Just what is an internship? Have you heard people throwing the word around and not sure exactly what it means or why people would do it? And how is an internship different from volunteering? Here’s a little 411 on internships versus the volunteer world:

Internships help people gain experience in careers. Internships are typically found among “white collar” jobs like law firms or interior design firms where a higher level of education is usually needed. Internships are, in essence, an exchange of services for experience in a career field.

Usually college students look for internships because they are trying to figure out what jobs interest them. But it’s not at all unheard of for high school students to intern. 

Internships can be paid or unpaid but unpaid internships are becoming a thing of the past. Certain industries have shifted their laws so that interns must be paid or so that students can earn college credit. 

When paid for your internship, the money is usually low as people who intern know that the knowledge and skills that they are acquiring have lots of value. Their experience as an intern will often be what helps them to get into graduate school or to acquire a job later.

So for example, if you know that you want to be in the music industry as your life long career, then you might decide to take an internship to help you gain experience on your resume and to meet contacts in the business. You may also take an internship because you DON’T know if you want to be in the music industry for the rest of your life and so you want to try it out. 

 

Volunteering

Volunteering is more about helping out other people and/or causes rather than gaining experience for a career. And apparently it’s good for your health, too! When we volunteer, we help take care of all sorts of needs – gathering clothing for those in need, food delivered, spaces cleaned, housing built, animals cleaned, you name it. 

Volunteering, as it turns out, is good for you! Of course, helping others always feels good, but apparently, a new study finds, that when teens helps strangers either through small acts of kindness or larger acts, the teens’ self-worth increases. So you feel better about who you are. 

What’s interesting about the research is that helping strangers has a greater impact on the self than helping a friend or family member. Huh? Why do you think that is so?

(To learn more, you can read about the study here: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/01/13/577463475/helping-strangers-may-help-teens-self-esteem)

Volunteering is also a great way to try different ideas as far as what interests you. If you think you want a career working with animals, go ahead and “volunteer” at the local animal shelter so that you give to others and gain experience in your field of choice. One day, you may get paid for it. That’s when it’s considered work

If you want to make a difference in the world, definitely check out DoSomething.org, they have unlimited suggestions on how you can put your talent and passion to work for a good cause: https://www.dosomething.org/us

Are you an entrepreneur? (That depends. What is one? See the definition below.)

Being an entrepreneur basically means that you start and run your own business. You work for yourself. Being your own boss, you set the hours, determine what you are doing and make all the important decisions. Pretty cool, eh? But! It is not without risk – as the boss you have to manage the money, get the supplies, deal with complaints, just to name a few things! You will receive all the credit but you will also get all the blame.  As such, you need to plan things out carefully and be prepared in order to run a well-run business. 

Now, you may be thinking, Uh, yoo-hoo, ladies!  We’re still in school here!  We can’t really have our own business. You can. We know of a 5 year old who started a business.

What can you do? You can run a babysitting service, a lawn care service or catering service. Anything where you have the ability to say “Yes” or “No” to the work means that you are in charge. 

The first thing to consider is the market need. What’s that? Well, let’s say you have these two ideas for businesses 1) gift wrapping or 2) making pickled anchovies for holiday hors-d’oeuvres. Now consider how many people might use your businesses: How many people gift wrap? Just about everyone, right? How many people eat pickled anchovies? Not many? As such, you may want to go with the gift wrapping idea. You know it’s a needed service (there is a market need), you enjoy it and you have the time. Now what? Here are a few tips:

Advertise. People need to know about your business – what you do, how much you charge, the hours you work, etc. To advertise this information people often create a flier to post around town or put in people’s mailboxes. Or they advertise on local websites. You may even start by emailing a few of your parents’ friends, if your parents and you think that’s the best way to start.

Plan ahead. What supplies do you need to run your business? How will you get to where you need to go (if needed)? How can you aim to keep your customers satisfied? 

