only when it doesnt interfere with their education and it´s not dangerous.

Kids need to learn that nothing in life is free

Yeah, i think it's good as long as there are limits placed on the age and number of hours they work.

I'm very divided on this issue.

I think that children should be children at least until their teens, but in some countries kids simply have no other option than to work, unless they want their families and themselves to starve.
I think it would be ideal if we could try to lessen child labour by making sure they have an education part of the time, and they work normal hours for a more normal pay, and make sure they don't do work that is dangerous or will disfigure them for life.

But I'm probably being naive and too optimistic with this view.

As long as the child is not too young (under 12 is in my opinion too young), does not work to much, is paid fairly and gets a good education I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

Interesting moral quandary! Considering several families depend on the income produced by child labor, to ban it would be to condemn already impoverished nations to an economic collapse. However, child rights clearly state that education is a basic human right, and if they are working, these children have no access to any education, especially as most of them work 8-10 hour days. And without an education, these children will grow up with little to no marketable skills, and have to have THEIR children support them, thus perpetuating the cycle...

I'll get back to you on this.

Bad :|

I'm pretty divided. On the one hand, I think MOST people do take advantage of children and put them to work under strenuous situations that children should not be under. Those kind of people are horrible. And on the other hand, I do think some child labor produces hard working, responsible, and independent kids which is definitely a step up from the spoiled rotten "brats" this society seems to think we need more of.

WRONG!!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING?!?!?!

How the hell can it be justified? Their loosing out on education and childhood.

i'm all for kids learning that nothing in life is free and all that... but thats what chores are for, not labor

In my previous comment I mentioned a lot of things I think are conditions in order for a child to be working is o.k. with me. But I realise now that is kind of idealistic and is only achieved in the more developed countries. There I think there is little excuse for hard, ill-paid child labour among young children.

In poor, undeveloped or less developed countries there might not be an other way in order for a family to survive (like Cinders pointed out). It is of course horrible when a child has to work en gets no education and no childhood. But when the other option is starving..?

Do I think it is wrong that such a thing is necessary?
Yes, one hundred procent sure.

Do I think these parents are doing something wrong by putting their children to work?
I'm not so sure. I'd like them not to, but if there is no other choice? Then I am very hesitant to judge these people.

I'm so shocked at what people are saying.

I'm so shocked by your arguments, except you have not given any.

From what I know about child labour, it's about forcing a child to do jobs that no one else particular wants to do for very little (even no) money. More frequent in less economically developed countries.
This is a little different to teaching a child that nothing in life is free, don't you think?
I understand that the child working brings more money into poorer households, but I wouldn't personally want to see any kids of mine go through this whatever my income. I guess you can argue that's easier said than done, but I'd much rather work twice as much to get the extra money, and keep my child in education so maybe they won't end up on the streets. Granted it's still possible for that to happen, but at least the child has a chance.
The little things around the house are different, but let children be children and not carry the burden they will eventually have to anyway at such a young age. It's really not fair.

The companies who hire these kids are only using them for cheep labor. Take away the option of a child work force and the companies have no other choice but to hire adults.

I would love to see some of you 'Yes' people work 10 hours a day under horrible, LIFE THREATENING conditions for amazingly low pay.

It's not right to make a child into an adult at such a young age. Working as a TEEN, perfectly fine, probably even a VERY GOOD thing.

But, say, 8-12 year olds! It's just disgusting and ridiculous.

Personally, I a 9 years old Vietnamese child working in Adidas shoe factory. Pay very good. No complaints. I not forced into saying these things at all. Conditions very good. They says strenuous activities builds character.

I am so gonna be harassed for that last comment. "This is not a laughing matter!" Well, it can get a little to serious in this spot, so I thought I'd lighten things up. I did a crude job of it, but at least I tried.

lol, i thought it was funny, Lewkowitz

anyway, i think that if somebody is to young to smoke, drink, have sex, or vote, they shouldn't be working either - it's not fair.

well,i think is really bad cuz at the age of a kid it should be playing or learning.kids shouldn't work it will just make there lifes why harder than wat it is(life is hard for most of us).i get that in some places they put there kids to work to get the money to buy food but hey kids dont really have to do that hard,kids r always cute not even if they dont have a leg or an arm they r still kids with lots of feeling and is so bad for them to work well is just that kids r ment for playing,to act like a princess(if u r a girl)or to be a hero(if u r a boy) then u go to be a teen and ur in the school drama well u know like,she likes him or something like that,then u get older and is when u work to pay the car or the house.well im just trying to say that kids r not good for working and trust me cuz im a kid in 11(thats kinda why this was hard to explain)and i have seen kids work for hours under the dry and hot sun and i just felt so sad for them,and yes when i see someone like that i give them money so that they could have something good to eat.

ok i was reading somethings that ppl said and it was shocking,yea i lived in a place that i will see the kids go and knock on every door and asked for some money or for food but like i was never poor when i was a little girl i never knew but i will still give them some money.i went to a pravit school in costa rica(where i was born)and the ppl that will pass in front of the that school was so sad,that was something that i never forgot about costa rica coming to the usa.and still now a day i still think is wrong but this is not to see who is right and who is no is wat ppl think...and somethink is good cuz where they like it but others hate it and and one of them,but yea if my family ever ran out of money i will work and i will try anything and y?
cuz i have a baby bother that i will so dont want him to die cuz i love him alot,and this if not the worst i lost my father(he is not dead),he just didnt want to see me so this is not to bad is MY life but it is to other kids that know that one day they will die.
=O(

OK, time for me to get back to you guys.

