Child labor laws? We don't need no stinkin' child labor laws!

[mjncad]

I emailed the video of the 5-year old operating the loader to a number of friends, and one replied back with the following observation, which is a valid point.

"I like it, a kid there having fun, developing a skill and contributing to his local economy, versus a knuckledragger here collecting food stamps, dealing crack in the hood and showing up at your place to shop?

Constructive vs. destructive....... "

 

[Qapla]

My only criticism of the video is that he needs to learn to drive forward with the bucket a bit lower and raise it when he is near to the dump. Other than that, great job and a good learning experience.

I would also gather that the person filming the video was riding with him during part of that. I doubt the 5 year old "does this for a living", he is probably just having fun with his Dad in a society that does not litigate everything that is done.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

He's not using his rear view mirrors, ...oh, wait there aren't any, and he isn't looking where he is going when backing up. At 3:20 he backs into that dump body and whacks it!!:thumbsup: Funny how he has to reach back for the loader controls. When he gets big enough to sit in the seat it will probably seem weird to him.:laughing:

 

[tjflicek]

Kids today dont work to fix, repair, operate anything other than a computer. Run it till it breaks, get new one. Even if a kid wants to learn something like the little boy on the loader, IF neighbors saw your child doing something like that the cops would be on you before the diesel smoke cleared. Some of the child protection services are good but just like any law it can be abused by the powers of office. Look at the Chinese economy vs ours and tell me that we are better off now with our laws than we were 50 years ago.

You paint todays youth with to broad of a brush. I see many kids today doing much more than sitting in front of a computer. Don't blame the youth of today for not having the skills to fix something or interests beyond computers or video games, put the blame where it lies, with their parents. Just because some parents are willing to put their parenting obligations in neutral when their kids are occupied with games or videos doesn't mean they all are.

All I have to do to see proof of this is take a quick drive around this area and see young people working on snowmobiles,4 wheelers, old cars, even restoring old tractors. I know kids around here that raise calves for 4H, chickens,rabbits, whatever. I know kids that are involved in hunting, fishing, high school rodeo, mutton busting and all sorts of other worthwhile pursuits. Kids involved in boy scouts, girl scouts, church youth groups and the like. What is the common denominator? Parental Involvement.

Lots of kids today have plenty of drive and ambition. On occasion one will stop by and ask if I have any farm work they can do. The last one rode up on her horse and wanted to know if she could clean my barn, I said no and she rode off, I thought if she had enough gumption to ride into a strangers yard like that and ask for work she deserved a chance, I chased her down and gave her a couple days work and she did a good job. Our local game wardens young son and daughter 9&11 have come by the last two years to trap gophers for me.

I would venture to say that more than a few TBN parents and grandparents would agree that some kids are eager to help out and willing to learn. Go to any threshing show, antique tractor or logging show and look around, there are lots of kids participating and engaged in the activities. I've seen a lot of young folks at these events driving tractors in parades, driving tractors pulling people movers, helping at the sawmill, driving teams of horses pulling bundle wagons etc. and I don't recall seeing any cops trying to put a stop to it.

Do you really think that adopting the child labor laws of Communist China, a country with one of the worst human rights records in the world, not to mention pollution, is the solution to our economies woes?

Why don't we go all the way and adopt their views on how many children we can have? Less kids would mean less lazy kids. Lets adopt their views on gun ownership also, fewer guns fewer murders. Religion also less religion fewer corrupt televangelists right ?

The reason we were better off 50 years ago is because dummies like you and I hadn't yet started buying
cheap imported crap yet in mass quantities.

How do we stop this? I don't have a clue, the horse is out of the barn and we can't shut that door and expect it to do any good, but I do know that putting the blame on labor laws and advocating going backwards isn't the answer.

 

[pat32rf]

We have had so many new rules and "licenses" in the past 20 years that I couldn't legally return to any of my former jobs, even if I wanted. And my son who was just laid off after 12 years at his work would have to return to school so he could get the letters behind his name to get the same job with another company. They don't want the liability of him working without those "letters"...

 

[breadtrk]

I was living at home, but started working at 12. Started by taking 2 pushmowers, making 1 work, and mowed grass all summer to purchase my first gun.
Went hunting alone, as my father was disabled. Purchased my first car with my own money.

Almost 52 now, and still working. Don't want handouts or government money. I've earned everything I have.

Thank God I had no home troubles till I was 15, then got busted by the Sgt Mgr with a bag of weed in my room. He brought home a 50cal ammo can, told me about 'Nam and suggested I get it off the base and never bring it back to the house. I did and dind't.

But when I was 12 I got 2 non working mowers, my MOM helped me get one running and started a mowing business on base. Wound up managing 3 friends, 5 mowers, I can't count how many string trimmers and edgers, but the very first ZTR, an Excel, now Hustler. We would get 15 houses in a row and do them all at one time for 5 bucks a yard. The good old days.

