Child Labour & Lemonade Stand
Every child deserves learning and growth in their childhood, and freedom to explore & learn varied skills. It is just not optimal for the humanity that a child spends their time doing menial jobs just to earn a few bucks; all at the cost of exploring the world, learning about the possibilities around them, & stunting their overall growth in their lifetime.
The real problem is "the exploitation" of children by adults/society. No one bats an eye if a child artist works 10 hours a day practising singing/painting or undergoing (visually painful) endurance training for an upcoming marathon. Not just that, several parents around the globe encourage their children to start a "lemonade-stand business" so that they learn a thing or two while making a few bucks in the process. Such events are highly appreciated, and the adult supervising the child is adulated for their ability to influence/direct/channel the child.
Influencing your child to set up a lemonade-stand business "for their good" is ok because the child is doing it voluntarily, it is when you influence your child to a lemonade-stand business "for your good" and against the child's will that it becomes child labour.
A thought bomb: In the above post, replace "child" with "adult".
Every adult deserves learning and growth in their adulthood, and freedom to explore & learn varied skills. It is just not optimal for the humanity that an adult spends their time doing menial jobs just to earn a few bucks; all at the cost of exploring the world, learning about the possibilities around them, & stunting their overall growth in their lifetime. The real problem is "the exploitation" of adults by themselves/their bosses/society.
All in all, be it a child or an adult, the freedom to explore and learn is crucial for our overall well-being and development throughout our lives. If you do not have the freedom to try something new or learn something new in your workplace (or life, in general), you've got to introspect coz you might be exploiting yourself in the process.
By Girish Mahadevan | youtextme@gmail.com
PS: What is a "menial" job? Nothing and everything is! This is personal to everyone because one may find cooking as a chore and the other may find it as an art, however, for the most part, we all consider certain jobs to be menial. That's the intention!