Wrong Approach to Protecting Children’s Rights Against Work

When I went to the city this morning,( When I went to the city center one day) I saw people who are sitting on the sides of the sidewalk, just a little off so that they don’t block people walking. When I got near them, I realized they are men on of probably early 30’s. Their business craft is to look for people whose shoes need cleaning.

I remember when I was a kid, my classmates were earning money from shining shoes on weekends or days when there were no classes, or after school in the afternoon. The others go to the newspaper stand distributor and get newspapers, magazines, and comics to sell on the streets. I tried selling newspapers but I didn’t have luck on my first and last try. I was so discourage, I never tried it again.

I envied those classmates and friends because they were earning their own money. My parents won’t let me do such a thing and always say I was too young and don’t know what to do yet (A reason I lost self-confidence of what I can do). Although, there were times I sneaked to work for short times only, and one of them was doing massage to the older boys who paid me for my service (That’s when I learned the basics of massage. The only kind of work my parents did not say anything against it. Maybe they even liked it because at night they asked me to massage their backs using my feet when my small hands can’t give enough pressure to satisfy their aching back muscles).

I admit that many of those kids were from poor families like us, so they had to work in order to have allowances in school, and to buy papers and pencils they needed. Some of them stopped and others continued their schooling.

Those who stopped were of families, who don’t have other sources of food than to work daily, and those who were able to continue their schooling were, at least, their parents have resources.

And when I came here at the city of pines to go to college, I found kids who were doing the same thing like those in the province I came from – shining shoes and selling newspapers. I admired them for learning the importance of work and its value while being young.

But, all of a sudden the Children’s rights act was passed or probably revived. One of those things the bill wanted to eradicate is child labor. All of a sudden you don’t see shine-boys waiting for their customers anymore. No more kids selling magazines and newspapers; saved those kids selling plastic bags at the market to help their parents earn a living.

Because of the law, the children are now lazy if that’s the word to best describe their actions. Instead of spending their time to help at home, they are busy at the internet shops, or with their peer groups, worst if they are with gangs.

Parents cannot even reprimand them, like before, because they will be accused of child abuse. Gone were the days when one word was enough to move a child to action. Gone were the days when children can be trusted to do their works without taking orders from parents. Gone were the days when before their adult ages they are already matured and ready to take responsibility when they go out to explore life of their own. Today, even at their teen ages, they are still considered wearing diapers and breastfeeding.

I have seen a poster by Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation(PMFTC) in one of the farms of tobacco in my parent’s barrio which it says “Kid, you should be in school, playing, and of your parent’s care” together with a survey report by ECLT of the percentages of children working in tobacco farms and under it is a word from PMFTC about their anti-child labor stance, “We (PMFTC) do not allow children working in the tobacco work place.”

I am not against the billboard but the way it was worded is giving the notion that each child can resists work they can do to help their parents. That is a very wrong approach because it is one sided warning. The notice should have been focused on the parents and employers of children, saying, “Anyone who let their children to work more than what they can do, and doing work without supervisions in mixing chemical must be answerable to the law.” And besides, this organizations love to talk but can they give alternatives to the sources of income of those parents especially on the places in the Philippines they mentioned? I know the parents there more than want their children to finish school and have a degree. The problem only arises when the parents are lazy, irresponsible, or the parents are very industrious that they do works more than their capacity wherein they need hands to finish it – the children will surely involve if they don’t have enough financial to pay for an extra hand.

My point here, is while I admire the government for passing laws to protect the rights of children, I believe they went overboard to stopping the kids to learn work at an early age. Or their definition of kids working is not clear that parents are afraid to teach their children work by doing chores at home especially when it comes to helping the family provide food, as it is considered a responsibility of the parents to do. (No wonder most graduates are dumb when their time comes to apply for a job or lead people). To avoid those things, the responsible government agencies must conduct a regular “Responsible Parenthood Seminars” and “Goal Setting for Children.”

Responsible Parenthood Seminars will teach the parents to be aware of their responsibilities and the boundaries they should not cross when employing children or employing their own children. In addition, parents must be provided of an office where to go for advice in case a child is giving trouble and becoming undisciplined to ask for help.

