The state I live in, and others, a person cannot work (without special permit) until they are 16yrs old.

Is this too strict?

I think it is. I feel American adults complain so much about today's youth... but today's youth has no responsibilities until age 18 or 21 and can't assume any at all really until 16 or older.

I think 16yrs old is too close to leaving the nest to start working. I would like to see child labor laws go down to about 12yrs old, of course with restrictions. Children can handle bagging groceries, having a small paper route on their bike and helping out in almost any kind of store. Even having 'gopher' duties in an office.

I feel if we started instilling personal responsibility at younger ages we'd have... you guessed it... a more responsible youth. Youth today has way too much time on their hands and many are also 'latchkey' children. I think volutary work, while not totally solving the problem, would be a step.

Another benefit would be learning to manage money earlier and hopefully avoiding the generally pitfalls of turning 18... debt. They can also start earlier to save for college if they choose or their parents implement it. Hopefully helping to alleviate some student loans.

The biggest benefit though is responsibility and with that, learning to handle priviledges (like doing what you want with yoru money and learning through early mistakes how to manage it correctly).

One more benefit I can think of, that is different than starting work at 16 would be that at a younger age the parents would be more involved.

At 16yrs old, children can get jobs, cars, spending money and more freedom all in one step. 16yr olds also spend a bit less time with the parents than, say, 12yr olds. 12yr olds can't drive, have little freedom and depend more on the parents... in turn the parents have more ability to guide them through work ethics, managing money and overall personal responsibility. All before they are too old to be uncool by giving a flip.

Lastly, I think the age of a child working should be up to the child and parents... not the government. Also, there are cases where children need jobs. I've seen such cases, I've been such a case.

Your thoughts?

I started working for relatives in the summer when I was 14 years old. I was driving tractors in the hay fields, driving cattle and other miscellaneous chores on a cattle ranch. It is valuable to be able to work at that age. I have my doubts as to dropping it to 12. Your basic arguement is good. What restrictions to add? The number of hours to work?

I agree a child should have a part-time job. At 12 no. That is a little too young. But at say 14 or 15 sure. I would hope no more that say 12 hours a week during school. It does teach money handling, respondsibilty and they have money to save and spend. As for summer time when they are out of school maybe 20 hours. I think they still have to have a childhood. But good idea Madmax.

I guess the main reason kids aren't allowed to work until 16 is so that they will concentrate more on their education.

But, I do feel that kids should learn the value of work, and definitely before age 16. As for the right age to start working, I think it depends on their maturity level, so it'd be hard to pick a good minimum age.

I also believe there are several ways around the minimum age law. I believe the age restriction doesn't apply to family based businesses. Also if the child works for himself (like baby-sitting, mowing grass), it doesn't apply.

Well, I'm 14 now, and a lot of my friends still work. They are 14s and 15s, and legally they cant work, but grocery stores and comic book store sometimes need people badly, and break the law. They call it bending the law, but that is breaking.

I prefer if 14+ could work, because everyone in college knows it costs a lot of money. When you're 16, you can usually only make minimum wage. That means if they're trying to get a BA degree, it would still cost them close to 25k+ after you include the jobs during college. In GA Tech, it costs around 10K a year, and a *** NOTICE: THIS WORD IS AGAINST THE RULES. FAILURE TO REMOVE IT WILL RESULT IN A STRIKE. *** and BA is four years. On the student loans, it would take up ro 12 yrs to pay it all off!

L. Zeved

How about melding work with education? The thing I hated about many of the subjects studied in pre-college education was the lack of applied knowledge. Why do I need to know this stuff? However, if something could be shown to have a practical application, I sucked it all up. What if what you were learning also made you some extra spending cash and helped to support the school itself?

BTW, I started mowing lawns and doing odd jobs for spending cash when I was 10 years old. The labor laws apply only to hourly W2 employees, not independent contractors I did get a wink-wink gig at age 15 for the appliance store where my father worked. Working isn't necessarily bad for kids, but exploitation is. They can grow up to be Communists, you know. That's why we have the labor laws. Maybe it is time to think of something better, eh?