Children participating in paid work is thought to be a valuable work experience that improves learning and responsibility. However, there is an opinion that believes otherwise and disproves this practice. In my opinion, I agree that children participating in paid work is a good experience and should be encouraged.
Firstly, paid work experience will teach children the value of money. For a large portion of a child’s life, most of their possessions are provided by parents. Children do not have the concept of how these items are earned, and have the constant expectation of wanting more. Via paid work, they will be able to learn the value of the dollar themselves. This will teach them financial responsibility from a younger age, which grooms them to not only appreciate what they receive, but to be financially smart with their money.
Secondly, paid work experience can teach life skills at a younger age. This in turn, will mould one to have better characteristics. For example, when working for others, there are superiors to answer to and employee standards to be held by. These will not only teach resilience, but also how to take criticism and hardship. Having these experiences whilst young, will mould certain characteristics that are crucial for long term success. This is especially seen in comparison to an opposing example of a child sheltered by their parents throughout their childhood. Without any prior interactions with criticism and pressure, they had less chances to develop these necessary characteristic which in turn, makes them easier to crumble under pressure and have a poorer chance of career success.
In contrast, there is the encouraging paid work experiences for children will inadvertently also encourage them to prioritise money and not their education goals. Having the option to earn when young can lead to the misinformation that a hard earned education is not necessary. Even though being able to earn from young can be a good thing, a proper education will always set a child up for better options in their future and it is crucial that the importance of education is not diminished.
In conclusion, I believe that paid work for children should be encouraged as it teaches them the value of money and moulds their character for better future success. Even though there is the concern that paid work while young will discourage the importance of education, I believe this can be mitigated with proper information and limits set up for child labour. If there is a government limit on how much a child can work, this will ensure that schooling can still be made a priority.