Teens at Work:

“Lookit, Gabe. Lookit!” Alana Schall, age 4, calls out to my son. She wants him to notice her hanging from the monkey bars.

“Very cool, Alana Macaroni,” Gabe calls back, using the nickname he has recently given her. He watches her drop into the waiting arms of Katie Freeman.

It’s recess time at Valley Beth Shalom’s Camp Shelanu in Encino. Alana and her campmates, known as the “Birds,” play on the swings, dig in the sand, ride the bikes and cool off at the water tables.

And they vie for the attention of Gabe and Katie, the 14-year-old counselors-in-training, or CITs, who have been assigned to assist the “Birds” and their two teachers.

“Patience is the key,” says CIT Jenny Hyman, speaking for all 15 CITs ages 12-15 who are working at Camp Shelanu for all or part of the seven-week session.

And patience is what these CITs are learning this summer. Along with, as Camp Shelanu Director Michelle Merritt explains, “learning to deal with their own peers in a setting different from school and learning to take direction from adults who are not their parents.”

In short, they are learning about the world of work.

About being polite and punctual, responsible and responsive. About putting others’ needs ahead of their own. About speaking and dressing appropriately. About being cheerful even when they’re not in the mood.

As Jewish parents, we are commanded to teach our children a trade, an obligation as important as teaching our children Torah. The Talmud says, “Anyone who does not teach his son a skill or profession may be regarded as if he is teaching him to rob.”

“This age group,” says Merritt, who has been running the CIT program for the past six years, “needs authentic work, something that is meaningful to them and beneficial to society. Something that goes beyond just having to feed the cat. If not, this is the age they get into trouble.”

So these teens, who are defying the media stereotype of apathetic and self-absorbed, indulged and entitled, are spending their days cleaning up spilled yogurt and apple juice, reading stories, and providing encouragement and empathy to youngsters each proprietarily calls “my kids.”

They are also learning about the intellectual, emotional and physical development of 2 1/2- to 5-year-olds. They attend weekly mandatory meetings where Jennifer Solotkin, the Camp Shelanu teacher who assists with the CIT program, instructs them on safety and medical issues. On helping the children make choices and resolve conflicts. On talking to children in simple, concrete terms.

“I’ve learned that little kids are pretty smart,” says CIT Danielle Gersh, 13. “They actually know a lot of things, like about food allergies, that you’d think they wouldn’t know.”

The meetings also provide an opportunity for the CITs to air their own grievances. While some of these occasionally involve scheduling conflicts or other teachers, most center on fellow CITs perceived to have “an attitude.”

But it’s not only kids who have “an attitude.” I’ve talked to parents adamantly opposed to their teens working.

“I don’t see the value in having my daughter flip burgers for the summer,” one father told me. Or, as one mother said, “My son works hard enough during the school year.” Others believe their adolescent’s time is better spent learning a foreign language or perfecting their tennis stroke, skills that might enhance a college application.

My husband, Larry, and I disagree. Larry, who had worked summers bagging groceries, operating a lathe and washing and polishing cars in the hot sun, says, “All jobs open your eyes to how most of the world functions. For me, those summers taught me about how I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life.”

And statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor show the majority of teens are not merely hanging out at the beach and the batting cage, the mall and the amusement parks. In fact, even at age 12, according to the “Report on the Youth Labor Force,” with the most recent figures from 1997, half of all American kids are already engaged in some kind of work, primarily baby-sitting or mowing lawns.

The percentage increases as kids become older and move into more formal work activities. Employment for 16- to 24-year-olds, for instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has remained steady for the last three summers, July 1998 through July 2000, at about 65 percent.

Diane Schneider, who recently retired in December as Los Angeles regional director of Jewish Vocational Service, encourages teenagers to work, as long as they are willing. “Work is a wonderful training field for their future — whether it’s establishing a work ethic or whether it’s interacting with other people who are not their best friends. These skills will be with them for a long time.”

And so will the benefits. And while the CITs at Camp Shelanu are not compensated monetarily, the payoffs are substantial.

For starters, they are deriving satisfaction from fulfilling the mitzvah of tikkun olam, of helping to make the world a better place. As Katie Freeman says, “I won’t be going to Jewish day school next year, but I feel I can give back and stay connected to the Jewish community through this program.”

They are gaining confidence and self-esteem.

And perhaps most important, for adolescents who by definition are plagued by self-doubt and self-consciousness and by adversarial relationships with parents and peers, this program gives them the opportunity to serve as trusted, positive and revered role models.

“Lookit, Gabe, I’ve finished all my applesauce,” Alana announces at the end of lunch.

“Great. Now you can eat your cookies,” he answers, smiling as he adds, “Ms. Macaroni.”