I was listening to NPR today and they were interviewing people who did a study about children working on tobacco plantations. There was also a farmer on the panel who said essentially what you've said. Nobody wants 10 year old kids to get hurt or to be treated like slave labor. Currently, the age is 12 in NC when a kid can work. While I think 12 is a bit young, it obviously wasn't a bad experience for you. I appreciate you sharing your first hand account. I wish you could have called in to the radio show. You can listen to that broadcast hereAs someone who grew up doing this, I think the article is way overblown, and the data overly anecdotal, cherry-picked, and manipulated to support preconceived notions.
In Texas I believe it's technically 14 -- I got my first paid-by-check job at around 15. If you could've gotten across to me the immediate, positive lifestyle changes this would bring I would've start at 11 in a heartbeat. Kids grow up at different ages. Plenty of inner-city kids in Chicago work, it just isn't what their moms want them to be doing. I don't know what my point is ... there definitely needs to be a hard and fast law but it kinda screws over the exceptions.Currently, the age is 12 in NC when a kid can work. While I think 12 is a bit young, it obviously wasn't a bad experience for you.