> Allowing teens to willingly enter an employmemt contract is neither exploitive nor child labor.

Non-adult teens (“Teen” spans the border) are indeed children, and their labor – while in some circumstances, quantities, etc. – permitted, is regulated as part of the broader regulation of child labor (which is not a total ban, even for very young children, and is graduated by age.)

Whether it ought to be within the scope of acceptable child labor or not is a separate discussion, but it is child labor.

People learn skills by performing them. As parents we teach children life skills by having them help do the chore that daily life requires. When I have yard, mechanic, or construction work my children help. They have since they were able. I learned those skills by doing the same when I was young.

By prohibiting capable teens from work, either by pricing them out or law, we are hobbling their ability to learn valuable work skills. As a result we end up with adults that are lacking simple work skills that would make their labor more valuable.

No, a teenager is not a child.