Child labor played a large role in the Industrial Revolution. Mills, factories, and other industrial plants used children as their main employees. They were cheap, not big enough or educated enough to argue or complain, and were small enough to fit between the tight fitting machinery that adults couldn't. Majority of these children never got to enjoy even a taste of childhood, simple joys such as playing tag or baseball. Almost from the day they were born, these children started to work, and continued to do so until the day they died. Whenever that may be.
Majority of working class children had little or no education. This was simply because at the time, education was not mandated, and in a majority of cases, schools were too expensive to send a child to. Parents were willing to let their children work in factories and such, as it provided the family with more money, which they needed to just barely survive. Families just simply couldn't support themselves if all of its members weren't employed, including the children. For many, "barely surviving" meant hardly being able to put food on the table. Plenty of families couldn't afford food; as a result the children from these families were much weaker and unhealthier than others. They were also much more susceptible to getting sick from the dusty air. Many children died from various diseases including malnutrition. Children as young as three were being put to work. At age five they were placed in textile factories, iron and coal mines, gas works, ship yards, construction, match factories, nail industries, and doing the job of chimney sweeping. Working conditions for these children were not only dangerous, but also utterly dreadful. The factories were extremely dirty, with low ceilings, poor lighting, and locked windows and doors. Children worked just as long and hard as their elders, as much as 16 hours a day. The common workday was usually 12 to 14 hours long with very short breaks.
