Dad Causes Twitter Outrage After Posting That His 14-Year-Old Works "Every Day"

Sometimes people feel personally attacked when someone begins talking about their own perceived exploits and accomplishments. It's always, "Why would you want to do that?" or, "Why would you be happy for that?" or, "Don't you actually know that the activity you're participating in is inherently problematic and you shouldn't be proud of your accomplishments?"

Sometimes the criticism is entirely warranted. Like, if someone came up to me and wanted to share their excitement in becoming a Grand Dragon in the KKK, or that they won a Dance Dance Revolution competition, then I'd probably poo-poo their accomplishments.

But there are other exploits that many would agree are of "debatable" virtue. Like this dad's pride in praising his 14-year-old son's relentless work ethic.

The post, which was first circulated on Facebook by the dad (named Chris Crawford), started getting more eyeballs on it after it was posted on Twitter by @kittynoveau with the comment "god this is depressing."

Chris's post reads, "HUGE shout out to this kid of mine, 14 years old and has a PT job at Burger King. Not only does he work every day he can including weekends when most kids are out enjoying their summer, he goes in early and stays late almost every time he works. He loves every minute of it."

Chris continued, "Making his own money, saving for a car, being responsible in his decisions, becoming a respectable young man!!! I couldn't be more proud of him! Some of y'all lazy, grown-a-- people out there should take notes!!! #prouddad."

A lot of folks on Twitter weren't exactly happy with the dad's enthusiasm for his son's work ethic. Some outright questioned the number of hours his 14-year-old son was working.

Others pointed out that if this young man was indeed working as much as his father says he was, then he wouldn't be working part-time hours. Then there were those who began referencing child labor laws.

Generally speaking, a "part-time" employee is usually someone who works under 30 hours a week. While the 14-year-old's summer work schedule could very well be under the part-time employee limit, many Twitter followers weren't convinced.

Others swore that a child opting to work instead of spending his summer vacation relaxing is "indicative of something dark happening somewhere."

And then some others said that children who don't get to be children during their childhood ultimately struggled in adulthood.

While the 14-year-old and his father received plenty of hate, there were many who applauded the young man's initiative.

The post spawned a conversation about the nature of making a living in the United States and how "sad" it is that a young child feels the need to work a seemingly full-time job at 14 years old just to save to have a car.

Some stated that "school is meant to be a kid's job at 14." But there were others who argued that getting good grades to try and get into college just so he could have a degree doesn't guarantee that he'll find fulfilling employment, either. So who's to say what's right here?

Some people dug into the father's social media profile to try to figure out what type of person he is. Some balked at the fact that his only online likes are "sports, tools, and guns."

This post then sparked a larger conversation about the workforce and jobs in general.

People began sharing posts about companies giving "incentives" and doing "wholesome" things that were actually depressing and indicative that their employees are treated terribly.

Some employers also chimed in to say that they won't consider a candidate unless they worked a job in high school.

What do you think? Should a 14-year-old be working a job? Or can there be a balance of work/play for young teens?