Raising children on the farm

Today's post is entirely my opinion (wait a minute....all of my posts are my opinion!!) and I apologize in advance if I offend anyone who's opinion shall differ from my own.

I read an article today in the Western Producer.  It was titled : "Kids and equipment don't mix" with a subtitle of "Children should have duties away from work zones: experts".  It was interesting and definitely came at a very opportune time in the farming community.

Earlier this week, a small farming family from rural Alberta sadly lost their 3 daughters-that's right, not just one, but THREE!!!- in a farming accident involving suffocation in a grain truck filled with canola.

My heart breaks for that poor family.  But do you know what their statement was to the wretched media (really??  why can't they just let the family grieve?)  This is from Global News: " Our kids died living life on the farm.  It is a family farm.  We do not regret raising and involving our kids Catie, aged 13, Dara, aged 11 and Jana, aged 11, on our farm.  It was our life."

Here are my thoughts on this whole thing.  The article I read this morning basically stated that children on farms should be kept away from any and all equipment and leave it to the adults. They should find child care. (do you have any idea how to find childcare in a rural area, because if you do, please share with me!!!)  There are "other ways of introducing children into the life of a farmer without endangering them" and "kids don't have a place there".

I'll fill you in on my upbringing, because some of my earliest memories, involve riding in/on farm machinery.

My mother worked as a registered nurse, most weekends, in the nearby town.  My grandmother also worked as a nurse at the same hospital, on the weekdays.  My dad and my grandfather were farmers.  When either of the women were not available to perform the "traditional farm-wife" role of raising the kids and making meals, my dad and my grandpa had to deal with it.  I can still recall, to the tiniest detail, the cultivator plowing through the dirt behind the tractor as my sister and I curled up on an old winter parka behind the tractor seat like little puppies.  The smell of the dirt.  The smell of the tractor fuel.  The smell of farmer's sweat. The smell of warm, milky tea in the thermos on the floor and the cookie crumbs on our fingers, mixed in with the dust.  If Grandpa got out of the tractor, we were not to TOUCH ANYTHING!!!  We were 3 and 4 years old, and understood. And yet, we were apparently too young to be there?

Some of my earliest memories were from behind the seat of my Dad's Deutz Allis

We didn't have a swather with a cab on our farm until 2 years ago.  Before that, if we wanted to bring my dad a thermos of water in the field, we would hop onto the swather beside him and hang on tight.  We would feed cattle in the winter with our Grandpa driving his little (again, cab-less) International tractor and we would ride on the wheel-wells.  And we knew to hang on tight and don't touch the levers.

I guess the point I'm trying to make, is that we were taught from a very young age, that you had to have common sense and USE IT around machinery and animals.  You have to realise that those machines are BIG, and those cattle are BIGGER THAN YOU.  Use caution to the utmost degree, even if you're so comfortable you could complete the task in your sleep.  You get out of the tractor, you shut that PTO (power take off) OFF!  You have a parking brake-USE IT.  You know that cow is an angry momma, you make sure you can jump that fence that you keep close to you.

I was 12 when my dad taught me to run his tractor and baler.  When I got home from school, I baled straw once I finished my milking chores.  I was 11 or 12 when I was told to drive the green Chevy across the field to get Grandpa and Dad for supper.  Of course it wasn't on the road, but a wide-open summer fallow field.  I learnt to milk a cow at 7.  We rode trikes, and motorbikes to chase cows when we were big and strong enough to drive them on our own.  (and when we weren't big enough, my sister and I would share the box on the back of the trike--you know those horribly dangerous 3- wheeled motorized bikes that flip on a dime and are now obsolete??)

You're probably thinking, yes, but sometimes common sense won't matter because things just happen--like the accident in Alberta this week.  And you are correct on that too, I know first-hand.  I lost my grandfather at age 7, to a farming accident.  He was run over by his own tractor.  Do you think, at 7 years old, I'd ever forget the way he looked in his casket at his funeral??  Because I haven't, and I think of him and all the tears that my family shed that day.  Every time seeding and harvest rolls around and my farmer gets into the "harvest panic-mode", I think of him and I remember.  Some things just aren't worth the risk.  Safety being first and foremost.

Raising your children to respect their environment-whether that be the land, the animals, or the machines- is what makes farm kids stand out amongst their peers.  And farm kids already know that farming is one of the top 5 most dangerous occupations.  In the WORLD.

I don't know the full details of what happened on that family farm in Alberta, but I really do wonder what possibly could have made 3 girls, aged 11 & 13, to be on the back of that truck filled with canola.  Were they playing up there? Did they know better?  Possibly?  Did their parents need them to shovel grain down or out of the box?  I hate to sound insensitive, but why would they be up there otherwise???  At 13, I know I would not have played on a truck box filled with grain.  I knew better.  Grain is dangerous -especially canola seed.  I shovelled bins with my sister when I was 13, I understand how it can suck you in and luckily, no one was ever hurt on our farm doing these things.  My mom worried, I know she did because all of a sudden we were forced to wear dust masks to protect our lungs. How can you not worry?? As a mother?? As a parent??

But....

I do not believe that children do not have a place in the work zone of a farm.  I believe they should be involved in all aspects of farm life, including the "work zones".  And they should be taught that FARMING IS DANGEROUS.   They need to be aware at all times when around running machinery.  When driving machinery.  When there are power lines overhead and you're at a bin yard with an auger.  When dealing with hormonal animals.  And if they are "too young", the adult needs to be responsible for that youngster's safety and his/her own.  I do not let my children go in the big machines without myself hopping in with them.  Because I get it.  My little farmer, he pushes buttons like they're going out of style.  My daughter can talk the ear off a donkey.  Kids can be distracting.  But they can also be TAUGHT.  My little farmer already knows that when a big machine starts up, he RUNS back to the house.  Just the other day, I had to start up our big 4 wheel-drive tractor because one of our machines got stuck in the field.  I quickly ran to the shed, with my little farmer somewhere 20 feet behind me.  I hopped in the tractor and fired the engine.  That's it, that's all.  My little farmer screamed bloody murder and booked it back to the house like his butt was on fire.  He's not even 2 and he understands the danger.  And I'm kind of proud of myself for teaching him those things.

I hope and pray that nothing tragic ever befalls my dearest family members.  I do not ever wish to bury my own children or my own farmer.  Being a farm kid and a farmer's wife, nothing in this world scares me more than that.

I pray that the family in Alberta finds the courage to continue on, in the face of tragedy and despair.  Because I'm sure they did the best they could, and that's all we ever can do in this world.  Keep on, keeping on, and be safe!

xo
Carrie