How do Working Children Feel About Their Lives? And Why it Matters That We Know

Abstract

It is not only adults who work, nor the youthful population of underdeveloped countries. Everywhere in the world, from household chores to steady jobs, work is part of the life experience of children. Depending on the conditions and nature of this work activity and the age of the young person involved, it may be classified as child labour, youth employment, or just ‘helping out’, but regardless of its designation there are health risks involved. This chapter offers an example from the brick manufacturing sector to illustrate the value of eliciting the children’s own view of their mental and physical state and the situation in which they find themselves. It shows how this child-oriented (rather than adult-oriented) perspective on risks and well-being can be measured on a population basis and, as such, how it can be the entry point to more appropriate policies, whether of protection or prohibition. It argues that, for project and policy guidance, the methods for assessing children’s psychosocial well-being are not the same as those required for diagnosis and treatment of pathology, which are individualistic by necessity. Instead, these are methods which can and must be incorporated in routine surveys or preparatory studies for large-scale projects. Through them, we can gain a broader picture of how a particular group of children feel, and we avoid making interventions that, to our eyes, give them a “better” childhood but which, to their eyes, are not helpful at all.