Yet it is vital to recognize that the majority of work done by children in the Third World is neither so hazardous nor so exploitative. This is why the term 'child labour' is too explosive and negative to be applied to all work by children. It is insulting to children whose lives are being ruined by hard labour to lump them into the same category as those who help out in the family shop for a couple of hours after school. Indeed, some kinds of child work are useful, positive contributions to child development. The idea that childhood should be an entirely work-free zone is a luxurious and rather sentimental Western idea.
Children haul water and collect firewood.
They deliver newspapers and tea. They take care of younger siblings. They work on the streets washing windshields, shining shoes or selling cigarettes. They can be found in sweatshops or in their family's sewing room. They are servants in the homes of the better-off .