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20 years ago you could drop out of school at 14 and work full time. At least in the state I lived in.
What State was that? According to this chart, education was compulsory in all states from ages 7 to 16 by 1929 with the last state to enact that being Alaska in 1929. Some allowed kids to drop out if they completed high school or got their GED. No place allowed drop outs at 14 in 1995 (20 years ago) and no place allowed kids to work full time in 1995 (20 years ago).
We see this sort of side topic come up on other threads. I was curious about other people's thinking on this. A few caveats.
This is not intended to be a judgement on what other people choose. I would hope that people can discuss what they choose and why, expected results when the choice was made, and if possible actual results from experience of exercising that choice. It is assumed that, of course, all parents are making the best choices for their family from their knowledge, beliefs and experience. That is to say, I hope that differing opinions are not assumed to be judgements and that those difference can be shared without judgement.
The question comes up about the balance between doing FOR your kids (laundry, fetching their forgotten lunch to their school, making their lunches...) and requiring/expecting your kids to do for themselves. Obviously this is going to depend on age. Which way do you tend and why?
Lady comes up to my counter (Deli) with 3 kids (Youngest is 6-7 then 2 older ones 13-15) and so one kid says "I hate shopping" I then say "Want to make it quicker then?' Kid is "Heck yeah" I smile and then spring the trap "Then look at the list, ask what your mother wants when she says "Biscuits" and go get them, then the next and the next. Then the shopping will be done faster and you get home quicker. That what I did when I was shopping with MY mother"
Mom looked at them, they stood there bug eyed.....I will remember that for a long time...
No, but still your job to prepare them for adulthood.
And most parents handle that just fine. My kids rarely did laundry, or cooked, or even did dishes. As adults, they manage to keep themselves fed and in clean clothes, and their homes are as neat as the ones they grew up in. Maybe even a bit neater, since the dogs stayed when the boys left.
Cooking and cleaning aren't rocket science. If you can read, you can follow directions.
What State was that? According to this chart, education was compulsory in all states from ages 7 to 16 by 1929 with the last state to enact that being Alaska in 1929. Some allowed kids to drop out if they completed high school or got their GED. No place allowed drop outs at 14 in 1995 (20 years ago) and no place allowed kids to work full time in 1995 (20 years ago).
My guess is that the law wasn't enforced... I'm pretty sure we had kids drop out before age 16 at my school, but I'm not sure what anyone did about it. We had to get working papers from the school at age 16, though, so unless they were working under the table, I'm not sure how a younger teen could get around that. (I'm also not sure how that's handled now! I should look into it... or rather, tell my son to look into it, since he's the one who wants to get a job!)
And most parents handle that just fine. My kids rarely did laundry, or cooked, or even did dishes. As adults, they manage to keep themselves fed and in clean clothes, and their homes are as neat as the ones they grew up in. Maybe even a bit neater, since the dogs stayed when the boys left.
Cooking and cleaning aren't rocket science. If you can read, you can follow directions.
This. My main concern is not having to having to do all the grunt work myself, and having them learn what it's like to have to pick up other people's stuff (in hopes of teaching them to be more considerate with their own clutter). We've got a room rotation going on right now, where they're each responsible for the upkeep of an assigned room. It's not a heavy workload (mostly just keeping up with the clutter, picking up whatever needs to be picked up, running the vacuum as needed), and in addition to that they are responsible for folding and putting away their own laundry. Other duties might include not expecting me to fetch snacks and drinks while they're laying around doing nothing; ages 11, 8, and 5 are plenty old get off your ass and fix your own damn lunch.
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