Everyone deserves a living wage
Not everyone is a single mother trying to make ends meet for her two children. We should not make economic policy as if they are.
"So why don't we take care of them?" Single mothers trying to make ends meet have access to a wide array of social programs already. We are already not abandoning them to the tender mercies of minimum wage and nothing else.
> Not everyone is a single mother trying to make ends meet
In the meantime, student loans are at an all time high!
Whether or not you had college paid for by somebody else who saved or even if you didn't need to go; Teenagers need more than pocket money, afterall, in 2 years they will, for the median, be committing to loan terms that will take 10+ years to pay off, if they ever do.
A 16 year old also may not have a college opportunity and may decide to go straight to work, may decide to go straight to having a family with a high school sweetheart. At that point, the 16-18 year old needs a liveable wage too.
Able bodied people that choose to do nothing deserve to receive nothing.
It would be nice if they could pay for a semester or 2 (or 8) of college instead of using student loans.
You also assume that their parents are able to put healthy food on the table every night; which statistically, doesn't hold for 100% of Americans.