10-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 26, 2003
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Farm Safety Is No Accident
Register Now To Attend Family Farm Safety Day
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
PARADISE (Lancaster Co.)
Five children died from farm ac
cidents last year in Lancaster
County.
“Even if only one had died, it’s
sad,” said Don Ranck, who farms
in Paradise.
Sometimes children are run
over by machinery and equip
ment. Sometimes they get in ani
mal pens, or
play in bams i
fall
and
Family Farm Safety Day is scheduled at the
Bart Fire Company June 21. Families are en
couraged to attend. Free snacks, lunch, sur
prises, fim and prizes!
through hay
loft openings.
Sometimes
smaller chil
dren wander
away and fall
into ponds or
manure pits.
Ranch believes that most farm
accidents are preventable. He
works with Dr. Albert Price, pe
diatrician, on planning Lancaster
County’s annual Family Farm
Safety Day. Workshops geared to
children between the ages of 8-13
years point out potential dangers
and demonstrate safe ways to
perform necessary tasks on the
farm. Actually there are activities
for the whole family.
This year the event is sched
uled for June 21, from 8 a.m. to 2
p.m., at the Bart Fire Company,
Bart.
“I grew up on a farm, where
safety was always number one
(priority),” Ranch said. Since
Don Ranck explains why
his refrigerator door is tied
shut to Jared Coleman, 8.
Prepare Children For Financia
HONESDALE (Wayne Co.)
Would you like for your children
to be money smart? Do you hope
they won’t make some of the
same mistakes you’ve made with
money? Money is a complicated
subject with lots of emotional
ties. It is easy to pick up bad
money habits like spending more
money than you have and not
saving any money.
Children learn money respon
sibility day-by-day. Their money
education requires parental time,
energy, supervision, some money,
and the ability to let the child ex
perience the consequence of a
poor decision. Children who are
taught early about money learn
independence; they also acquire
the money skills needed for de
veloping self-discipline and confi
dence. Teaching about money
can be tricky, however, because
you do not want to overempha
size money and materialism.
According to Kay Zimka, Col
orado State Cooperative Exten
sion even young children may
leam about consumerism by
watching their parents.
then he and his wife Ginny have
taught their four children (now
adults) the importance of always
being careful. The Rancks oper
ate a bed and breakfast on their
farm, which is visited by hun
dreds of children. Ranch’s chil
dren grew up teaching farm safe
ty to tourists of all ages.
“No one was ever hurt, but I
don’t say that arrogantly,”
Ranck said. “Accidents can hap
pen anywhere.”
Despite their best efforts, his
own family had several “close
calls.”
It’s difficult to enforce safety
rules at all times on a farm where
parents are often busy with so
many chores. One of the most
difficult rules to enforce is to
teach children never to run to
ward tractors. It’s difficult for
children to realize that a tractor
operator cannot hear them or see
them.
“Children must be closely su
pervised at all times,” Ranck
said.
Rotary mowers and all-terrain
vehicles also posetnany dangers.
Even if all the rules are fol
lowed, accidents can happen.
Ranck said that when he was 12
years old, he was hauling ma
nure. The universal joint pin on
the steering column fell out. The
steering column came loose,
causing the tractor to upset on an
embankment and pinning Ranch
beneath it. He was rescued just in
time.
Last year, the annual Family
Farm Safety Day attracted 150
children between the ages of 6-18.
But the event isn’t only for chil
dren. Families are encouraged to
attend.
The event offers opportunities
for adults to see some of the safe
ty features other farmers devel-
She offers these steps to help
you teach your child about
money:
1. Analyze your own attitudes
about money.
2. Involve the child in the fam
ily’s financial planning. A short
and not-too-boring family meet
ing might include a talk about
what good things happened dur
ing the week, what is happening
regarding the plans for a family
vacation or what decisions need
to be made about money. You
may even let the kids be in
charge of the meeting. The idea is
not to make the children worry
about family finances, but to edu
cate them about how the house
hold runs or the limits of the
family budget.
3. Communicate an attitude
that budgeting is serious, but not
frightening. Children can leam
that savings, rent, house pay
ments, and utilities are paid first,
that allowances fit within the
family budget and that when one
expense increases, another must
decrease. The importance of hav
ing a financial plan becomes
more vivid.
* KomerV
w** **' TP
oped to make farming safer.
Some Amish farmers have de
signed equipment with safety fea
tures that many other farmers
aren’t aware of, according to
Ranck.
Ranck and other farmers teach
safety workshops during the day
pertaining to power take-off mo
tors, mowers, chemicals, fire,
gases, water, buggy rides, and
hidden hazards.
Because the classes are taught
by farmers, they
“Matching
chores to children’s development
is important,” said Dennis Mur-
S, Penn State professor of agri
ural engineering. “Injuries
may occur because parents over
estimate their child’s physical
size and age without taking into
account the ability to perform the
job. You have to consider bal
ance, strength, reaction time,
coordination, attention span, and
memory.”
As children grow older, they
need to learn how to drive trac
tors and operate other equip
ment. They must learn to drive
tractors by watching. But there
are right and wrong ways to ride
along on the tractor. These con
cepts are taught at the work
shops.
“Parents can tell their children
(about safety rules) but the safety
demonstrations really make an
impression on children,” Ranck
said of the educational event.
As a pediatrician, Dr. Price
saw some devastating cases of
children hurt on the farm. He
started the free Family Farm
Safety Day to teach the impor
tance of making the farm a safer
place.
Family Farm Safety Day is
free for the family, but you must
register early. Deadline for regis
tration is June 9. To register, call
(717)290-5945.
Responsibility
4. Give each child over five
years of age an allowance
enough to teach how to make de
cisions, but not so much that it’s
wasteful. An allowance is given
because the child is a member of
the family and is not dependent
upon doing chores or getting
good grades. Doing chores is the
child’s contribution to the family.
You can provide opportunities to
earn extra income when the child
needs money for a special occa
sion or wants to save for a special
purchase.
5. Encourage long-term saving.
Open a savings account and help
your children chart their savings.
This is a positive way to develop
financial responsibility.
6. If your child wants to bor
row money from you, use this
loan as an opportunity to teach
about using credit wisely. You
can have a written contract stat
ing interest charges, a repayment
schedule and what happens when
payments are not made. Explain
that late fees can be charged if
payments are not made on time.
are more aware
of the dangers,
the practicality
of safety fea
tures, and the
need to train
children how to
help on the
farm.
“Don’t climb on anything unless an adult is present
and gives permission,” Ranck tells visitors on his farm.
_ - 4| p Xpii.
Hayloft opening and the need to keep openings closed to
Dylan Coleman, 5.