Children During The Great Depression A Research Paper

Lily Wiseman Ms. Moore English Honors - Period 3 28 March 2023 Negative Effects of the Workforce on Children During the Great Depression: A Research Paper Over 2 million kids ages 10-18 joined the workforce during the Great Depression (Woytinsky 95). During the Stock Market crash of the 1930s, the competition for jobs was at an all-time high. When parents were not bringing in enough money to support the family, kids had to join the workforce to help. Some may think that this switch in children’s roles was beneficial for them because it made them more well-behaved and mature when in reality, these children were exhausted and just wanted their childhood back. When kids realized the wages from part-time work were not enough, and they needed more

Finally, having their whole childhood revolved around work, the kids never got to enjoy the time they had as kids. Ann Marie, a young girl who worked on her family farm during the Great Depression, suggests “Maybe next year we won’t have to work so hard” (Ruth 7-8). These children suffered for 11 years working as hard as they could just so that they could have food on the table, and many times it was not enough. They matured much too quickly, which eventually led to many problems in their futures, such as addictions to drugs or alcohol. In the book Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman, a nine-year-old wrote to First Lady Elenor Roosevelt “I’m always sorry because I’m still very young and can’t help out” (Freedman 4). After his mother found out that their family could not keep their business open, the child started to feel bad that he was too young to help out. He wrote this hoping that it would help in some way. The pressure to join the workforce even affected the kids who were too young to work. Overall, joining the workforce had many negative effects on the children of this era such as a lack of education, health problems, and a loss of their