Little boy works as Bangkok bus conductor (VIDEO)

[englishoak]

"What were you doing when you were his age?"

Paper round and walking peoples dogs at 10.

[Baerboxer]

For one, it's illegal under Thai law. It's clearly unlawful child labor. The boy should be in school. For those of you who want to romanticize about you jobs in your youth, I suggest that you look at your country's laws on permissible child labor. It's not cute at all.

Do try and take an adult perspective on this, rather than pander to the PC brigade who want to control every thought and action. An Indian commenting on child labor abuses is rich, btw,

The article said he was probably helping his dad after school. Probably sees this as a bit of an adventure. I always helped my dad during school holidays, and sometimes at weekends or after school. Not for any money, but because it was fun and I liked being with my dad at that age.

[Baerboxer]

To some people initiative is a dirty word.

To some people child abuse are dirty words, and quite right too!

Some people don't understand the difference between child abuse and children doing things with their parents that they actually like.

Exploiting children for commercial gain - a crime committed in many countries, sadly. Children learning by doing things, with their parents - wonderful to see.

[Baerboxer]

Some it seems would like to bring back slavery or put children up chimneys again, Charles Dickens eat yer heart out.

How many chimneys have you discovered in Thailand?

[Felixthecat]

I only started working at 15....at 10 i was still riding my BMX & skateboard after school

[Artisi]

This boy helps to his father (driver of bus), he is not an exploited kid-worker.

This is not a big deal, when I was 10 I helped to my father to work too. I did it cheerfully and I was proud of myself.

But look around at:

- construction areas where you will find many migrant under-age worker to do a specially hard and dangerous job,

- tourist destinations in BKK, where you will find many poor children to use as beggar under the sun without any protection,

- rose sale children, I guess you have seen already,

- massage, karaoke and other "brothels" where you will find many under-age sex-workers, who are full exploited.

Yeah yeah - being on a construction site, or a beggar, selling roses till midnight, or an under-aged sex-worker is ok, just don't be seem doing anything useful otherwise all the righteous aunties will be on your back crying how criminal and unfair it is.

[Radar501]

I cringe when I see the little Thai girls in their pretty frocks walking through the girly bars of Pattaya late at night selling stems of roses.

The adult minders who escort them around could be hawking the flowers instead, but lack that 'cute as a button' sales pitch, don't they?

Not the place for a small child.

[Artisi]

He's in a stressful environment

He's probably drop dead tired at the end of the night

Non air con buses are not healthy and he's very likely to pick up infections from the public as well as the air polution

He is probably behind in his education than other kids

We don't know if he is being pressured into doing it

it's illegal and against bus company poilicy

you would not let your son be doing this but it's alright for a Thai!

yes, all probably true, but...:

He is not at the video game arcade

He is not making "friends" with a gang

He is not staying up all night

He is learning about the relation between work and money

He learns to socially interact with people

...just food for thought...

Thought = thinking - a bit hard for some with a one track outlook on life where everything outside their own small world (which is good) is bad..

[jacky54]

Some it seems would like to bring back slavery or put children up chimneys again, Charles Dickens eat yer heart out.

How many chimneys have you discovered in Thailand?

Not as many as in that dump called Leicester, there the kids are more likely to be raped, so maybe Thailand is not quite so bad! Depressing that people on here are not more concerned about child welfare in Thailand just because they had a paper round when they were 5 and it 'never me any harm'.

Edited September 16, 2014 by jacky54

[jacky54]

I cringe when I see the little Thai girls in their pretty frocks walking through the girly bars of Pattaya late at night selling stems of roses.

The adult minders who escort them around could be hawking the flowers instead, but lack that 'cute as a button' sales pitch, don't they?

Not the place for a small child.

Quite right but some would say better they are child slaves than in the workhouse or brothel surely?

People on here advocating child exploitation would never for one moment let their own kids be exploited like this, hypocrites.

[pookiki]

For one, it's illegal under Thai law. It's clearly unlawful child labor. The boy should be in school. For those of you who want to romanticize about you jobs in your youth, I suggest that you look at your country's laws on permissible child labor. It's not cute at all.

