Posted on 07/08/2004 8:32:22 AM PDT by ppaul
The pace is akin to watching grass grow.
No.......Stay safe !
The size of the bag is unimportant to those in it.
We the people through our duly elected representatives.
Look, I'm not disputing that some 14 year-olds are qualified to work in construction. Does that mean the laws should be changed so that all 14 year-olds can work?
How about other age of consent laws, such as my strip-club example?
"Data" is not the plural form of "anecdote."
The vast majority of 12-year-olds are not capable of operating heavy equipment.
Me too. I'm a Christian homeschooler myself, but my husband would be in serious danger of me if he let our son ride the peak of a house down the street.
The vast majority of 12 year olds have not been taught or allowed to practice good manners, either - should we tolerate all ignorance or only that which offends us.
Not following you.
Operating heavy equipment is a wee bit more serious than being ill-mannered.
And, at 12 years old, the vast majority of people lack (a) the physical coordination and (b) the life experience necessary. All I propose is that, if someone (child or anyone else) because the parent allowed (or, most especially, ordered) the child to do something that a jury of the parent's peers find to not meet the most basic level of reasonable prudence, the parent be held accountable for that death.
"Look, I'm not disputing that some 14 year-olds are qualified to work in construction. Does that mean the laws should be changed so that all 14 year-olds can work?"
There shouldn't be any laws restricting when someone is allowed to work or when they can start doing it, it's the parents responsibility to decide a kid has the knowledge and ability to work at whatever job they want to do.
I started to get my training using tools by the time I was 2 years old and was more than capable of working at 14. By 8 there wasn't power tools that I wasn't allowed to use or was fully capable of using.
I missed getting a drivers licence at 14 in California because they changed the law to 16 when I was only 12 and that really ticked me off because the kid up the street got his, he was 2 years older than I was and could drive to school in his chopped and channeled "A" coupe.
How about performing in pornography? Or working as a prostitute? (which is legal in certain parts of Nevada).
YOu should hear the tales my dad tells of working on the family farm... LOL I feel we are beginning to suffer Death By Safety in this country.
And properly so.
Actually, I agree with this idea. The problem is that too many parents don't want to be held to account when tangible proof of their lousy judgement arrives.
" How about performing in pornography? Or working as a prostitute?"
Still the parents responsibility, not yours or the states.
Congratulations; you've just advocated legalizing child pornography.
I started using power tools by the time I was 5 years old and went to work plastering for my dad when I was 14 durring vacations but I knew the rules and kept my mouth shut and of course never applied for their stupid permit which would have been denied because of the work I was doing.
When I was 12 the kid up the street and I worked on weekends rebuilding D-8 Cats for his father.
I also drove my first flathead rail at Santa Ana drag strip to 128 mph when I was 12.
This sounds like the America I used to know. I did much of the same and would allow my children to do so also. I would also use what I have learned to make them more safe, always use blocks and jackstands, (I didn't always) never work on an incline, never use gasoline to wash parts (I did) always use correct gloves, eye protection, and clothing ect.
We can't make everything perfectly safe, and kids need to learn to work and deal with risk maturely that's how they survive both as kids and adults.
This guy should take his kids off the high risk jobs and give them other work till they are 16 and trained and the state should take that and leave him alone.
I have no problem with kids learning work ethic and the family biz (and in fact encourage it), so long as the family biz does not put ME or others in danger.
And as someone else pointed out why doesn't Mr. Doty get a job instead of sitting around the house. I am sure he could be a day laborer at least.
The lack of reporting his employees hours and paying for insurance, heck he probably does not even have medical insurance on his own children should one of them bust their heads open falling off a house (so yes we would have to pay for his kids ER visit).
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