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I recommend the book "Folks, this Ain't Normal." The author describes a time before child labor laws, where energetic teenagers were a valuable asset on farms
by moneytide1 9y ago
I recommend the book "Folks, this Ain't Normal."
The author describes a time before child labor laws, where energetic teenagers were a valuable asset on farms (before the onset of industrialization). As children even, they worked and learned concepts and virtues that schools try to teach, and they were exposed to enough bacteria and dirt during their outdoor labor to establish strong immune systems early on.
It is appalling that a teenager can say that he or she is "bored" or get into trouble in the late hours. There could be plenty to do around the family property if parents knew how to live self-sufficiently using traditions inherited from pre-industrialized generations.
- tdb7893 9y agoAre you advocating that most families should farm a little?
- logfromblammo 9y agoIt doesn't need to be farming. If you want your kids to study hard and stay in school, almost any low-paid job heavily reliant on manual labor will do. First, you have your kid work that grueling and thankless job. Then you can take them to your desk job, and show them your company's lowest-level job postings. Many of the people I know with really nice jobs have a story about that one job they worked before graduation that taught them the value of working smart rather than hard. Mine was on a shipping dock.