General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Mining Would Be Exciting For Kids: Trumps Secretary Of Education Wants Legal Child Labor [View all]NickB79
(19,233 posts)I remember feeding cattle and pigs in the barn when I was 5, of shoveling manure when I was 8, and picking rocks in the field, baling hay, milking cows, collecting eggs, butchering chickens, castrating pigs, driving the tractors, and helping to repair buildings and equipment by the age of 10. Small farms can't operate without all the family members working together, because hired hands can be expensive if you need them more than once or twice a week.
It did teach me a lot of valuable life lessons and instilled a strong work ethic I still have today, but it was also hard, dangerous work sometimes. Apparently my mom kept a journal for the first decade after they started farming, and one entry I found simply says: "July 25, 1983. Nick kicked by a cow today." I guess I was kicked by a cow when I was 3 years old, and my mom didn't think very much of it?!?!
It's not a life I wanted for my family, which is one of the reasons I didn't take over the family farm.