
Noah’s friends are employed, which inspired him to ask his mom about applying for jobs, too, desiring “money to do stuff.”
“I said I’ll give him money to do stuff. I can fund your existence,” she said, noting how “privileged” their family’s situation is.
“I’m making a space to go after what he is interested in.”
She doesn’t have a deadline for when Noah needs to get a job, but he’s exhibiting interest in engineering and attending college.
“I want him to be encouraged to do what he wants,” said Esther, who believes “work is not all it is cracked up be.”
“That’s all I want for him.”
She advised fellow parents to give their children freedom to explore new hobbies — like woodwork and rock climbing, which Noah also enjoys.
“You can curiously parent your child and you can teach them these things without throwing them into a job,” she said.
“We should teach kids from a young age to trust their gut, judgement and grow up confident and happy.”