What my autistic teenager didn't do over her summer vacation.

Post date: 2022-08-05 07:56:16

I'm feeling like a terrible parent, because I wasn't able to help my (mildly) autistic 16-year-old daughter find something to do over the summer. She failed to get a job, and I couldn't find any summer programs for her age that didn't cost multiple thousands of dollars. So my question is twofold: is it just harder for high school kids to find jobs than in my (late Gen X) day? And what can we find for her next summer to avoid a repeat? More inside.

I mention her autism because I think it hurt her chances with jobs in the instances where she applied to local businesses in person - she is very flat-affect and can seem unfriendly (and I specify "mild," though I know functioning labels are controversial, to clarify that she is capable of typical store clerk work).

It would be nice for her to earn money and have some responsibility next summer, but I'd be open to an unpaid internship or something for her as well. I just want her to have _something_ to do other than sit in her bedroom on Discord all day - preferably something that enriches her life.

She's an artist, but I don't have $5,000 to send her to a summer art residency in New York City or something.

Challenges:

-She strongly dislikes interacting with children, so some of the obvious answers, like camp counselor, are out of the question. Ideally she could get a job stocking shelves or something, but we didn't hear back from any of the chain stores where she applied to do that.

-We live in a small town, 2+ hours from any major cities, so we're not near any big cultural institutions.

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