As Chief Administrative Officer at Cook Children's, Keith Holtz knows the value of experience in the workforce.

As a father, Holtz understand the importance of that first summer job.

"The first job offers such valuable life lessons for a teen," he said. "It builds confidence, self-esteem and financial independence. It also helps teach fiscal responsibility and the value of being accountable, reliable and dependable. I'm sure we all remember our first bank account and the tremendous sense of pride we had, regardless of the amount we had to spend after that first paycheck."

As your teen, searches for a summer job, ensure he or she considers summer extracurriculur activies too, such as sports, band or dual enrollment college programs. Be sure to discuss the commitment these activities require and decide as a family on your child's summer priorities. All these important activities can impact both the hours your teen can work and the amount of rest he or she can still get.

The first job can be initimidating for a teen. And while the job may eventually help with your child's confidence, Holtz advices parents to support thier kids as they search for work and beyond.

"Your child may look to you for guidance when preparing for their job search," Holtz said. "Help them to create a resume, look for work and guide them through the interview process. But be there too for them throughout the summer too. Ask them how the job is going and ask if they have questions. Then, after the summer job, ask them what they learned and then talk about ways they could improve next time."

It took that long to outrage a country from what was seen and heard by members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma chanting a racial epithet on a bus.

While the video shows that we haven’t progressed as far as most of us would like as a society, it also proves once again that our children need to learn the life-changing consequences of going viral.

Jody S. Hawkins, Information Systems Security Officer at Cook Children’s, gives a presentation to children called, “The Virtual World.” He explains the permanence of everything we post to the Internet.

“Like a face tattoo, the things your child posts to the Internet in public forums could be discoverable by potential college recruiters, employers or those out to paint your child’s character in a negative way,” Hawkins said. “What does your child aspire to be when he or she grows up? Are the things your children are doing on the Internet today going to have a negative impact on that career choice?”

Considering the speed of today’s technology, it’s important for kids to understand that everything they do is permanent, even if it’s been deleted. Thanks to screen shots, a careless text message can be frozen in time and put on social networking sites, forever subject to public scrutiny.

Hawkins recommends parents talk with their kids and express the need for self-control when they interact with others, even when they aren’t speaking face-to-face. Explain the importance of cooling off before sending that angry text message, commenting on a blog or posting an aggressive Facebook status. And if someone is doing something inappropriate, walk away or don’t participate. Everyone has a recording device in their hands these days.

A study from the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Market Research found that 21 percent of college admissions offices research their applicants via social media sites. An offensive blog post could overrule a stellar SAT score and change a university’s admission invitation.

“Kids don’t think about the harms they could be causing themselves,” Hawkins said. “They tend to have this, ‘Look ma, no hands’ mentality while we watch them and freak out. But those split second decisions can have forever consequences.”

About the source

Jody S. Hawkins, Information Systems Security Officer, has been in technology for medical facilities since early 2000 and has been practicing for more than 20 years with his start in the United States Air Force. He is a part of Cook Children's Experts on Call Speakers Bureau. Hawkins specializes in privacy and technology safety and is a regular speaker at the National HIT/HIPAA Conference. He has been quoted and published in several national publications, including Health Information Management Magazine.

Hawkins' can speak on a variety of security topics facing our children & parents today, including:

• Social media
• Cyber bullying
• Sexting
• Safety online (Parents & Child)
• General home networking security
• Virtual Child (Parents)
• Internet Safety (Parents & Child)

This video about the #WorldsToughestJob went viral last week.  If you haven't watched it yet, please do, it is worth your time.

In thinking about this video, I thought of #AnotherToughJob that I thought I would write a job description for:

• Able to deal with people when they are at the end of their stress level, operating on very little sleep and have been waiting to see you or talk with you for hours.
• Able to deal with a boss who has a strong personality and convince them to complete tasks (i.e. filling out forms) when they would rather be doing something else (i.e. playing golf).
• Able to let said boss take all the credit when something goes right but force you to be the bad guy day after day.
• Able to deal with very messy situations - no exemption from poop, pee or puke exposure.
• Able to skip lunch or go without a potty break for hours should "special circumstances" arise (like most days).
• Able to deal with very sad situations and be a person of support even when you feel very sad yourself.

It's not all bad though...

Perks include:

• Dealing with the coolest people in the world-our patients and their parents.
• Watching a child grow to be a young adult (and eventually a parent themselves).
• Watching children who are sick return to health.
• Working with other great people who love children as much as you do.

So, say a special "Thank You" to all of our amazing nurses at Cook Children's.  

From our primary care offices to inpatient to specialty to home health, we have some of the best nurses in the country!

Leave comments for your favorite nurses and we'll pass the message along!