Comments about ‘Parents defend putting children to work on farms’

John Myers is the epitome of the bureaucracy in the Federal Government; trying to protect everyone from everything. I was working on my family farm/ranch when I was 7, driving a tractor and plowing. WERE THERE RISKS, YES, AS IN EVERYTHING, from swimming or skateboarding, or simply walking across the street. As long a a child is not being used for slave labor, or being taken advantage of (such as child actors by their parents have been) then letting them work where the parents believe that the individual is capable of doing a particular activity should be allowed and encouraged. The idea of a well meaning individual in government should not make a decision to regulate and prevent someone from learning new things by doing potentiality risky jobs. Let our children learn; better than being in a gang with nothing to do and being killed by drive by's.

I noted that the do gooders compare risks of working on farms with risks of working in other industries. They should compare the risk of working on farms with the risk of "not working" and the often resulting deaths or injuries resulting from gangs, etc. I also worked on farms at an early age, including driving tractors before I was old enough to have a driver's license. On balance, I would say it was a positive rather than a negative experience.