As a matter of practical reality, I began working for money outside my mother’s home at 14, and I haven’t stopped working since.

Hmmm…… Childhood is a fairly recent economic innovation. For most of recorded history, a vast majority of people began working by age 4, typically on a farm, and were full time by 10. As the country grew wealthier over the ensuing decades, childhood expanded along with it. Eventually, teenagers were no longer considered younger, less-competent adults but rather older children who should be nurtured and encouraged to explore. – Adam Davidson, the NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/magazine/its-official-the-boomerang-kids-wont-leave.html