Ravenwood - 06/10/05 07:00 AM
You can't spank your kids. Using red ink to grade their papers will destroy their self esteem. You can't give them homework because the books are too heavy to carry home. Now you can't even let your kid mow the lawn without being accused of some sort of child abuse.
Outdoor jobs in landscaping, groundskeeping and lawn services made the National Consumers League's list of five dangerous jobs for young workers for the first time this year, taking the No. 3 spot. . .I guess McDonalds is out too, because it involves hot ovens, scalding grease, and don't forget those harsh cleansers and chemicals.While fatality numbers are low in these types of outdoor jobs, work often involves the use of dangerous power tools and machinery, as well as hazardous chemicals and pesticides.
Your's truly started mowing lawns at about 10 years old. I gave that up when I was 12 to work a morning paper route. When I was 14, I got a real job working at an ice cream shop, where I not only scooped ice cream, but had to do the nightly bookkeeping and drop the deposit off after closing. When I was 15, I worked in deconstruction helping remodel a retail store. Despite using power circular saws and reciprocating saws I came through it with all 10 fingers and toes. At 16 I worked down at the oceanfront guarding against shoplifters and restocking shelves. It was the most boring job I've ever had. At 17 I worked for a landscaper and lawn maintenance company. Not only did we use power mowers and harmful poisons, but I had to drive a company truck pulling a company trailer full of company equipment.
Jobs like that didn't seem atypical. Several of my friends had similar "dangerous" jobs with lots of responsibility. In middle America it's not uncommon for kids to drive tractors or work on farms. Decades ago kids worked in factories or lied about their age to join the military.
I'm not saying all these things are right, but the way we coddle our kids today worries me. Could we have liberated Europe (twice) with people that had grown up whining about every little thing? "Sarge, my rifle is too heavy. Do I have to carry all these bullets around with me?"
Category: Fall of Western Civilization
Comments (2) top link me
I worked in a factory for a couple of summers putting bottles into boxes - that was the most boring job imaginable. I also worked at a take out chicken restaurant during highschool cooking and driving, and spent the summer when I was 18 working for an oil delivery company that also serviced swimming pools. Since I had a scuba license ) they hired me to help find leaks on the bottom of pools in addition to simply cleaning them. Of course, I knew a lot about swimming pool plumbing and mechanical systems (courtesy of my father) and it turnd out I knew more and could work on more complex systems than almost anyone else they had there. I ended up being sent out to do repairs on my own - and also acid washed a couple of pools (one for a guy who was arrested as a mob king pin a week later - his wife was hot) Finally, I worked as the produce guy in the local IGA on weekends and the evenings. They couldn't put me in the deli because the shaving thing required me to be 18, but I was allowed to work produce - where the risks were even greater since I was slicing up all sorts of fruit (smaller and slipperyer than meat) for display and sale.
It's not the jobs that are dangerous; it's the kids. Half of the teenagers I have seen are a danger to themselves because they don't focus on what they are doing. Too many of them have grown up in a world that tries to protect them too much, and thus they don't learn survival habits and skills. You have to let kids trip and fall down sometimes so they will learn to watch where they are walking.
Posted by: Robert Garrard at June 10, 2005 10:46 AM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