Billing. In order to make money you will need to charge more for your services than what it costs for you to provide it. (OMG – you mean math class will actually come in handy?) For example, if you decide to bake cakes for birthday parties, you will need to determine the cost of flour, sugar, icing, etc., for each cake so that your price for the cake covers the supplies you used to bake it plus your time in preparing it! What is your time worth? No sense in losing money!

Your terms. Be prepared and upfront about any time issues you may have (maybe because of band practice, homework and babysitting your neighbor’s snails, you can only work on Saturdays and Wednesdays). Also be clear about the service you are providing. Let customers know what you charge. For example, you charge $10 an hour to babysit one child, two children would be $15 an hour. This way no misunderstandings will occur.

Having your own business is a big responsibility but it can be very rewarding, both financially and otherwise. But it’s not the only way to make money during the summer time…

When summer finally rolls around, many teens feel the need to go into super-chill mode. The idea of binge watching TV series, sleeping in late, wearing pajamas all day and endlessly snap-chatting friends seems really REALLY appealing. And it can be, but usually just for the first week or so… then, most teens tell us, boredom does roll in and teens are looking for other things to do with their time.

Some teens are lucky enough to travel, either on their own or with family and friends. Others go to camp. And as college entrance has become more competitive, a lot of teens use summer to take extra courses or to pursue athletics more intensely or to intern (see Bonus YSS). All of these can help teens gain an “edge” when applying to college as well as an “edge” in building their sense of self. But so too can a summer job – it builds skills, builds your resume AND builds your bank account. Why choose a summer job as the way to occupy your precious free time? Here’s what Bon Patterson, the former Admissions Director at the prestigious Stanford University says,

What does he mean by “low-skill job?” Most summer jobs are ones that don’t require years of educational experience or special skills. Most people can learn how to wait tables, work a cashier or mow a lawn in a few hours and perfect their skills as they gain experience.  

However, almost every low-skill job requires skills that almost every college and, indeed, higher skilled job requires. Steady jobs require that people can communicate well with other people, both customers and other workers. They require the ability to work hard in times of stress (try working in a diner at peak hours) and to work hard even in the face of boredom (try steaming clothes in the basement of a retail shop for five hours straight). They require paying attention and staying focused (try being a lifeguard in the hot sun). And they also require being able to adapt when circumstances call for it (try handling credit card payments when the system goes down). All of these skills are admirable and desired.

Don’t forget though, having a summer job can be tough. Standing on your feet for eight hours in a clothing store can be tiring, mowing lawns in the sun can make your head and back ache, flipping burgers at the beach concession stand can make you so hot you want to flip out… Having to commit to someone else’s schedule can also be a bummer. When your friends all want to head to the beach and you need to head to your job, that can feel really frustrating. But when they don’t have the money for _______ (you fill in the blank) you may feel like it was or worth while… Or Not.

It’s up to you to decide what works best for you (get it?)

Being home alone can be scary, especially if you’re watching a scary movie! You hear a noise and immediately imagine someone is outside or trying to break in. Usually it is just a random noise. But just in case someone is trying to break in, you should know how to protect your home and yourself against an intruder. 

So what do you do? First, be sure to always lock your doors and windows, especially when leaving your house. If one of the doors or windows is broken, make sure to repair it right away. Having lights on outside your house at night is also helpful. Intruders don’t want to be seen, so lights spoil their plans. Also, do not “hide” a spare key outside the house. The first place an intruder will look for a key is by the door. Instead, consider giving the key to a neighbor on whom you can rely. 

If someone knocks on the door, first use the peephole on your door, or the side windows, to identify the person knocking (if you don’t have either, you will have to shout through the door). If you don’t know the person, don’t open the door! You have no obligation to open the door to anyone. If you don’t know them, tell them your parents are on the phone (or sleeping or something) and they will have to return another time. 

If you happen to be home alone and it makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t tell anyone that you’re home alone! And if you’re planning to go away on a vacation make sure not to broadcast it. 