I think it's fantastic that you are all morally outraged. But I have to agree with Sappp here-- No one is considering the nations which employs child labor, their economies, or their populations.

Child labor is not something that you can just stop all at once. You can't run into a country with your white hats and suddenly make it illegal in one noble fell swoop. That's already been tried, and yet it still persists. Child labor supports numerous struggling economies and families, and is a self perpetuating cycle. It is a horrible thing-- I am not going to deny that. But when the alternative is death, then sometimes it's a necessary evil. Twenty percent of the global population live in absolute poverty. They can't get jobs, but their children can. And when the children grow up, they have no marketable skills, so they have to put their kids to work. See, it's a cycle that's difficult to break.

Allow me to propose a solution to child labor that doesn't cripple nations that depend on it. Rather than ban child labor, or put more laws in place to be violated, we need to enforce the laws on labor standards that we already have. Allow these children to work in safe environments for fewer hours and find a time to let them go to school. That way, they can obtain an education and still help to support their starving families. And with that education, when they're grown, they might be able to get a better job, and thus end the cycle.

Unfortunately, my proposal is easier said than done. We simply just do not have the manpower globally to enforce all of this. So if someone can solve that problem (of manpower), I would be mightily impressed. Maybe we can employ children as officers of the UN law enforcement. That might kill two birds with one stone.

pretty much i dont care about the economy...children losing their childhood is terrible...and you cant put a price on it...

"pretty much i don't care about the economy..."

That economy that you don't care about is what's robbing children of their childhood. That's exactly what I'm saying. In order to condemn child labor, you have to know the cause of child labor, which is absolute poverty, which, in most cases, is what has resulted from the debt crisis in the Global South some years ago.

You fix the economy, you fix child labor. But, like I said, that's easier said than done.

Depends on the type of labor, really.

Chores such as washing dishes or making your own bed, I'm fine with (I guess, lol).

But extreme labor such as...how things were during Charles Dickens' childhood, I am completely against.

I think that The companies who hire these kids are just lazy evil devils who don't want to work or pay any money on hiring adults.

That's ofccourse part of the problem. But the financial situation in the country itself and of the families is also a mayor reason that child labour still persists.

I think it's bad, but I agree with Cinders and Sappp about how to fix it.

i think it is bad because it is hard for them and also they well die by doing this. :( VERY BAD

It is good for a child to learn to start working hard at a young age. I believe 4 or 5 is when a child should start working. The work being reasonable for the child's age, of course. You don't have a 5 year old working with big, complicated machinery. I believe it's best to start putting them to work around age 5, and paying them a little, and not giving them a lot of money and not paying them for everything they do. Otherwise, the child may become greedy and work only for the money. After elementary school, I do not believe a child should have to continue school. Middle school and above should be optional, as well as math, science, and history being optional. A child of 5 years old could easily water the yard or dust in areas he/she can reach, clean up trash, etc. Kids really need to learn that nothing in life is free, and I won't allow a child of mine to get away with being lazy/a freeloader when he/she is capable of working.

I disagree with making middle and high school education "optional." There are several vital skills gained in those years, and that's half the K-12 educational system. I believe that so-called "higher education" (college/university and graduate/professional schools) is optional, though still highly encourage it.

At my school, we encourage our students to believe that they will go to college, because the majority of their parents didn't. We have a huge mural with words like "I have a dream that..." ending in phrases like "I will go to college" or other such values.

As a human rights advocate, I believe that education can change the world, even in its simplest forms. I think it's one of the most important things a child or even an adult can do. It's why I'm a teacher.

Also as a human rights advocate, I don't believe that children should be forced to work under impossible conditions, but I don't believe adults should either, as is the point, I think, of this question. The child labor being discussed tends to be factory workers in third world countries, who don't have time to go to elementary school, do not get an education, and ergo have to repeat the cycle with their children, because they have more marketable skills.

I believe a serious and sturdy plan needs to be put into place to scaffold nations whose economies are dependent on this form of labor to wean them off of this tragic cycle. I believe children should work for fewer hours at a higher wage, implementing an international minimum wage standard. I also believe that children should be able to attend school when they are not working, so that they may get better jobs when they become adults. Within maybe two generations, the nation could be completely off child labor completely.

As for instilling a sense of hard work and determination in children not in this situation, I believe in allowances and chores, and teaching the importance responsibility and respect. I also believe that every child regardless of economic class should be given the opportunity to succeed in our (and by our, I mean American) educational system, which, as of yet, fails too many students due to our inherent bias towards identifying leaders, middle management and workers in school-aged children, labeling them, and then preparing them for careers in whatever area we as society deem them capable of. For more on this fascinating and horrifying concept, here's the wikipedia article on link

I'm not a fan of it.It's a silly thing to do it's silly,it's called Child Labor Labor usually means Working Hard I don't mean writing a 100 page essay on a certain topic,I mean Children need to learn not everything is free and you have to work to get what you want but not that way,I think giving out Chores stick with simple things like asking them cleaning their room or taking out the garbage(if their old enough) I think simple house chores and give them allowance if they complete these goals,I think that is a better AND much more effective way of teaching a kid that,rather than child labor.Child Labor is out of the question,children are children.

Not extreme labor like those who force children to work in factories or sweat shops.