That taught me to always let my woman manage my money, first Mom, then my wife. It also taught me to take care of my stuff. Those lessons have lasted my entire life. Now when I see a mower on sale on craigslist that don't run, I act like a buyer, go fix it for them and if they still don't want it, give it to the guy that was on craigslist looking for a mower. Pay that self sufficiency forward.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Too bad most voters don't feel this way.
Evidently most people now think everything should be a "handout" with nothing given in return.
Darn shame America is full of lazy people who learn to be that way from an early age.

I'm in Canada, same thing here. Last year I spent over $9,000 to have my daughter in daycare. If it were to cost less I may very well have another kid... where welfare cases get more money for having more kids. So the way I see it we'll eventually be over run my life long welfare cases as they do better with more kids, and us middle class hard working folks, who raise good hard working children, can't afford to have more then one. Not much hope if nothing changes on that front.

 

[Egon]

Pros and cons to child labour laws.

History will give some good reason's.

Think of the Boy Scouts; where they originated and why so.

 

[MHarryE]

I don't look back fondly of my life growing up on a farm. Baling involved stacking bales on the wagon behind the baler 6 tier high. On the other end it was stacking those bales in the barn working my rear end off to keep up. But costs for education then were much different - $400 tuition per year for an engineering degree at a major university. The beating on my knees had taken its toll. When I had my first arthogram in my late 20's the doctor asked where I grew up - that my arthritis was symptomatic of an abused child subjected to carrying heavy weights when my bones were still growing. I had the joints of a person in their 60's. Fortunately I was able to change my lifestyle. Things like bowling were out - even the weight of the bowling ball for 3 games weekly swelled my knees. Now retired, I am back to the farm where I grew up. My retirement is handling the stuff my cousin, who stayed on the farm, can no longer handle even with half of his leg joints now artificial. My sister married a neighbor to fulfill her dream of dairy farming. She has had one knee replaced. Her husband has had one knee replaced and is struggling to get by until winter when he can have his other knee replaced. They all get by on naproxen and ibuprofen. That child labor you advocate takes its toll as you age. Now our farm is set up so the joint wrecking weight lifting is gone, but it is a sad group of people in their 60's creaking around wondering when joint replacement and over the counter pain relievers with be replaced by hydrocodone to get through the day.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I don't look back fondly of my life growing up on a farm. Baling involved stacking bales on the wagon behind the baler 6 tier high. On the other end it was stacking those bales in the barn working my rear end off to keep up. But costs for education then were much different - $400 tuition per year for an engineering degree at a major university. The beating on my knees had taken its toll. When I had my first arthogram in my late 20's the doctor asked where I grew up - that my arthritis was symptomatic of an abused child subjected to carrying heavy weights when my bones were still growing. I had the joints of a person in their 60's. Fortunately I was able to change my lifestyle. Things like bowling were out - even the weight of the bowling ball for 3 games weekly swelled my knees. Now retired, I am back to the farm where I grew up. My retirement is handling the stuff my cousin, who stayed on the farm, can no longer handle even with half of his leg joints now artificial. My sister married a neighbor to fulfill her dream of dairy farming. She has had one knee replaced. Her husband has had one knee replaced and is struggling to get by until winter when he can have his other knee replaced. They all get by on naproxen and ibuprofen. That child labor you advocate takes its toll as you age. Now our farm is set up so the joint wrecking weight lifting is gone, but it is a sad group of people in their 60's creaking around wondering when joint replacement and over the counter pain relievers with be replaced by hydrocodone to get through the day.

Your recollection of those ‘good ole’ days’ is not so unlike that of some many of us that grew up during the WWII and post-war days. I’m not implying at all that those were actually “good” overall – only that they were a lot different than the world today.
If our children of today were treated as they were back in the ‘40s and 50s our parents would be in prison. In my thinking, we’ve gone way too far to make life good for our kids. Most will never learn how to actually work for a living and be independent. But then, the skills needed today and in the future are different than those back 50 or 60 years ago.
When I get down and start recalling what I call ‘abuse’ that I also received as a kid, I have to compare my childhood to that of my parents that grew up during the Depression Days. Those, as I recall the stories, were when pre-teens had to pick cotton all day for 50-cents… back breaking work, fingers so sore they were not functional, and food so scarce that one felt fortunate to have enough to eat to keep from starving.
The scariest part is – those ‘good ole’ days still exist in many parts of the world. I do NOT feel responsible for their living conditions, nor do I think we are obligated to provide care for every under privileged child that wades across our borders. But I do sympathize with them and the fact that their own government hasn’t progressed. In other words – you and I and millions of others paid the price to get where we are – and so must they.