Let’s Reopen Society: But Without Kids This Time, Okay?
This is our chance, folks.
For the past century, give or take, institutions all over the world have been doing their best to make everything more kid-friendly. I feel it’s no coincidence this gradual child-ization started after the U.S. congress passed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916.
Granted, that wasn’t the be-all and end-all of child labor protections. In fact, it barely covered enough surface to light a match on. But it marked when the government started to value children of all classes, and when they became serious about keeping them safe.
It’s a jungle in there
Prior to the 20th century, the closest any government came to “protecting” child workers was through a series of deliberate Factory Acts. These tone-deaf laws popped up in the United Kingdom during the early and mid-1800s. The only problem with them was: they forgot to protect the kids. Instead, these laws kept rugrats indentured to factories for their entire lives.
One of the earliest acts from 1833 allowed for minimal concessions such as:
· Children under nine years of age were no longer permitted to work.
· Children aged 9–13 could only work a maximum of nine hours a day and forty-eight hours a week.
