Like most Aboriginal children, he accompanied his parents as they worked the fields and went into the mountains to chop firewood, and despite being a family of six and having to work hard to get by, they lived relatively well by village standards.
跟多數原住民小孩一樣，他從小跟隨父母上山砍柴、下田務農，但與部落其他家庭相比，曹明生家境算是小康，一家 6 口，日子勉強撐得過去。