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

[Egon]

Those bale stacking days were lots of fun. 70# bale, 110 # kid.

 

[KennyG]

Those bale stacking days were lots of fun. 70# bale, 110 # kid.

yeah it was a macho thing. How high could you throw a bale, could you knock the stacker off the wagon. I wouldn't trade growing up on the farm for anything.

 

[jimpen]

The farm I worked on as a teen had a kicker on the baler. So they just icked it any which way into the wagon. Then they brought it in and grabbed a different wagon. We would unload it. Two in the wagon and a conveyor to take it up to the top of the current hay. Then two on top of the hay to stack it correctly. By August we were in the top 10-15' of the barn. So it would be about 100F+ and we were pouring sweat out. Then you had a choice -- either wear long sleeves so your arms would be protected. Or wear just a T-shirt and have your forearms irritated by the sharp chopped of hay ends.

It sucked either way. I am so glad I don't do that anymore. This was in the 80's

 

[MHarryE]

At least my dad and uncle had a chute on the baler with wagon behind so we didn't have to pick bales from the ground. Bale throwers came before I left the farm but dad and uncle said waste of money - we have slaves - that is kids. Now we do mostly rounds, air suspension seats in our climate controlled cabs. We have some customers we need small squares. For them we have a picker wagon and a shed big enough to maneuver the wagon inside and let the wagon stack all we will ever sell.

 

[Oliver1655]

Then there is the question of those kids who are ambitious enough, who want to get a job to earn money. Will the law(s) prevent this from happening thus creating the potential for loss of motivation to work at all? Level of maturity varies greatly with kids, some are responsible at 10 while others at 25 still don't have the same level of responsibility as that 10 yo.

 

[dave1949]

Kids need time to be kids. They need to enjoy the one childhood they will ever have if they are to become well-rounded adults. Working and earning money as a youngster too easily becomes a false yardstick of accomplishment. Kids really need higher and more balanced goals than just working--although learning to be responsible for doing tasks is certainly part of that.

Earning money is not the only measure of ambition or responsibility. I notice many people who earn plenty of money and work at it ambitiously, but they aren't very responsible, knowledgeable, or even very mature in other facets of their lives.

 

[OldMcDonald]

dave1949, Sensible post yet again. I was never forced to work, nor my brothers or sister. We helped out from a very young age because it was our choice to do so, therefore it was fun and not work. I treated my son the same way.

 

[Sportsman762]

I would be hesitant to claim good old days about kids having a strong work ethic compared to now. I am in my late 20's and always worked to achieve what I wanted. In 2nd grade I started mowing the lawn with a ZTR (takes 2.5 hrs to mow). I always did odd jobs until I was 16 and started to work at a tree farm. During high school I worked 20 hours a week during school and 50-60 out of school. I paid for most of my college, where I worked 30 hours a week during school and 40 out of school. This is while I was an scholarship athlete. It is not that I am a hard worker, it is just that I work so I can get what I want or need. To be assured of more work I work hard so that my employer considers me a good return on investment.
My current boss's kid works 60 to 80 hour weeks at the local dairy farm when he is out of college and often drives 3 hours back to help with chopping harvest and planting. At school he works 30 hours a week in construction.
I know that it seems like there are no kids out there that work as hard as the previous generation. However i would say that is a misconception and if you look in the right places you can still find the hard workers, it is just the lazy ones that draw your attention.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Sportsman, You are absolutely correct. There have always been hard workers and always been idle people. There always will be both. I have not needed help since I came here (although I am likely to as my olive crop increases) but I have employed people on a casual as needed basis over a few decades, and school kids have always been my preferred employees for short term help.

 

[varmint]

Lovely thread... the woes of today for working folks are an endless source of discussion and blaming. When I was a kid, we jumped at an opportunity to make a buck, by mowing lawns or shoveling snow. I was lazy, compared to my buddy who delivered papers before school in the morning. Got my first job when it was legal, at 15, working in a supermarket. Bought a car, learned to take care of it. Luckily for me, I could live at home all thru college, so I had money to buy nice sports cars. Ah, what a world back in the 60's. What's different, I think, is that now jobs aren't so easy to find that pay enough to get by on. Then, getting by wasn't so hard. You worked, but you had time off to play or take care of what you had, no need for two jobs.