Wow, a bit rough aren't you about this? The debt is technically both of theirs and the decisions to buy these things would have been a joint purchase, $8.00 is simply not enough, I made more than that when i was 15 years old, and $8.00 part time is even worse if she is not in school then she needs to be at work at least full time and with full time comes higher pay. There are some situations that would warrant this, but that is when staying home and not working is cheaper than daycare or she is working on a degree to further herself, but those have not been mentioned.
Those are very valid and important factors... I was making $8 an hour in 1988 working as a cashier for a car dealer I was willing to learn and do more and got promoted....being in a position to move up is important as well. Spring is still a few months off.. plenty of time to increase hours until then.