Mum advertises son on Facebook as ‘free labour’ to stop him staying at home

This mum didn't want her son lazing about the house so offered him out to friends and family to work for free

An inventive mum has come up with a genius way of keeping her son from lazing around in the house all day.

Donna Cooper, from Hornsea, East Yorkshire, advertised her 16-year-old son, Nick, on her Facebook page as "free labour" to stop him from doing nothing.

The mum-of-three offered her son's services as he is at home from school three days a week due to bad behaviour.

She posted a photo of her son alongside the caption: "My son has been put on a restricted timetable at school, due, may I say to my shame, behaviour within school.

"Out of school, he is polite and good-hearted. School just doesn't agree with him, therefore he is only at school Monday and Tuesday.

"So here's the deal and the reason for this post. I am a hard working mum and I refuse to have my son at home while I am out working.

"So if anyone has any use for him for a few hours a day...farm work...labouring... He is yours - FOR FREE."

On the back of Donna's post, Nick was offered a shift at a local beachside café.

Donna, who is also mum to Sasha, eight, and Kristian, 11, said: "I was so angry with him I knew I had to find him something to do.

"I walked in from work and told him he had a shift at a café the next day. He wasn't too impressed but he got on with it and the owner of the café couldn't have been happier with him."

"I wasn't prepared to have him at home unsupervised while me and my partner were out at work all day. I can't be doing with laziness and he wasn't going to be sat at home on his Xbox or Playstation doing nothing productive.

"He has been put on a restricted timetable but he is a hard worker and is very polite. He is not a lazy lad and the lady who took him on at the cafe said she would be happy to have him back."

Thanks to Donna's no-nonsense attitude, Nick has found himself an apprenticeship at a local joinery. After finding him the number for the apprenticeship company, she then "left him to it" to sort himself.

Thankfully, Nick gave them a call and organised the interview whilst Donna and her partner were out at work, and now has a two-week trial at the company.

Donna said: "I wanted him to gain an education in life and now, thanks to the post, he has been offered a two-week trial for a joinery apprenticeship in Leven.

"Nick complained about the café work at first but he went on to do a brilliant job. He now has a great reference to be able to find other work.

"I wanted to teach him that you need to put yourself out there. Some kids expect jobs to fall on their laps.

"It's a lesson in the real world and we said we would give him the chance to sort himself out or send him down the army careers office.

"I'm a fan of old-fashioned parenting values and I won't let him get away with murder.

"Now he has a trial doing a job he has always wanted to do."

We salute you, Donna!

Have you ever had behavioural problems with your children? Would you try an approach like this to get them into the world of work? Let us know over on Facebook and Twitter.

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