If you are outside your home and you see something suspicious inside your home, or you notice the door is open, call 911 and go to a neighbor’s house. Do not go inside.

Surprisingly, a lot of common household items can be harmful, even fatal, if swallowed! To avoid poisoning yourself, read and follow instructions on the labels! The labels will tell you how to use and store the product, and more important, what to do if you accidentally swallow it. Often the label provides a phone number for poison control because, believe it or not, sometimes people mistakenly ingest (meaning, swallow) poisonous chemicals. If this happens to you, don’t panic and don’t be embarrassed, call the number on the container! One teen we know gargled with nail polish remover by accident because she thought it was mouthwash! She immediately called poison control and they walked her through what to do.

Accidental ingestion also applies to medications. A lot of families store their medications in one area making it easy to grab the wrong bottle by mistake. So, before you swallow any medication, make sure you’ve opened the right bottle, and the pills are the right shape and color. If you swallow the wrong pills call the number on the bottle and ask what to do. For prescription drugs that number is the pharmacist. You can also call your doctor, poison control or 911.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers is 800-222-1222. 24/7. 

Or, Website: www.aapcc.org

Always store all medications and potentially poisonous items out of the reach of small children. Make sure they are in locked cabinets (or cabinets that have safety latches) or in cabinets that are out of a child’s reach. Keep tops on medications, preferably ones that are child proof. 

To make you more aware of the many items that could be poisonous in your house here is a list of some of the items about which you need to be careful, categorized by room:

Bathroom:  Medications, mouthwash, hair spray, toilet bowl cleaner, ointments and antiseptics, all cleaning supplies, rubbing alcohol

Bedroom: mothballs (usually found in closets or sweater chests), perfumes, colognes and after-shaves, nail polish, nail polish remover

Kitchen: All cleaning products, rust removers, drain cleaners, polishes, oven cleaner, most supplies found right under the sink

Garden or shed: pesticides, fertilizers, pool cleaners, paint thinner, paint remover, deer and rodent protectant, insect repellent 

Faulty wiring and overloading electrical circuits are main causes of fires. Make sure not to overload the electrical system in your home or room. Just what does that mean? It means being careful about how many items you have plugged in to your electrical outlets. If every socket in your room has adapters and extension cords running out from them, you might be in danger of demanding too much electricity from those sockets. If you do need more sockets, try using a power strip (one of those devices with an on/off switch and a row of sockets) instead of an extension cord. Power strips have built in fuses that will turn the power strip off before creating a spark that could cause a fire.

To prevent fires and accidents in your home, here are the Do’s and Don’ts of Electricity Use:

Do:

• Do unplug appliances when you’re not using them
• Do cover outlets with safety caps when not in use (especially in homes with small children)
• Do turn off the power to a light bulb when changing the light bulb.

Don’t:

• Don’t create a path of electrical cords under rugs or furniture
• Don’t use electrical appliances near water – never take a bath and blow dry your hair at the same time!
• Don’t reach into water to recover a dropped appliance unless it is first unplugged
• Don’t overload extension cords with too many plugs
• Don’t put a metal object into a toaster to retrieve bread while it is plugged in.
• Don’t ever put your finger or any other object (like a screw driver) into a socket. Only plugs go into sockets.

Common causes of fires at home include: smoking, leaving the stove on without anyone watching, burning candles and incense, and faulty electrical wiring. So how do you prevent that?!

Here are 7 tips to prevent a fire: 

-Keep lighters, candles, and matches out of children’s reach.

-Don’t leave burning candles alone, even if the flame is almost out. 

-Don’t leave a fire place burning unattended unless you have fire safety doors that are shut.

-Make sure that cigarettes, or anything being smoked, are put out completely.

-Don’t walk away from food cooking on the stove. (Sometimes people forget that they even have food on the stove even when in the kitchen, so one trick is to set a timer to remind you food is cooking.)

-Follow instructions when using electric blankets, space heaters, etc., because they can have faulty wiring that may spark a fire.

