I'm about as liberal as they come and I'm almost 50, and honestly it never occurred to me that you might jail a farmer if his child got hurt operating machinery (you're right of course). I think if you proposed that law in Wisconsin you'd be laughed out of the room. This is an example of how effective certain external forces are at guiding your thinking. Obviously there should be a law that says kids under 18 can't operate machinery. However, in the US, many farms think they "own" their kids. I'll use this argument, thanks!