Do try and take an adult perspective on this, rather than pander to the PC brigade who want to control every thought and action. An Indian commenting on child labor abuses is rich, btw,

The article said he was probably helping his dad after school. Probably sees this as a bit of an adventure. I always helped my dad during school holidays, and sometimes at weekends or after school. Not for any money, but because it was fun and I liked being with my dad at that age.

We can all speculate about the circumstances under which this boy was working. I don't think you have any special mental powers to make the determination whether this boy's welfare is being looked after any more than I do. What is clear is that the boy is in a public setting and doing work that is 'supposed' to be performed by someone old enough to be working as an employee of the bus company. The company is breaking the law and the driver is breaking the law. Maybe we should let him drive the bus? That would truly be an adventure for him and everyone on the bus!

If there was actually another conductor on the bus who was a relative and the boy was helping the conductor pass out tickets or make change, maybe I could put a different spin on it.

I suggest that you visit the ILO website and look at the publications on child labor. Its a huge problem. I think any attempt to trivialize it or make it 'cute' is repugnant to what should be the core values of a mature society. If I'm part of the PC brigade for saying that, so be it.

[pookiki]

For one, it's illegal under Thai law. It's clearly unlawful child labor. The boy should be in school. For those of you who want to romanticize about you jobs in your youth, I suggest that you look at your country's laws on permissible child labor. It's not cute at all.

Do try and take an adult perspective on this, rather than pander to the PC brigade who want to control every thought and action. An Indian commenting on child labor abuses is rich, btw,

The article said he was probably helping his dad after school. Probably sees this as a bit of an adventure. I always helped my dad during school holidays, and sometimes at weekends or after school. Not for any money, but because it was fun and I liked being with my dad at that age.

We can all speculate about the circumstances under which this boy was working. I don't think you have any special mental powers to make the determination whether this boy's welfare is being looked after any more than I do. What is clear is that the boy is in a public setting and doing work that is 'supposed' to be performed by someone old enough to be working as an employee of the bus company. The company is breaking the law and the driver is breaking the law. Maybe we should let him drive the bus? That would truly be an adventure for him and everyone on the bus!

If there was actually another conductor on the bus who was a relative and the boy was helping the conductor pass out tickets or make change, maybe I could put a different spin on it.

I suggest that you visit the ILO website and look at the publications on child labor. It's a huge problem. I think any attempt to trivialize it or make it 'cute' is repugnant to what should be the core values of a mature society. If I'm part of the PC brigade for saying that, so be it.

[seajae]

started a paper round at 5.30 am, 6 days a week when I was 12. At 13 I worked in a butcher shop on my school holidays as well, we grew up before there was social security to help so after my dad died I didnt have much choice but to help bring in money. I got to keep 1/3rd, the rest went as "board" to help mum keep everything going.

[recycled]

Back in the 50's in Oz as an eight year old cub scout we did what you call 'Jobs for Bobs' to raise money. The jobs ranged from cutting wood to cleaning yards. At 10 years old it was a paper round, and at 12 years old delivering milk from 5am in the morning. You see there was no welfare back then, so when the old man got laid of from work all off his 5 sons pitched in. The only thing I find wrong with it is when the next generations had it stopped - the beginning of the downfall of a great country, run by lazy kids brought up on government handouts.

[jacky54]

cardboard box, we lived in hole in ground!

Edited September 16, 2014 by jacky54

[siampolee]

We're all still waiting to see how you will help out in this situation Jacky54. platitudes by the dozen from you but no constructive comments or ideas on how to eliminate the evil you see.

Love people who can afford their principles.

[gemini81]

Some it seems would like to bring back slavery or put children up chimneys again, Charles Dickens eat yer heart out.

LOL. Are you gettin' stoned & writing the scripts for channel 3 soap operas?

[ratcatcher]

cardboard box, we lived in hole in ground!

jacky54, you need to get up earlier if you want to keep up with the guys on this forum.We all did the "hardship when we was young" bit last week, thanks to the Python.

