In conversations with my kids, I asked “what is it that you want to do in life?” This and many other questions I ask them on a periodic basis is my way of purposely trying to get the “thought juices” flowing in their minds. My two oldest children are anywhere from 2-4 years from going to college and having even more control over their own life decisions. My goal is to lessen the blow of life hitting them when they are out in the real world.
I personally like the idea of children working while in school. This opportunity will give them a lot of valuable personal as well as professional experience that they can carry for a lifetime. Of course, pursuing a job while in school should be part time and grades & schoolwork should not suffer because of a job. But one thing I do want to bring to light are age limits to working with machinery and open a decision about them. Should age limit cap on the operation of machinery be revised?
When I was as young as 10, I used a lawnmower to cut the front and back lawns of my house where I lived. I also used a weed eater to do trim and an edger to do edging. I had a plethora of lawn tools to use thanks to my dad. Later I started to acquire some of my own to have and use to make some extra money with. My experience is an example of knowledge I can use in my lifetime as pass down to my kids which was learn at home, but what if I wanted to get a job during the summers using that same equipment? I remember getting a summer job and working for a city recreational department cleaning up city park areas. We were not allowed to use any of the power lawn equipment because we were under the age of 18. This memory is part of my reason to write this blog and ask the question “Should we revisit the age limits on the operation of machinery?”
The intelligence of young adults today is remarkable and begs to wonder if we as a society can be holding our youth back? Actually, this blog is one of many in a series I will be write questioning many of societal age constraints on our youth. I believe (and of course this is my opinion) we should revisit and change most age limits once it is clear that the pool of young adults in the new limits does show that most are able and willing to be as safe & able to operate said machines. In the past been a lot of litigation concerns when it comes to young adults operating machinery at businesses, but not sure if age should be the only aspect used as a determining factor in when considering whether someone is qualified to operate a machine. I think it should be a determined on a case by case basis.
What do you think? Please comment below.
Good article!
Thank you.