R W Burgess Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 Did you do something like this when you were a kid? * * * 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 We sure were held back when we were children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 (edited) Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. Or, in the case of the internet, absolutely NOTHING you see or hear..........................Bob Edited February 5, 2017 by Bhigdog (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plymouthcranbrook Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 We didn't own an end-loader, those pesky child labor laws. We used shovels. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 Starting when I was 4 my job was to throw the slabs into the basement and stack them. It would take me about a week to move a cord of slabs from the yard to stacked in the basement. One load of them had red ants. Not nice. At six they taught me to split the slabs into kindling. I guess they thought by that time that I was smart enough no to chop off fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillP Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 When I was 4 they'd set me behind the wheel of a B 53 Mack with a flatbed. This was in Grand-dad's hay field at baling time. The man reached in, pushed in the clutch, put the truck in low, eased out the clutch and then went back to help make bales and stack them on the flatbed. I had to steer a straight line down the field and then one of the men would come and turn the truck around. Back and forth we went. I was always a fan of those bulldogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleach Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 When I was no more than 4, my dad put me behind the wheel of a fork lift at his work. It was on the weekend so there was no one else there. I think he walked away to get something and I started it and started driving away. I remember him running after me to stop it before I could run into something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick8086 Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 I had to steer the cars.. Once it got to high to reach.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Roth Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Wayne, Have we found you a new labor source? Does the kidlet have a CDL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R W Burgess Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 As long as he doesn't cut himself with the ink pen in the office, he will be ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 50 years ago there would have been 200 coolies with baskets, now one toddler with a loader has taken their jobs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Typical of Industrialization, costs people their jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarFreak Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 Not 4 but when I was 5, sis & I were worked together to mix mortar in a wheelbarrow for dad to set blocks for our new family room. I remember it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28 Chrysler Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 I was around 6-7 I was turning parts down on a lathe for my father. I would stand on a round 5 gallon gear lube can to run the ( 1916 )12" X 60" South Bend Lathe. I got the lathe when my father passed away. I had to sell it because of a cross country move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 I didn't always work, as a child. But when I did I ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Eat traditional, my friend. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R W Burgess Posted February 7, 2017 Author Share Posted February 7, 2017 30 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said: I didn't always work, as a child. But when I did I ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Eat traditional, my friend. * * * That finger scares me Flat top! I also ate potted meat, vienna sausages, and little fruit cups for dessert. This was on the farm back in the middle-late 60's! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Mack_CT Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 Not quite as challenging as running construction equipment but when I was between 10 - 11 years old, we were picking my grandmother up at the train station in Hartford. I had model trains and like most kids that age, loved trains in general. Dad took me around to the back of the station, where a man noticed us and showed us around a bit. Then he said, "Come back around 7:00 PM tonight, and I will let him run the last train down to the yard??!!" My father almost did not do it thinking the man would either get in trouble or was just kidding, but we went, and sure enough (I think dad wanted to check it out as well), I got to run the train down a few miles to a big yard somewhere - it was not that hard to do, of course I was not going very fast and had no passengers aboard either. Small train, maybe 4 - 5 cars. The only scary part was when some kids dropped a bunch of beer cans on us as we went under an underpass and I was told that happened frequently. He showed us around and took us back to the passenger station by car. Probably 1974; don't think that would happen today! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 2 hours ago, Steve_Mack_CT said: Not quite as challenging as running construction equipment but when I was between 10 - 11 years old, we were picking my grandmother up at the train station in Hartford. I had model trains and like most kids that age, loved trains in general. Dad took me around to the back of the station, where a man noticed us and showed us around a bit. Then he said, "Come back around 7:00 PM tonight, and I will let him run the last train down to the yard??!!" My father almost did not do it thinking the man would either get in trouble or was just kidding, but we went, and sure enough (I think dad wanted to check it out as well), I got to run the train down a few miles to a big yard somewhere - it was not that hard to do, of course I was not going very fast and had no passengers aboard either. Small train, maybe 4 - 5 cars. The only scary part was when some kids dropped a bunch of beer cans on us as we went under an underpass and I was told that happened frequently. He showed us around and took us back to the passenger station by car. Probably 1974; don't think that would happen today! In 1971 when I was a Boy Scout, our group went on a field trip to the local railroad yard, and got to ride with the engineer for about a mile and back down the track. For whatever reason, I asked him what time it was, and he pulled out a pocket watch, and gave me a rundown on the history of certified 'Railway Accuracy' watches and why it was mandatory that he have it on him at all times while he was in control of the engine. Craig 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Novak Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 (edited) In the late 50's when I was around eight I started helping my Dad deliver furniture and appliances. He'd strap a Refrigerator on his back and I'd hold the door open for him. Picture kinda like Laurel and Hardy and the piano they carried up the steps. It was a part time job for him and he loved it. We also installed Window Air Conditioners for senior citizens and widows. I got to hand him the tools, and I loved it. It was cool. It didn't pay anything but I got to keep the Card Board boxes. I flattened them to sit on and slide down steep grassy hills. Edited February 9, 2017 by Doug Novak (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick8086 Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 It was not a big deal .. If you grew up on a farm You had to work.. Get eggs, drive the truck to pickup something... Etc No matter what your age.. It was your land.. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipdang Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 When my dad was only about 10 years old, he would wait for the coal truck to come because the drivers refused to back up Grandma's narrow driveway. Dad would grab the phone book sit on, run out, and by leaning on the phone book and partially standing he would back the truck up the driveway for them! And yes, Grandma confirmed this as true and not one of dad's "enhanced" stories! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted February 10, 2017 Share Posted February 10, 2017 From about 11 to 13 years old, working with customers in the tire shop I got so's I could recognize which one of the six basic personalities a person was from about 20 feet, sometimes farther. I guess I got to recognizing hard work about the same time. Some of the six personalities were OK, but I stayed away from ALL the hard work the best I could. "Cept when I met my Wife. She was kind of young and naive, if you can believe that. I'm just sittin' here right now thinking about where to take her to dinner tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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