WINNIPEG – Words were flying as farmers and safety professionals
disagreed recently about a common practice.
At the end of the day, those attending the Canadian Agricultural Safety
Association’s annual conference on Nov. 3-5 failed to reach a
conclusion about the wisdom of taking children into a tractor cab while
a parent works.
On the hot seat were Glen and Shannon Holenski of Thornhill, Man., who
have three boys eager to help out on the farm.
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“I’m fairly paranoid, but on the other hand, experience is the best
teacher,” Glen said during the conference while discussing the issue of
children doing farm tasks.
“If I compare me to my dad, there’s a lot that’s been done about
safety, such as better equipment and more farmer awareness.”
That wasn’t good enough for Will Pickett, a safety researcher from
Queen’s University who questioned why parents take kids into situations
known to have killed others.
Shannon said they take the boys in the tractor with them because in a
closed cab on flat ground they felt it was safest – “at least we could
see them and wouldn’t run over them.”
Another advantage is that the boys learn the potential hazards, such
as ditches and entryways, as well as any adult would.
Shannon said her boys have different interests and skills. One may
listen better to instructions about livestock while the other prefers
machinery. The Holenskis take their children with them when doing some
tasks. They instruct them in the task, show them how to turn the
equipment on and off, and watch them do the chore until they are
satisfied they are confident in it.
Glen said his 15-year-old nephew was visiting from the city this summer
and wanted to help cut the grass. Glen put him on the small tractor,
gave him instructions, supervised him on one round and then let him go.
He got into trouble on the second round and was heading for the pond.
Luckily, the tractor got hung up, but Glen was flabbergasted at the
teenager’s apparent unawareness.
“It was like he was playing a computer game and the cause and effect
wasn’t there.”
In responding to a safety professional’s question about why the kids
are with them when they work, Shannon said it would be difficult
financially to replace their kids with a hired hand. The boys do chores
that take a few minutes and the Holenskis would not have enough tasks
to keep an employee productive.
As for child care, “we live 16 miles from town. I wouldn’t drive him
that far for two hours.”
Other farmers in the audience defended the practice of taking kids
along when doing chores, saying it helps train future farmers.
“If you take kids completely out of the farm, you have no future to
your farm,” one woman said.
“They’ll be playing computer games inside and not interested in the
farm.”
Glen said all parents take risks in life. A common one is letting their
kids play hockey. While a tractor cab is not the safest place for his
boys, he said a lot of learning happens there, father to son.
However, one skeptic in the audience said hockey is played with a lot
of safety equipment, whereas farming often is not.
Glen said he has found more hazardous practices such as the local
threshermen’s parade, when kids ride on the fenders of the old
machines, or when farm magazines print pictures of children in unsafe
situations.
Glen said safety can be an expensive habit. Some farmers just think of
money “and they want to take it with them,” he added, so they don’t buy
safety shields or are too macho to wear gloves and goggles when mixing
chemicals.
“In 1991 we put all our power lines underground. It cost $7,000 but it
was worth it.”
He said he could have bought a new pick-up truck but this way he bought
peace of mind about power contact accidents.
“We don’t have any statistics at our place.”
