I agree that kids should learn a work ethic. I don't agree that they should be taught such an ethic by working in jobs where they pose a danger to themselves and to the others around him.
What about all the generations of parents whose kids helped out on the family farm, operating trucks, tractors and combines? Were they guilty of child abuse? Never mind that. What about the frontier parents whose kids helped fight off marauding Indians? What kind of ethics were they instilling in their children?
"What kind of ethics were they instilling in their children?"
The ones that made this country great.
The current 2 or 3 generations aren't worth the powder to blow them to hell.
The law in this case seems to make a distinction- farm work is excepted. People are romantic about family farms, I guess.
What about the frontier parents whose kids helped fight off marauding Indians? What kind of ethics were they instilling in their children?
At the time, everyone had to pitch in to survive. Here, we're talking about a parent who is putting his kids in danger to make some sort of moral point. Though his desire to teach his kids about the work ethic is admirable, the way he has chosen to do so is not.