I was having brunch at a well trafficked and long lived Los Angeles café the other day, and I noticed a new busboy, literally. A boy, who looked to be about twelve years old, bussing tables, taking refill orders and delivering the odd bowl of granola. And he was quite obviously overjoyed to be doing so. He seemed bright, enthusiastic, polite, quick on his feet, and in all other ways, a perfect busboy. He didn’t occupy too much space, he drifted nimbly between packed tables and the other wait staff with carefully balanced cappuccinos in hand. He was the consummate “Garçon”.

I assume, though I felt it would have been rude to ask, that he was related to one of the owners or managers of the establishment. He didn’t look like he was doing it to pay the rent, or buy his own shoes… more that he was there for the fun of it… the pride of it. But it got me thinking.

Could child labor be the answer to our nation’s problems? Okay, I know what you’re thinking, and yes, there are all kinds of very sensible laws about such things, and most children are frankly hopeless lost causes when it comes to responsibility and civility. But hear me out.

There are a lot of jobs that simply pay too little for a full-grown rent-to-pay mouths-to-feed adult to make a living wage at, right? Busboy is just one, stocking shelves, grocery checkout, envelope stuffing, gift wrapping, use your imagination. Jobs where being four feet tall, and weighing only seventy pounds aren’t serious obstacles. Can’t get through the American college grad’s sense of entitlement and get them to do the job for minimum wage huh? Well I got ya’ work force for right here buddy!

And there are lots of things that kids are better at than grown-ups too, I would sooner trust the opinion of a teenager when buying a new cell phone, or figuring out which x-box game to drop $59.95 on than a career “sales associate” who’s just thinking about which one has the highest commission and will win him the salesman of the week plaque.

Economically it works great too, especially if we’re talking middle class kids here, which I am (because that’s the example from which I’m working, remember that busboy was probably heir the the café family fortune). A kid making minimum wage or less could go home at the end of a five hour shift with like… bank! Dude! You do that every weekend and you’re talking X-Box 360 by Christmas! Or… y’know, shoes, or a haircut, or lunch money, or whatever. To all but the most jaded kids money earned is free money, plain and simple.

Cheaper than that even, no benefits. Health insurance? Don’t need it. Most kids are covered by their family plan already, right? And with your kids out there earning their own pocket money, there’s more dough in mom and dad’s pockets, and less spent on toys, and sweets. So if they didn’t have it before, maybe they can afford it now. Retirement plan? 401k matching? Profit sharing? Nope. Daycare? Quite the opposite, this could be like built-in after school baby sitting for a lot of families. Keep ‘em off the streets.

Short hours? Not a problem, more people working shorter hours is how a lot of economies manage to keep afloat anyway. Distribution of wealth, lower unemployment, more attentive and enthusiastic employees - who wants to work ten hour shifts straight? Nobody, that’s who. People get bored, restless, lazy, disgruntled. Better to send them home and get a fresh batch in for those all important “after school hours.”

Experience! Don’t forget how this kind of “real world” exposure would shape our next generation’s young minds as they grow up and prepare to be thrust into the world. Communicating with people, learning that politeness is rewarded, learning the value of money, and the work that goes in to making it. Learning the ropes, navigating the world, great character building stuff. Imagine a generation of high-school grads with resumes! Real employable skills, and… life experience.

Obviously this wouldn’t be for everyone. There are, as I said, plenty of hopelessly rude and stupid children who would likely just break things or not show up for work. This busboy could easily have been terrible, as so many adults are. Sloppy, lazy, rude, unfocused. But this kid was happy to be there. He was good at, and proud of the job he was doing. He was curious, attentive, and while holding his own with co-workers twice his height, he was ready with a smile. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the people this kid was waiting on, brightened their days I tell you. The novelty was part of it for sure, but who doesn’t like kids? At least, the polite ones, the intelligent ones, y’know, the ones that can hold down a steady job.