-Be aware of rodents living in the house. Squirrels and mice often break into walls and can chew on wiring, causing fires as well. 

The truth is that even when we are careful, a fire may break out. So, make sure you have at least one fire extinguisher in your house and that each person in the house knows where it is and how to use it. 

Smoke alarms are another important fire safety tool. Each floor in a house should have at least one, as well as one near the kitchen (where most fires start) and near the bedrooms (because when sleeping a fire may spread so quickly that when the fire alarm wakes you, you may not have the chance to make it to the kitchen to grab that extinguisher!) Also remember to test your smoke alarms monthly. You have to make sure they still work. And, consider changing the batteries twice a year even if the batteries still have power. 

When was the last time your family went over a fire escape plan? Here is what should be included in your family’s fire escape plan:  

1. Plan a getaway route with a path from each room of your home. 
2. Be sure to pick a spot outside of your house to meet up with your family after you escape the fire. 
3. Once out, have someone call 911 immediately. Don’t waste time doing it inside, even small fires can cause a lot of damage. Just get out!

When you are escaping from a fire: 

1. Remain close to the ground so that you are under the smoke – this makes it easier to breathe. (Smoke rises.)
2. If you can’t see through the smoke, try to follow a wall.  If the wall is getting hotter, then you are moving towards the fire. 
3. Carefully touch any doors before opening. If it feels hot, don’t open it. A hot door means that the door is probably standing between you and the fire.
4. If smoke is seeping in and you can’t get out, wet a towel with as much water as possible and use it to cover your mouth, head and body if it’s big enough. If you have enough towels and water, place a wet towel in the crack of the door.
5. If your clothing catches on fire, remember to stop, drop and roll – preferably outside of the fire.
6. Do NOT lose time by gathering valuable items. Nothing is worth losing a life, and a fire can escalate (grow) from lots of smoke to raging flames in under a minute. Heavy smoke is an indication that huge flames are about to erupt. Get out while you still can!

And try really hard not to panic. When people panic they make poor decisions!

Every year, more than 20 million children and teens go to the doctor as a result of unintentional injuries. You can avoid these accident-related injuries by breaking the chain of events that cause them.

Home accidents are one of the main causes of death and injury. And many are completely preventable! To start, clean up any water, or other liquid, that spills on the floor so that no one slips because of it. Slippery floors are dangerous as well. Be careful wearing socks on stairs and other areas that are not carpeted. Also, don’t leave clutter around, especially on the stairs where people can trip and seriously injure themselves.

Don’t put an electrical appliance in, or near, water and don’t touch an electrical appliance if you are standing or bathing in water. Why? Because water conducts electricity (remember those science experiments?) and you can be seriously injured or even die from an electric shock.  (For more details, see the post below on electrical safety.)

Of course, accidents also happen outside of the house. Cell phones and other handheld gadgets that distract us are a major cause of accidents. 

In 2015, 391,000 injuries were caused in distracted driving related accidents. In that same year, distracted driving was cited as a major factor in 3,477 traffic deaths

(Source: https://www.teensafe.com/distracted-driving/100-distracted-driving-facts-and-statistics-2018/)

No surprise that texting is the biggest culprit in distracting drivers. One moment with your eyes off the road can cause someone, maybe you, to lose a life as shown in this video http://time.com/53563/chilling-texting-and-driving-ad-dot/. 

That text can wait until you (or the person who is driving) can pull over. 

Texting is not just dangerous when driving either. According to Healthline.com, texting while walking causes people to bump into walls, fall down stairs, trip over clutter and step into traffic. Thousands of people are treated in emergency rooms from accidents while being distracted by texting. (That number may even be higher because people may be embarrassed to admit what really happened.) 

This video says it all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl0JojWH1rQ

Make sure that when you are walking, especially when you are crossing the street, you pay attention to what is in front of you and who is around you. This means waiting to text or make a call when you are in a safe place or can stand still. And it means that you might have to take your headphones off when crossing the street so that you can hear!