Had you actually lived in a hole, I am sure you'd have reported it to HRW as unsuitable accommodation in a civilized country.

I just sent our ten year old out to the khlong to clear water hyacinth, good exercise too.

[jacky54]

We're all still waiting to see how you will help out in this situation Jacky54. platitudes by the dozen from you but no constructive comments or ideas on how to eliminate the evil you see.

Love people who can afford their principles.

Prosecute those responsible of course, or would that be too 'PC'?

[Gandtee]

At his age I was working in a bakery, helping the baker grease the tins, press out the jam tarts etc. I also had a morning paper round and occasionally helped another baker delivering produce to shops.This was in the mid 1940s in London. No homework and I still had time to play on the bombed sites.

[Gandtee]

cardboard box, we lived in hole in ground!

jacky54, you need to get up earlier if you want to keep up with the guys on this forum.We all did the "hardship when we was young" bit last week, thanks to the Python.

Had you actually lived in a hole, I am sure you'd have reported it to HRW as unsuitable accommodation in a civilized country.

I just sent our ten year old out to the khlong to clear water hyacinth, good exercise too.

We did live in a hole in the ground. It was called an Anderson Air Raid Shelter and we slept in it most nights when the blitz was on in London and sometime in the days when daylight raids were being carried out. Us kids, like our parents endured hardship and I think we turned out better for it.

[trainman34014]

Just seen the kid and his Father on the TV news as they have become celebrities now. Poor family and kid has not been to school for two years. Truth is he probably learns more working with people every day than he would sitting in a village school in Thailand playing with a free crappy tablet. I bet he can even count without a calculator, no mean feat in this country !

[belg]

if the driver is from myanmar / cambodia / laos, so his child is not entitled to any thai education, it might be his full time job...

[Basil B]

I used to help my farther when I was his age...

just depends on how long and how often he has to work.

[Baerboxer]

Some it seems would like to bring back slavery or put children up chimneys again, Charles Dickens eat yer heart out.

How many chimneys have you discovered in Thailand?

Not as many as in that dump called Leicester, there the kids are more likely to be raped, so maybe Thailand is not quite so bad! Depressing that people on here are not more concerned about child welfare in Thailand just because they had a paper round when they were 5 and it 'never me any harm'.

Another highly intelligent post demonstrating your intellect.

Your opinion of Leicester is immaterial, off topic and if aimed at baiting me unlikely to succeed.

Equally, your assertion of child rapes in Leicester is based on what? Research, statistics or some racist slur on that city's Asian ethnic population based on bigoted opinion?

It would be illegal to employ a paperboy/girl of 5 years of age in the UK. Do you actually know of people breaking the law? Many teenagers did paper rounds and I don't think the majority suffered. Perhaps you know different?

Try and get a grip. The post is about a boy, doing some work with his dad, and thoroughly enjoying it looking at the video. Then out come the PC "know it all brigade" and try and link it through some twisted sophistry to Dickensian Victorian child labor exploitation and child rape abuse in the UK.

Try and post without making inflammatory comments which often reveal more about the writer than succeeding in their intended attempt.

[Baerboxer]

We're all still waiting to see how you will help out in this situation Jacky54. platitudes by the dozen from you but no constructive comments or ideas on how to eliminate the evil you see.

Love people who can afford their principles.

Prosecute those responsible of course, or would that be too 'PC'?

Very clever. Prosecute his father, put the child under social care eh Jacky54?

We've all read about how successful child welfare and social workers in the UK have been in recent times.

But hey, common sense is no substitute for the grand PC thinking.

Hit the those that exploit child labor, bonded labor and transgress labor laws for sure. But have the humility to accept that some parents know best and don't have to follow the path laid down by the all knowing and caring great PC social workers.