Goal Setting for Children is to teach children the importance of managing their times and the advantages of finishing a degree in school. Many school kids don’t fine school as interesting because the school has a very defective way of measuring children’s ability – only children who have good academic grades are being recognized, while the talented and skilled are not being discovered. Formal education doesn’t want to acknowledge that each child has its own skill and talent which needs motivation and acknowledged like those whose talents are in the academic. The seminar must teach the rights of children about the boundaries where they can reject their parent’s directive or any employer if the works they are given violates their rights. In addition, they must be taught where to go to file their complaints in case they suspect one or more of their rights are being violated.

Work is a very important tool for children to learn responsibility and leadership. How will they know how hard it is to carry bags of cements, or to mix cement and sands and gravel? When those inexperience children become engineers they tend to become indifferent employers because they think those workers are not working enough. Or in the case of the tobacco industry, how will those children know how it is to work in the tobacco farm? What areas need to be improved? They will be like those who proposed the “anti-child labor act” talking of something they don’t have first-hand knowledge what it’s like to work as a child. I have a notion those who passed the law came from well to do families that even crossing a shaky hanging bridge will make them pass a law against children using hanging bridges to cross over a river.

In the high school where my kids were attending, the PTA boards wanted to pass a policy prohibiting children to not do their project of filming outside the vicinity of the school to avoid accidents outside the school, and the teacher must be always with them as supervisor-watcher. I argued it cannot be. Because when will those children work on their own to gain self-confidence, and learn to become independent when all their moves must be given permission first and always be watch like five years old. Accidents do happen all the time, but it should not be the reason for us to make our children cower and stay in one corner and afraid to explore the world outside. Instead, those accidents should guide parents and all concerned to plan a better way for our children learn how to avoid them, and to deal with them.




I observe kids who grew up without the benefits of hard works are still kids even when their ages say they are already adults – they tend to be indecisive “mentally invalid” adults. I see kids who were never in the company of drunkards, and other kinds of people of character do not know how to handle situations where argument is about to erupt. I saw Engineers who cannot make good decisions, and cannot manage people to make them work efficiently because as kids they did not do a menial work themselves. I saw a carpenter who worked hard since a kid lording over those professional engineers, architects, plumbers, and even bosses because he can make decisions, and be able to mobilize people effectively; however, cannot sign contracts and papers because of his lack of diploma (and this is a motivation for children to finish a career in line with their passion)

I know there are “parents” who forced their children to work more than what their age can do, just like the experiences of my parents when they were less than ten years old. And that’s where the focus of the law about children’s rights should be. To prevent adults, and parents, or anyone, company or institutions to force children work over their capacity, or do works adults must be doing.

However, I know that working at an early age can teach kids to become responsible human beings if they are given responsibilities they can handle. I am not saying my parents were perfect but my father saw to it that I didn’t work more than I could but saw to it that I don’t ran away from learning responsibility – so, it’s natural I would hear reprimands if I did not do my work because going to play was my priority, although I have been playing most of the day. There are times to play and times to learn to do some minor chores; I believe that’s why people like me are very poor in time management because we were not thought about it, too.

So, what is lacking about the law?

The law should encourage children to work! However, there must be agencies established to oversee how those children are working. What kind of works they are doing, and most especially, where are their earnings going. When kids are found working as shine boys, they must be registered and monitored by the agencies responsible for their welfare, instead of discouraging them to stop what they’re doing - labeling them as too young – which is like killing the child’s future, and his right to learn the value of works early. They should be given free seminars about career to take when they finished high school – that while still young their mind must be molded on what direction they take their life will be.

Children must learn the importance of work and responsibility at an early age. It is the time when they must know if the work is for them or not, thus, they have the rights to reject it, and it is where the guidance of adults is needed. Children must also learn the big advantage of finishing a degree related to their field of interest so that their voice will be given more weight by those people above.

Next, many of us kids learned to earn money; however, we did not learn how to manage that money. Many kids were working very hard but were just using their earnings to buy rugby and things that can destroy their health and future (ultimately a trouble to the society). The reason was because their knowledge about money was very limited. They only know money is to be used in buying things that will satisfy their wants, and desires. Thus, the government should provide professionals to teach kids how to save and invest their money, and to learn the basics of business entrepreneurship. If the government can encourage the young generation to become entrepreneurs (such as businessman, or inventors) then the problem of employments will be solved.

Formal education is very important, but that does not negate the fact that informal education is also equally important. Thus, the law must focus to balance the two by seeing to it that one should not be done in favor of the other.