I had a comment on one of my blog posts about youth working on the farm from a person who thought farmers were forcing their kids to work on the farm. They indicated we were wrong to do this and that our kids needed to be in school. In my blog post, I clearly stated my children willingly worked on our farm and it was something they loved doing.
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Like Chris's kids and little Hannah, my three kids would be devastated if they could not work along side their Dad and Grandfather on our farm. Feeding cows, helping with calves, helping with our horses is just fun to our 8,6, and 4 year olds. Learning how to balance chores and school teaches the kind of grown up time management skills that are crucial in any profession, but as I have said, my kids don't see that. They just see time on our farm as time with Dad, Mom, Grandmama, and Grandpa. I would hope that by hearing stories like my kids and Hannah's, the DOL will rethink their current proposition on the changes to the child labor laws.
