My experience with the kids working in Laos was similar but I have a different interpretation.
Your answer was through the eyes of an adult. 12 year olds dont have concept of money. What is a lot of money or why they need to go to school.
Asking a 12 year old to understand the value of money and education and life is not fair to the child.
What’s actually going on, at least in Laos, is the parents are directing the kids to do these jobs. The kids don’t understand why, but it’s what their mom wants him to do and it makes her happy when they do it.
I think to address these problems, the better solution is to help parents be better parents. Get them jobs, get them educated, get them skills.
It is also that, at 12 years of age, that kid may have had enough of harsh life lessons already, like when he was promised something instead of being rewarded on the spot and later it turned out he was just being tricked. I imagine that something like that may have had a much more direct impact on his OP described decision - that hard earned "street smarts" keeping him grounded in his (undesirable) reality.
I watched a 13-16 year old Lao girl come to that realization in a very upset Facebook story. While I don’t fully understand the context, she was crying and venting that her mother doesn’t love her.
Prior to this fb story, the girl’s mother sold her older 16yo sister to Chinese guy for marriage. And frequently leaves her daughter to sleep on the street, because the girl isn’t able to get home by herself.
Despite all of that, she still felt her mother loved her and just then was when she realized it? I don’t know.
Unfortunately Youre correct, but also it takes years for these kids to process these realities. They’re just isn’t one moment where it’s like “maybe my parents don’t love me” time to change my behavior.
Your answer was through the eyes of an adult. 12 year olds dont have concept of money. What is a lot of money or why they need to go to school.
Asking a 12 year old to understand the value of money and education and life is not fair to the child.
What’s actually going on, at least in Laos, is the parents are directing the kids to do these jobs. The kids don’t understand why, but it’s what their mom wants him to do and it makes her happy when they do it.
I think to address these problems, the better solution is to help parents be better parents. Get them jobs, get them educated, get them skills.