Proposed changes to child labor laws could affect life on the farm

[proud2BlibKansan]

Not long ago at church, a grown-up asked Adam Mershon, 11, if he planned on being a farmer like his dad, granddad and great-granddad.

“I already am a farmer,” he replied.

For about as long as Adam can remember, he has been feeding cattle with his cousins on Grandpa Tom’s farm near Buckner.

He’s been fixing fences. Delivering calves, up to his elbows. Years back, he’d climb on his father’s lap to steer the tractor.

The Mershons call it a lifestyle they’d never trade.

The federal government calls it child labor that ought to be restricted.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/02/3349745/proposed-changes-to-child-labor.html#storylink=cpy

[freshwest]

1. The RWers will use this to open up child labor. The issue is not with your own family business.

The issue is the oligarchs condemning generations of children, that are not their own, to a life without education and using them to lower the price of labor, ala Newt.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Why is farming the only small business that gets to use free child labor?

My neighbor has his own small construction company. Why can't he have his 8 year old son work for him for free? And a couple nephews and maybe some neighborhood kids too?

[freshwest]

4. Because they own the premises and it's a tradition. As long as it doesn't interfere with their going

To school, it's like chores. At least the people I know who grew up that way saw it that way.

They considered it self-employment and felt a sense of ownership of the land, animals and fields. And it literally did belong to them, when their parents sold their place if they had to do that later, they got a good share of the profits to start their lives off with.

I lived in the suburbs and wasn't paid to cut the lawn, garden, do laundry, cook or clean nor did I get an allowance for it. I didn't feel deprived or oppressed as my parents were doing the same thing right along side me, it didn't feel like a job.

It was an activity to keep my home liveable and do something I thought was worthwhile. I suspect these folks feel the same. Now if the family is abusive and using their children for labor, and I've known adopted kids who were done that way and ran away from home, it's wrong.

This is not a black and white issue, it's got many variations. If we are talking of children of other families doing the work, that's child labor. I think it also depends on how complicated the work is and the danger inherent in the work. Farmwork can be very dangerous. Some of the machinery is the most dangerous in the world and children should not be working on it.

But I also know families where the dad is a professional skier and stunt man, and his kids started the same thing at a very early age. It was the family business and the boys and girls wanted in and they were allowed to do so. Can we say that is work, too?

I'm not claiming that farm work should get an exemption from age or safety regulations. Because most of the farm work is not being done by the children of the owner. There is no protection for the children of farmworkers who are not citizens, for example, when the entire family works the field. The kids may not even get to attend school and the entire family is being exploited.

The issue is ownership and working for a profit for someone. What if the family is out in a situation and there is no money being made at all, the fruits of their labor is not being sold? Where will the wages come from? Not everything is about the money, some people want to live a way that is more subsistence and barter.

But I do come from the tradition that all children should focus on their education off the farm or away from home first; and that adult should do the real work. If the owner wishes to do the work as an adult that's fine; if he employs anyone, labor and safety standards must be met.

Maybe I'm not explaining this too well. Do you understand that I'm saying that one size doesn't fit all here?

That being said, I don't trust for a minute what the GOP and theocrats are trying to push in this arena. In some cases we do know what happens to kids kept out of public school, or homeschooled. Some are abused, worked for nothing, all kinds of issues. I don't want the USA to go in that direction.

[eridani]

5. Not true. Any family owned small retail business generally uses kids.

Usually not in formal positions until they become teens, though.

[SixthSense]

6. that's not quite the issue

Why shouldn't a kid be able to contribute to his own family farm is the issue, since that's what is threatened with a ban.

Children learning farm tasks at a young age is a tradition as old as agriculture. In farm families everyone has always pitched in, often because it was necessary for survival, but also to pass on skills and successful methods to the next generation.

Keep in mind that these are the kids of the farmers themselves, not someone else's kids. Treating it like child labor as if the kids were being sent to a coal mine or to a shirtwaist factory is inappropriate and is likely to cause net harm to the kids.

[Fearless]

3. I think there is definitely some middle ground here...

If we're talking a small family owned farm, I don't think the family as a whole working on it should be illegal. However, I do not think that children should miss out on an education because of working on a farm. Education should always come first. Period. Before school, after school, weekends, and vacations are fair game to me (provided the work isn't abusive of course). Kids could learn good skills working on a farm, particularly if they want to continue that line of work after high school.

[Nikia]

7. It does not affect unpaid labor

On the family farm. It says that later in the article.