Effectively, children have always been involved in labor - the difference of the Industrial Revolution was that children were laboring separately from their parents, who might have some modicum of attachment to their safety and health.
this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2026
21 points (92.0% liked)
AskHistorians
1386 readers
16 users here now
QUESTIONS
- Be civil.
- Be specific.
- Historical topic must be from at least 20 years ago.
- Post questions in the title. Elaboration is for the text box.
RESPONSES
- Be civil.
- Provide comprehensive answers.
- Please provide primary and secondary sources upon good faith request. Tertiary sources, like Wikipedia, are not accepted.
askhistorians is a community for academic answers to questions about history. Polls, opinions, bigotry, grammar pedantry, and personal insults will be removed.
Be sure to check out our sister community at: !askscience@lemmy.world
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Specifically for mining:
Children were used in mines because they are smaller. This meant that the tunnels inside the mountains didn't need to be so big. Since removing the material was a big undertaking of manual labor before the use of explosives and other modern tools, one reason why children were used waa in order to lessen the necessary workload.
And in addition: children labour was the norm for the majority of the past. Childhood as a separate part of life without work (older than 5 years or so) is a pretty modern context. At least for the majority of people. Powerful families had different dynamics, as always.
They yearn for the mines