Helicopter mommies protecting their sweethearts from everything are one part, stupid state laws limiting the ages one can begin working are another. It’s 16 or 17 in Maryland. Insane. I was earning money at 12 and a real paycheck at 14.
My father was a contractor who put me to
work while I was in junior high school,
so we were about the same age. When I joined
the Navy right out of high school, it’s
more like I was finally running away.
My next door neighbor’s kid just finished 6th grade. He hates school. He couldn’t wait for summer vacation to start so he could work on his grandpa’s farm. He’s been doing stuff like skidding logs for the last couple of years, at least. While in school (I sub there) he is sullen and convinced he’s stupid. Later that afternoon while doing chores he’s cheerful and full of energy.
If school doesn’t crush his spirit, he’ll do fine.
But even back then, very few of my classmates worked summers much less evenings during the school year.
Both parents in most cases had this damned stupid idea that if their little darlings focused on school, and then were pushed academically through college smoked dope and chased sexual conquests while being indoctrinated into Marxism they would still suddenly develop a work ethic in their twenties.
This can't be turned around unless both parents get their offspring usefully occupied early on.
Don't try to pawn this off as if only the extreme end produced the results we are seeing writ large. Plenty of people who I grew up with have still never held the same job for a decade. They never developed the discipline to get up even when they don't feel good.