In defence of child labour (www.telegraph.co.uk)

submitted 3 days ago by kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It is sadly not a satire article and comment section there has taken it quite seriously as well.

I would have posted an archive.org snapshot instead but the latter refuses to crawl the site due to pay wall restrictions.

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[-] Solumbran@lemmy.world 48 points 3 days ago

The kid that brings me my bacon sandwich when I’m hungover is about the height of a small bin, but he’s really lovely and is definitely learning more about the world than he would be sitting in his room.

And that’s the most important thing. Within reason, kids doing part-time jobs will teach them about the world. The grimmer the work they do, the more incentivised they’ll feel to work hard at school so they can avoid a rubbish job.

"Sitting in your room and developing a sense of self and learning to not require permanent social interaction is horrible. Instead, kids should suffer and see how soul-crushing capitalism is, so that they can be terrified into fitting in the mold and will accept settling for shit pays and jobs because they are already used to those"

[-] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 38 points 3 days ago

Yeah.... This is definitely the writing of someone who definitely didn't have to work as a child.

From ages 13-16 I had to work in my uncle's machine shop every summer threading bolts for the local GM plant. I didn't learn anything other than my family is filled with cheap assholes, and now the smell of vegetable coolant makes me sick to my stomach.

Btw if anyone has ever driven around in an early 00s Yukon, there's a good chance that it was put together with bolts fabricated by a 13 year old.

[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

This sort of anecdote is important, because it’s too easy to claim that working for your family is an exception, or that kids should be able to help out with the family business.

[-] crank0271@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Btw if anyone has ever driven around in an early 00s Yukon, there's a good chance that it was put together with bolts fabricated by a 13 year old.

Boeing has entered the chat

[-] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 10 points 3 days ago

Tbh it wouldn't surprise me, the part of ohio that some of my family lives in is filled with a bunch of mom and pop machine shops with contracts from surprisingly large companies.

I guess it's easy to grab the lowest bid when you're powered by the free labour of all the children in your extended family.

this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026

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