BlB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 17,1984
BY KIMBERLY HERR
LANCASTER - The word
stress, now commonly used to
describe a human condition, was
initially an engineering word.
“It describes how much pressure
a building can take before it
breaks,” explained James E. Van
Horn, Penn State Extension family
specialist. "If it goes too far, the
building will collapse. When we
talk about it in human terms, it is
the same thing.”
Van Horn spoke on personal and
family stress during last week’s
“The family is like a mobile and
when stress affects the family that
mobile gets out of line and if it gets
bad enough, it will collapse,"
Van Horn told his audience.
Lancaster County Poultry Day,
held at the Farm and Home
Center.
According to Van Horn, the
causes of stress are as varied as
the symptoms it produces. Some of
those causes are machine
breakdown, illness during a
HOW DO YOU FIND RELIEF?
It’s March...almost time to put
the potatoes into the ground except
that it is still covered with snow!
The sneak preview we got of spring
fades into winter doldrums with
the snow and sleet returning to the
scene. I’m finding it difficult to get
up and get going - particularly
outside.
This seems to be the nightmare
season for parents too The
recurring nightmare is one of fear
of waking up to another day of
snow, sleet, or rain and the kids
crying, “What can we do?”
I learned early in my life back
home on the farm that “What can I
do now 7 ” was not always a good
question to ask if you were going to
be selective about the options
given. My mother is a great list
maker and in three seconds flat
she could quote a list of
possibilities. The list always in
cluded an array of chores that
needed to be done as the work
really is never finished on the farm.
But I don’t have to think long to
come up with fond memories of
ramy/snowy day activities. If you
can relate to this scenario, read on
for a few suggestions to keep the
kids occupied until the storm blows
over.
PLAN A TRIP - This can have
many variations. A blanket over a
cardtable could transport my
sisters and I to a camping trip
almost anywhere. Or, have your
children choose a place to travel as
pictured in an old magazine. Then
cut and paste pictures of places
they’d like to stay, meals they
Stress: How Does it Affect
critical times, disease outbreak,
such as the Avian influenza, high
debt load, government regulations
and, of course, the weather
“The mere fact that the farmer
has no control over the weather
causes stress,” Van Horn said
"Farming produces a Jot of
stress in general,” he continued
“People in poultry farming who
have not been hit with the Avian
influenza are living under a
tremendous amount of stress.”
And the symptoms produced by
these stressors include: dizziness,
headaches, tight shoulders and
neck, ulcer, upset stomach, fatigue
and appetitite loss or increase.
“More people are suffering
weight problems today than ever
before,” Van Horn said. ‘‘A great
number of people with weight
By Michelle S. Rodgers
Lancaster Extension
Home Economist
want to eat, tilings uwant ta da
and see. The key is to make it a
long trip!
RADIO - Haul out the portable
tape recorder, put on a blank
cassette and have the kids make up
their own radio show. To in
corporate the “sharing” concept
have one be the news reporter,
another be the announcer, and one
or two give the commercials
TAKE OVER THE TOWN - Try a
new “make believe” - a city
government. Take over the town
by w.ecting a mayor. Run a
campaign complete with signs,
elections and speeches. After all, it
is a campaign year!
PUT ON A PUPPET SHOW -
Find those forgotten puppets or
make some from paper bags, old
socks, or plates and popsickle
sticks. Have the children plan the
script, sound effects and practice.
You might need to give a short
presentation of your own to get
them into the spirit of things. Be
prepared to attend the show once it
is ready and offer your applause.
Other ideas which you can ex
pand on and adapt to your children
or household include:
Baking together.
Cleaning out the toy boxes and
shelves together and rediscover
long forgotten toys.
Work together on a household
chore, and then spend time
together at a board game or
puzzle.
Finally, if you try all these ideas
and still can’t keep the little ones
out of trouble, then put on their
boots and coats and send them out
to play 1
problems are using eating to cope
with stress.”
Some of the symptoms deal with
emotions Stress may result in
feelings of anger, guilt, fear or
irritability Or nervous habits,
such as tapping feet, twisting hair
or biting nails, may develop.
