As I sit here recalling my childhood, I remember wanting to earn money when I was only ten years old. I began babysitting for six children and did quite a bang-up job. The family never trusted anyone but me to keep their kids. I was proud of that fact and I was able to earn my own money to buy the things I wanted or needed.

I am not saying all children are ready at the age of ten to take on babysitting. I do believe they could be responsible enough to have a small paper route. If only the big newspaper companies did not demand so much now, they could easily furnish jobs for kids like mine who would love to make a little money. It is a shame the government has changed their standards about letting kids work. I was a very responsible child at an early age, but most children today are not even responsible when they become adults. Perhaps if they would give kids small paper routes that they could deliver on their bicycles like in the old days, it would keep more kids out of trouble.

My sons are always saying how unfair it is that they cannot have a paper route. They see it on "Leave it to Beaver" and they tell me that they know they could manage a paper route if only they could be given the chance. It is sad that the new laws and abuse of old laws are what caused our society to frown on kids working. If you notice, kids who help their parents in their own businesses usually grow up to own their own, as well. Either that, or they work in the family business and build it to be an even better one. Most of these young people grow up to respect their parents more, too, as well as any other authority. In most cases, I have noticed that they are better parents themselves. This is reason enough for the world to change and revert back to some of the old ways.

There use to be certain jobs that younger kids could be sure to get, like cleaning up stores or running errands on their bikes. They even let kids deliver groceries and other products. Now, society frowns on this and says children should not be working. I mean, I am not talking about slave-driving; I am simply saying that if a child wants to work and make a little money for himself or even perhaps help his family in crisis, the government and big business should never stand in their way. I believe this is one of the reasons it takes so much longer for kids to be mature. My kids always say, "Mom, I wish times were like it was when you were a kid." I can only sadly reply, "Me, too, honey, me, too."

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