[Chaz1819]

I was on a bus several years ago about mid-day. There was a young girl on the bus. By her appearance, she couldn't have been more than twelve. There appeared to be a relationship between the driver and the girl but that was speculation on my part. The girl was so fatigued that she finally went to sleep on one of the seats and the fared went uncollected after that. She was still asleep when I got off the bus. I guess it's ok to pick and choose the laws we want to observe when it comes to children's welfare - especially when so many of the posts seem to think that children who work will be much better people as a result. It also appears that everyone has some type of extra-ordinary ability to determine when children are being exploited or not. The laws on child labor are there for a reason. If you think the child labor laws should be ignored or that it's ok to flaunt the law, where's the limit?

I agree pookiki we can't pick and choose. The laws need to always be followed because many times they are abused.

I posted in favor of the young lad working because I think people need to remember that it can, often is, a healthy, happy thing for kids to work with their parents. Also, culture plays a role in the parents choices.

The laws do a lot to protect children and we certainly need them. But they don't relieve people of the responsibility to be aware of individual circumstances, choices and happiness.

It bothered me that the boys father was assumed to be an evil exploiter because his boy worked with him.

[CMNightRider]

We're all still waiting to see how you will help out in this situation Jacky54. platitudes by the dozen from you but no constructive comments or ideas on how to eliminate the evil you see.

Love people who can afford their principles.

Prosecute those responsible of course, or would that be too 'PC'?

Who do you want to prosecute? I think it's great this kids father has his son working with him after school. I was mowing lawns when I was 10 years old, and continued to have jobs after school, and on the weekends until I graduated from High School. It made me feel good to have my own money. Don't be so judgemental.

On the bright side, you are not alone. I have ran into several pencil neck retirees in CM, who had parents who gave them everything they wanted and sheltered them from the outside world. Generally speaking, they grew up to be liberals. :-(

[Baerboxer]

For one, it's illegal under Thai law. It's clearly unlawful child labor. The boy should be in school. For those of you who want to romanticize about you jobs in your youth, I suggest that you look at your country's laws on permissible child labor. It's not cute at all.

Do try and take an adult perspective on this, rather than pander to the PC brigade who want to control every thought and action. An Indian commenting on child labor abuses is rich, btw,

The article said he was probably helping his dad after school. Probably sees this as a bit of an adventure. I always helped my dad during school holidays, and sometimes at weekends or after school. Not for any money, but because it was fun and I liked being with my dad at that age.

We can all speculate about the circumstances under which this boy was working. I don't think you have any special mental powers to make the determination whether this boy's welfare is being looked after any more than I do. What is clear is that the boy is in a public setting and doing work that is 'supposed' to be performed by someone old enough to be working as an employee of the bus company. The company is breaking the law and the driver is breaking the law. Maybe we should let him drive the bus? That would truly be an adventure for him and everyone on the bus!

If there was actually another conductor on the bus who was a relative and the boy was helping the conductor pass out tickets or make change, maybe I could put a different spin on it.

I suggest that you visit the ILO website and look at the publications on child labor. Its a huge problem. I think any attempt to trivialize it or make it 'cute' is repugnant to what should be the core values of a mature society. If I'm part of the PC brigade for saying that, so be it.

"Maybe I could put a different spin on it" - says it all really. Putting a spin on a simple story and turning it into a crusade about child labor!

There are massive issues with exploited labor - child labor, bonded labor, slave labor. Enforcement of laws is often lacking due to corruption, political indifference and the tacit acceptance of those who take advantage of the cheap goods and services it provides. Some of the examples that can easily be researched in the Indian sub-continent, South America, and Africa make horrendous reading. Exploitation for sexual activities and people trafficking are major social issues, as is the continued exploitation of women in many countries.

I have not trivialized that in any of my posts, so please don't put one of your "spins" on my comments. Do you understand what exploitation is? You interpret a boy working with his dad, and seemingly enjoying it - fine. Then why not make a difference. Why don't you pay his father so the son doesn't have to do this and can go off to school? You feel it's exploitation then stop it. Or go to the authorities and make a complaint.

[Jonmarleesco]

With such a complacent public attitude towards the problem of child labour - and beggars - it's no wonder that the issue doesn't even merit a footnote on political party policy statements.