Once upon a time, teenagers delivered newspapers. They ran errands, cut lawns, shoveled snow, and worked as babysitters. Those days are gone.

Vans pass by early in the morning and newspapers in plastic bags are hurled onto lawns and driveways. Lawn service trucks dot our neighborhoods. Senior citizens and other adults supplement their incomes by offering child care. It seems as if adults have taken over all the jobs once done by teens.

Teenagers still are working, though. We see them in fast food franchises, in supermarkets, in specialty stores, and in many other local businesses. Times have changed, but our teens still learn valuable lessons about responsibility and the value of a dollar as they earn a little spending money, right?

Not necessarily.

Too many teens are working entirely too many hours in stressful, repetitive, mind numbing jobs. To high school teachers, the symptoms are distressingly clear -- youngsters who once were good students come to class unprepared. They hand in homework copied from friends, fall far behind in assigned reading, and find it impossible to concentrate in class. They arrive at school late, and sometimes skip school entirely. They fall asleep at their desks.

These young workers are not learning responsibility. The hours they work force them to cut corners, make excuses, and sacrifice the opportunity that comes with academic success for the sake of a few extra dollars. Effort and energy are reserved for the "paying" job, and working toward personal and intellectual growth becomes unimportant. These are not the values we want our children to learn.

When we talk to teenagers to find out how they use the money they earn, we discover that only a tiny fraction are helping to support their families or saving for college. Most are spending every cent they earn on the consumer goods advertisers tell them they need to be fashionable, popular, and "cool." The belief that respect and acceptance are for sale at the local mall is another value our kids can live without.

This is not to say that teens should not have jobs -- only that their hours of work should be strictly limited so as to leave plenty of time for the other activities that will help them grow into decent and healthy adults. There should be time to read and study, time to spend with their families, time to participate in sports and athletics, time to socialize with their friends, and time to get a good night's sleep.

Research shows that schoolwork suffers when high school students work more than fourteen hours a week during the school year. Even fourteen-year-olds, limited by law to a twelve-hour work week, often put in far more than fourteen hours "off the books." Only parents have the power to put an end to this abuse of their children.

The parent's most difficult task is likely to be dealing with a son or daughter who refuses to see the need to work fewer hours. Like the rest of us, teenagers will be upset by the prospect of a cut in income. After a short time, though, they will appreciate a change for the better in the quality of their lives.

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