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Children’s work arises from the fact that children find their way into society by mimicking those about them. Since work is a fundamental human activity that provides individuals not only means of livelihood but also a constructive place in society, from a very early age children playfully mimic the work activities about them and constructively participate as soon as they are able. Success in such activities brings a sense of achievement and belonging in the community. Exclusion can be hurtful. Domestic work provides a paradigm example: all families but the rich must work at cleaning, cooking, caring, and more to maintain their homes. Children learn the skills necessary to maintain a home by participating in these activities. In most families in the world, this process extends to productive activities, especially herding and various types of agriculture, and to a variety of small family businesses. Where trading is a significant feature of social life, children start trading in small items at an early age, often in the company of family members or of peers. Children may accompany parents in paid employment, contributing when payment is based on the amount of work done. Work, therefore, even in economic activities, is undertaken from an early age by vast numbers of children in the world and has a natural place in growing up. Work contributes to the well-being of children in a variety of ways; children often choose to work to improve their lives, both in the short- and long-term. At the material level, children’s work often contributes to producing food or earning income that benefits themselves and their families; and such income is especially important when the families are poor. Work can provide an escape from debilitating poverty, sometimes by allowing a young person to move away from an impoverished environment. These benefits can be impaired when their produce is denied access to markets. Young people often enjoy their work, especially paid work, or when work involves the company of peers. Even when work is intensive and enforced, children often find ways to combine their work with play. A more important function of work is that it enables children to acquire a constructive place in their communities, providing status and self-esteem. They learn social and life skills, many of which are not readily acquired outside the workplace. As young people become competent, through work (even through unskilled work) they can learn to relate to people outside the family, including employers and customers. Working children have, in some places, created organizations and movements to advocate for their rights both as workers and as children. Some children seek employment to learn a craft in an apprenticeship or to acquire experience relevant for later employment. Work should therefore be considered a component of education rather than something in opposition to education. == Work and School == Full time work hinders schooling, but empirical evidence is varied on the relationship between part-time work and school. Sometimes even part-time work may hinder school attendance or performance. On the other hand, many poor children work for resources to attend school. Children who are not doing well at school sometimes seek more satisfactory experience in work. Good relations with a supervisor at work can provide relief from tensions that children feel at school and home. When schools are not readily accessible or teaching is unsatisfactory, children may leave school, and work becomes an alternative occupation. In the modern world, school education has become so central to society that schoolwork has become the dominant work for most children, often replacing participation in productive work. This requires a social and economic context in which the skills acquired in school allow children subsequently to participate fully in society. If in a particular economic situation school curricula and quality do not provide children with appropriate skills for available jobs, or for children whose aptitudes do not lie in schoolwork, it is questionable that school should remain the sole, or even the dominant, form of children’s work. Indeed, in such situations school may impede the learning of skills, such as agriculture, which will become necessary for future livelihood. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Child Work」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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