A few days ago a co-worker came by to help my daughter and I load some scrap metal to take to the salvage yard. While we were talking he told me that he had helped his neighbor bail hay the weekend before because the neighbor could not get any other help. The neighbor has a 16 year old son , who also helped, but none of the sons friends or any high school age boys were willing to put up hay!
This is in a rural Central Illinois county, not some northern suburb. I couldn't believe it.
When I was in high school in the 70's bailing hay was a sought after job. You usually got a fair wage (I made $5 per hour in 79) lunch, and quite often the farmer's daughter would wander by during the day. While it was not unusual to lose 7-8 pounds during the day you would get it back by raiding the fridge and drinking tea at home. At 19 I felt like I was doing mans work for mans wages and was proud of myself.
My daughter is 19 and has been working her butt off in 90 degree heat helping me haul off junk and cut wood off of our building site. She doen't complain and is a cheerful worker. I am teaching her to run the chainsaw and she does a good job.
So my question is: What happened to boys raised during the 1990's?