We heartily commend a location of the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A for its dynamism and initiative in introducing its own version of summer camp for kids — and for its stoicism in weathering the backlash that its clever idea sparked.

“Taking place July 22-24, the camp is targeted to kids between five and 12 years old and gives them a chance to learn various tasks that Chick-fil-A workers do,” the website delish.com reported on June 10. “It will take place at a Chick-fil-A location in Hammond, La., and campers will choose one of three days to attend.

“According to a Facebook post about the camp, the activities that campers will do include learning dining room hosting and customer service skills, learning how to take an order, learn how to bag an order, and making your own Ice Dream cone or cup.

“Since being published on June 6, the Facebook post has been met with well over 1,000 comments, mostly from people claiming the restaurant is taking advantage of campers by putting them to work and charging them for it. The summer camp is one-day long, and costs $35 per child. One user even tagged the U.S. Department of Labor.

“Kids at the program will ‘get a behind the scenes look of Hospitality and Service’ and ‘have a fun time getting a behind-the-scenes view of what it’s like to work at America’s favorite quick-service restaurant,’ according to a post the local (Chick-fil-A) restaurant made on Facebook on June 6.”

The delish.com website added, “What sparked backlash was what was described in a previous version of the post, which detailed what the kids will specifically be doing in the program.”

More specifically, delish.com noted, “Social media users quickly fired off in the comment section under the post with many claiming that the Chick-fil-A was exploiting people’s children for free labor at their establishment.”

One Facebook user reportedly posted: “So people pay you money, and you get free child labor, but call it a ‘camp?’ Sounds legit. I’m gonna start my own summer camp, where parents pay me money and the kids come over and clean my house and yard.”

We cheer CFA for seeking to ingrain a much-needed work ethic in our children, along with exposing them to the inner operations of the company rated No. 1 in customer satisfaction among fast-food restaurants in the United States. 

Instead of this being a child-labor exploitation scheme, we see it more like a “bring your child to work day,” wherein the youngsters — hopefully — will develop an understanding of, and appreciation for, work.