A father recently took to social media to commend his teen son’s character and work ethic. But what began as a celebratory moment turned into something entirely different once people online began weighing in. Folks accused the dad of praising his son for enduring exploitative child labor laws.
Although we’re sure this dad didn’t see it coming, perhaps some valid points were made … or perhaps, people are just speaking on other people’s children with limited information … again. Take a look at the controversy and you decide.
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'I couldn't be more proud of him,' this dad wrote about his 14-year-old son.
“HUGE shout out to this kid of mine, 14 years old and has a PT job at Burger King. Not only does he work every day he can including weekends when most kids are out enjoying their summer, he goes in early and stays late almost every time he works," Chris Crawford wrote in a Facebook post that was then tweeted.
“He loves every minute of it," he continued. "Making his own money, saving for a car, being responsible in his decisions, becoming a respectable young man!!! I couldn’t be more proud of him! Some of y’all lazy, grown-a– people out there should take notes!!! #prouddad.”
Along with the shout-out, Chris shared a picture of his son in his uniform, working the drive-thru.
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People said this boy choosing to spend so much time away from home pointed to something dark.
It didn’t take long before people began offering their opinions. One X user took a screenshot of the Facebook post and shared it on X with a caption of her own.
“God this is depressing,” she wrote simply.
Another user agreed. “So fun fact, this type of stuff causes psychological damage in adult life. As it turns out when kids don't get their full childhood to be children they struggle to be adults in adulthood,” the person wrote.
Someone even suggested that a young teenager choosing to work over the summer pointed to “something dark happening somewhere.”
Other people shared their experiences working as teenagers.
There were others who felt the Twitter discourse had gotten a little carried away. They shared the positive experiences they had from working as teenagers.
“I worked at 13 and loved it,” another person wrote. “My home life was happy. I was focused on what I wanted. I was able to retire at 45 because I started investing at that young age. His father said he loves it. People are not all the same.”
Someone shared that working this hard as a teen can cause psychological damage.
Others pointed to the privilege many must have had not having to work as teens. And other people asked for the study or literature that supported the claim that having a job as a teen could cause psychological damage.
“Lmao … y’all had mommy and daddy’s money to carry you thru your teens then. Shut the f— up trynna analyze this kid’s situation. I’ve been working since 16 lmao," one person commented.
There has to be a balance.
As someone who chose to work at 12/13 years old, I myself loved earning my own money and not having to ask my parents any time I wanted to buy something. And the work I did was never too time-consuming or distracting from my schoolwork.
On the other hand, it wasn’t until I was forced to sit down during maternity leave that I realized I wasn’t all that good at taking a break. I don’t think working that young caused psychological damage, but children and even adults need to establish balance and boundaries when it comes to work.
