Children During The Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution Essay Did you know that in England, there were children as young as three years old going to work? These kids were a part of the Industrial Revolution, and they fueled our industries today. The Industrial Revolution had both positive and negative impacts on children because of tough work conditions and poor treatment, but ultimately led to better life for children today. Some of the children in the workforce of the 1800s had very tough working conditions. These children would work anywhere from a 12 to a 16 hour work day, with little to no breaks in between. Because the children were so small, they were often told to clean the dangerous machines that they worked at, and many died while doing it. If a child failed to perform their duties or tried to leave, they were often punished with extra work hours and/or not having dinner. These conditions, albeit rough, inspired these children to make a better life for themselves in their adulthood, because they did not want their children to grow up having the same childhood that they did.
The “Masters” would send the smaller children up their chimney, to clean it. They didn’t cost anything, unlike the chimney sweeps of their time, and could fit in the smallest of chimneys. These children, though, were told to strip naked to prevent the coal dust from gathering in their pockets. This led to rape and sickness. The children were often malnourished, their meals less than ideal. The kids often were punished in very bad ways if they didn’t meet the Masters’ standards. There was a little girl who was locked in a “Punishment room” for a week once, and had to pass a corpse to get there. The way these children were treated is completely different from