Children at work: The home workplace

Abstract

Young children's early experiences with the adult work world have generally been ignored by researchers. Consequently, little research base exists for understanding children's conceptions of the adult work world. This study, part of a larger investigation of families who work at home for income rather than in separate workplaces, focuses on children's experiences with work in such families. Twenty-seven children ages 7 months to 18 years were observed or interviewed in the family work setting. Findings indicate that all the verbal children held concrete knowledge of their parents' work, as was evidenced by their ability to label jobs, describe procedures, and name tools. Furthermore, all the children were involved with their parents' work in a developmental progression: (1) playing and watching, (2) simple tasks, (3) regular assistance, paid or unpaid, (4) regular paid work. Their experiences suggest that home-working parents play a powerful role in their children's work socialization.