A dangerous side effect, ac
cording to Van Horn, is the abuse
of a substance, whether it is drugs,
alcohol, food or over-the-counter
drugs. Van Horn said some people
believe that drug companies’ stock
would go down and some would
even go bankrupt, if Americans
could find a way to better deal with
stress.
And, as Van Horn explained,
when an individual is under stress,
the family is usually under stress,
since most everyone is part of
some family unit.
The family is like a mobile and
when stress affects the family that
mobile gets out of line and if it gets
bad enough, it will collapse,” Van
Horn told his audience.
Van Horn referred to actions
produced by stress as indicators.
He put those indicators into two
groups, Level I and Level 11.
Level I indicators are parental
conflicts and sibling conflicts, “the
day in and day out, with no let up
kind of thing,” Van Horn ex
plained.
Parent-child conflicts that lead
to a break down in communication
are another indicator. Van Horn
explained it this way: “the kid who
won’t talk - the parent who badgers
the kid.”
Increased anger and increased
rules and regulations are also
results of family stress, as are
child and adolescent behavior
problems.
“Kids do not runaway from
home,” Van Horn said. “Parents
propel kids out of the home.”
If children come from a family
with a lot of stress pile up, Van
Horn explained, they are “pretty
likely to become dependent on
some substance or some kind of
relationship outside of the family.
“Kids are tremendous
Good Diet
YORK - Only 17 days after
conception, a baby will begin to
develop blood vessels and blood
pools Even at this early stage of
development, the food you eat will
affect the health of your child, says
A Joan Lamberson, Extension
home economist.
As early as two weeks after
conception, a developing fetus
needs protein, iron, and vitamin C.
The source of these nutrients is the
milk, meat, fruits and vegetables
that the mother eats
In the third week of develop
ment, the heart and brain begin to
develop, and the child needs even
more protein The eves also begin
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Your Family?
* **
James Van Horn, left, stands with Jay Irwin, Lancaster Co.
Extension agent, during Lancaster Co. Poultry Day. Van Horn
spoke on the effects of stress.
barometers on how well a family is
doing,” he said.
Van Horn, who is the father of
five, explained that Level I
problems can become Level II
problems, including physical and
verbal hostility, spouse or child
abuse.
“Family stress and child abuse
are intimately linked,” Van Horn
said.
Other Level II indicators are
divorce, separation, the inability to
work or the termination of work.
"If we had just one stress to deal
with, we would do very well, but
stress, like pancakes, will pile up,”
Van Horn said.
However, there are ways of
relieving the stress, according to
Van Horn. He recommened
physical exercise or physical
activity, “the kind of exercise that
we might do to relax our bodies.”
Helps Your Baby's Giwth
to develop around this lime, so
vitamin A is needed from the fruit
and vegetable group
During the fourth week of
pregnancy, the baby's ears and
nose begin to develop. The baby
then needs protein, riboflavin,
niacin. Good sources of these
nutrients are the meat and milk
groups and the bread group.
The nervous system also begins
to form in the fourth week, making
thiamine, niacin and calcium
essential for the child's growth. At
this lime, the expectant mother
should be eating plenty of foods
from the bread group
The eight week marks the
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For example, Van Horn said, try
squeezing your eyes tightly shut
for five seconds and then opening
them as wide as you can. This
exercise, according to Van Horn,
wit help if von have been working
with figures or using your eyes for
other tedious work.
Or try pushing your hands
against an imaginary wall for five
seconds or just shrug your
shoulders as hard as you can a
couple of times.
"Talk about what it is that
bothers you,” Van Horn recom
mended. "The less we talk about
what is bugging us the more it will
show up in ulcers and physical
problems.”
In conclusion, Van Horn urged
those present to recognize stress
and to do something about it.
"You can be the master of your
own ship,” he concluded.
beginning of the skeleton and the
need for protein, calcium, vitamin
U and phosphorus. The meat and
milk groups will supply these
From the fifth month of
pregnancy up to full term, the
general features and charac
teristics remain the same The
structure of the baby is patterned
in the first four months of
pregnancy
But it is still important for the
mother to eat well A good, healthy
diet may mean fewei com
plications during the pregnancy,
less chance of having a premature
baby, a healthiei baby and less
chance of birth defects
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