Summary Of Immigrant Kids

In the book Immigrant kids , The author tells us that immigrants had a very difficult time making a living. When they came over to America, many were lacking the education and skills, so they had to acquire the lowest paying jobs. If you worked twelve, or even fourteen hours a day, you still wouldn’t have enough money to support your family, so everyone had to help. Even the children in these families had to work. These children were around eight to ten years old, and you would mostly find these children working in factories, warehouses, stores, and laundromats. They also ran errands, delivered packages, hauled coal and firewood, sold newspapers, and shined shoes. Most of the children over the age of fourteen at this time also had full time
Girls at this time are also dealing with the same issues, except most of them are cashiers at stores instead of doing laborious work. These children also were told to lie about their age and inform the officer/boss that they were in fact over the age of fourteen. The majority of these children were undearaged, but there was only one instance of a truant officer calling and reporting this, but in about a month, the child was back in their place working. The laws that jobs required were also not followed well either. Legally, in factories, someone was allowed to work ten hours a day, and 6 days a week. Children under sixteen also couldn’t be employed unless they could read and write in English, and it was illegal to employ anyone under the age of fourteen. Some children’s work wasn’t hard. They would finish the major items that someone gave them. When inspectors came into the work scene, the bosses made sure everything was up to code for that day, in other words: there was no children there, then they would transfer back to their old habits. When it was a busy season, children had to work seven days a week, and it was unacceptable to skip a day. Many immigrants also worked at