Helping…
What kind of help can a seven and a ten-year-old provide? Aha, most people these days think that they can chat on the phone, play video games, and do a pile of TikTok dances but not work. Well, this is how helping went at our home. For one, we went home for lunch from school.
Who here remembers a ten-year-old and a seven-year-old walking home from school for lunch?
With a key tied (loosely) around my neck so I would not lose it, we left the school and walked! Yes, my brother and I walked home every day for lunch. We ate the sandwiches that were premade or sometimes we got inventive and made massive pancakes. Yes we knew how. What kid is even allowed to leave the school grounds nowadays? Absolutely no one!
Once We Were Home.
My mom often left instructions for me to mix burger meat with the appropriate spices and or even put things in the oven. I mean these are simple things but hey, we could also burn the house down. We prepared food, set the table and yes, we even got to do the dishes! So much fun when you are ten, right? Then came homework and dinner when Mom and Dad got home.
Sometimes we were hungry in between all that and we ate an appetizer, milk, and cereal if we needed to.
If we were lucky, we went out to play like normal kids. But that only lasted until there was work to be done.
How Could We Help?
Pretty easy actually. We had a little business making carpentry aprons. One style, one color, and that was it. We purchased the business from a friend who had retired. He stayed on as a salesperson. We helped by using the riveting machine, pulling on buckles, and laying out fabric on a ping pong table and packaging.
Little things but when you put all that together it all added up to having another adult around, I am sure. Slowly we got good at this shit. Unlike many countries around the world where child labor is used… I still say it was not child labor. We were helping, and learning, and were not forced, whipped, or abused in any way in this process. We knew and understood that we were working towards our goals. This is not forced child labor and because we could see the result, we had no issues working. We needed a new car, new shoes, food on the table, we worked. Many kids these days think money grows on trees; we knew better.
