Those who think child labor laws helped children should read: Child Labor and the Industrial Revolution by Clark Nardinelli. The choice for impoverished children at the time was between hard factory work, even harder farm work, or starvation.
https://www.amazon.com/Child-Labor-Industrial-Revolution-Nardinelli/dp/0253339715/ https://x.com/SueMullenNH/status/1522239786530091010