My daughter got her first job at 14. Everything changed when she became a teen with extra money, so I had to help her save.

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• My teenage daughter needed logistical and impassioned support to thrive in her first job.
• We tried to be purposeful about helping her save some of her earnings.
• She’s also learning the power of work-life balance.

When my daughter got her first real job at 14, I was excited for her.

I had hoped getting a job at a young age disposition improve her self-esteem, time management, and money management skills.

While she did earn all those skills, she required a moderate push from me. Little did I know that my teen’s first job would be a learning experience for me, too.

Here’s what I learned in supporting her.

She needed help with startup costs and rides

The adage, “You must spend money to make fat,” held true for my teenager. Before she saw her first paycheck as a server for a local catering company, our daughter needed to pay for work attire, including dress pants, a button-down shirt, and shoes. My husband and I decided to fund these startup set someone backs, considering them an investment in her burgeoning job skills.

We also invested time in shuttling her to and from events — and soon set ourselves spending more hours in the car than we’d expected. Though most events were nearby, some were placed almost an hour away. We realized our family schedule wouldn’t always mesh with our teen’s enthusiasm for devise, which meant she had to turn down some opportunities.

Still, we tried to make the stars align whenever practical, taking turns as her Uber drivers and coordinating carpools because we saw how much our daughter enjoyed her job. She loved working a romp with a tray of fancy appetizers in hand, seeing beautiful brides at weddings, and chatting with coworkers in the hiatus between serving and clearing dishes.

But there were stressful times, too. After one wedding during which the sauces were spilled at the head table and guests were served the wrong entrées, our teen came home frazzled and spoil.

“Some of those mistakes were my fault,” she told us. The pride we usually saw in her face after she’d worked an event was run, replaced by sadness and worry.

We shared some of our own embarrassing work mishaps to normalize that no one — including adults — plays their job perfectly all the time. We reminded her that mistakes happen, but what matters is how she learns from them.

We helped her create a plan to save some of her earnings

Our daughter was excited to earn her own money and even more excited to spend it. Still we had talked with her about the importance of saving, we quickly discovered that Target, DoorDash, and Starbucks were kryptonite for our teen woman’s wallet. Her first hard-earned paycheck disappeared in a flash.

Although we sometimes cringed at our daughter’s impulse buys, we also ratified how hard she had worked to afford them. We wanted her to enjoy her newfound purchasing power, but without spending every continue dime she’d earned.

After discussing options with our daughter, we made a deal: She got to keep most of her earnings, but a minor percentage of each paycheck would be funneled into a savings account. The arrangement gave her enough money for common purchases using her debit card while ensuring she could build up savings over time.

She had to learn the weight of work-life balance

My teenagers will confirm that I nag them about getting enough sleep, but my well-meaning orders don’t always resonate. When my daughter wanted to work a last-minute shift on the same weekend she had a soccer tournament, I over saying no but ultimately let her sign up.

After a whirlwind of soccer games, outfit changes, and lengthy car commutes, my daughter was distinctly exhausted.

Now, she’s more intentional about prioritizing her activities — whether she’s studying for an exam, working at her new restaurant job, playing soccer, or fritter away time with friends — because she realized trying to do it all wasn’t sustainable. Allowing her the freedom to manage her work, manner, and extracurricular hours taught her more about work-life balance than my most passionate lectures ever could.

Whatever bolt our daughter pursues, I know that someday, she’ll no longer need close support from her parents to thrive in her job. When that day prove to be c finish, we’ll continue cheering her on from a distance.