TV REVIEW : Lifetime’s ‘Kids’: On the Job and in Danger

Is that after-school job a great way to teach your child the American work ethic? Or a great way to risk your child’s life and limb?

If you believe child labor laws mean your child or millions of others won’t be exploited in the workplace, don’t miss “Danger: Kids at Work,” airing on the Lifetime cable channel at 9 tonight as part of the “Your Family Matters” series (with repeats Saturday at 10 p.m., Tuesday at 2 p.m. and March 9 at 3 p.m.)

Repeated warnings tell viewers that the material may be too graphic or disturbing. Disturbing it is. Over the last 10 years, we’re told, poverty, greed and ignorance have contributed to a 250% increase in child labor law violations.

A mother tells of her son smothered under a mountain of grain. A young girl is paralyzed after falling off her dad’s tractor. A boy will never play football again after mangling his hand in a cheese-shredder. Another boy’s leg is torn off in a car-wash machine.

Film footage of conditions today is juxtaposed with photographs of turn-of-the-century abuses; there is little discernible difference. Children are performing tasks, often illegally, for which they are physically and emotionally unready, and are either missing school or are too fatigued to learn. Yet many employers would rather take the risk of paying a small fine for violating child labor laws than lose profits provided by cheap labor.

The eye-opening hour, which concludes with a what-to-do-about-it list, is hosted by Amy Irving.