What if my kid gets hurt working for a neighbor?

Most of what happens is small. A scrape, a wasp sting, a pulled muscle from carrying something awkward. Treat those the way you would treat the same injury in your own yard.

The question worth answering before it comes up is the insurance one, because most families assume more coverage than they have.

Homeowners and renters policies commonly exclude business activities. Whether a teenager mowing a neighbor's lawn for money counts as a business activity depends on the policy and the insurer, and there is no general answer. One call to your agent settles it, and the two questions to ask are whether your kid is covered if they are injured while doing paid work at somebody else's property, and whether being paid changes anything.

The customer's own homeowners policy may also come into it, depending on where the injury happened and how. That is worth knowing exists rather than assuming either way.

Then the practical side. Your kid should know what to do and it should be dull: stop working, tell the customer, call you. Not push through, and not hide it because they are worried about losing the job or being told they cannot do this anymore. That second fear is real and worth naming out loud in advance, because a kid who hides an injury turns a small thing into a bigger one.

Prevention is mostly about scope. Most injuries in kid businesses come from work slightly beyond what the kid could actually handle: a slope too steep, a ladder too tall, equipment too big. Deciding in advance which jobs are a no is the single highest return thing you can do here.

And if a job genuinely feels unsafe once they are there, leaving is always allowed. No job is worth it, and the customer is not owed an explanation.