![]() It set up a conversation about oyster shuckers." I didn't want to shame them into washing up but it's seeing that spark of humanity in the empathy that they showed. "They told me to take it down because they were horrified, but sometimes you've got to show them how good they've got it. I was relieved to find their reaction was one of empathy. "I wanted to give them some context to what children around 100 years ago were doing as opposed to what the children in the present day are doing. It's opened up a Pandora's box of positives. It's been a miracle and sorted the moaning out. It's educational, it's behavioural and I don't see any issues. "I saw the image on Facebook and it struck a chord with me, it was a eureka moment. I thought 'I've had enough of this, they're going to start taking responsibility'. "I found myself on a Friday night taking their cups, saucers and plates out of their rooms. Five minutes after their horrible displays of brattishness, they're chatting away, enjoying it, and pulling me up on not washing the bubbles off. "They're being disturbed from what they want to do. I can understand why they're having this extreme reaction and it's because they've got no point of context. My boy threw himself to the floor like Kevin, from Kevin and Perry. They sounded like the most horrible and most entitled little brats ever. James, from Maidstone, Kent, said: "When we asked them to do the washing up, the older two would throw the most horrendous strops. James showed his children the difficult lives child labourers would have 100 years ago (Image: Kennedy News and Media) After sharing a picture of the poster on Facebook, social media users have praised James' outside-the-box thinking. A week after learning about the children's plight, the pair meekly donned their marigolds and helped wash, dry and put away the dishes. ![]() ![]() The retail company director says Ryan's reaction to spotting the poster and being ordered to do the dishes that night was to throw a tantrum like noughties sitcom character Kevin from Kevin and Perry.Īfter he calmed down, James says Ryan and his sister felt empathetic towards the kids, after learning more about their harrowing experiences. His note ends by sternly declaring 'so don't you dare complain about doing the washing up once in a while!'. The 43-year-old printed the harrowing image off and stuck it to his kitchen wall along with a hand-written note explaining how child labourers used to 'get up at 4am, six days per week' to work. The kids were just three of thousands of children sent out to work from a young age wielding sharp knives to shuck, or open, oyster shells from around 3.30am until 5pm six days a week. The haunting picture, part of sociologist Lewis Hine's investigation into the living conditions of children for the US's National Child Labor Committee, shows three bleary-eyed children with dirty overalls and messy hair staring sadly into the camera. So when the dad-of-three spotted a snap on Facebook of glum-looking oyster shuckers who regularly worked 12 hours each day, inspiration struck. James Richards was sick of cleaning up after his two eldest kids, Ryan Richards, eight, and 10-year-old Isabella Richards, and dealing with their complaints when asked to help. ![]() A dad shamed his 'stroppy' kids who whinged about washing up into doing the household chore - by sticking up a child labour poster highlighting the kids' harrowing plight. ![]()
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