A different View of Safety

[Cat_Driver]

Children and dangerous equipment on the farm presents one of the world's largest dichotomies.

On one hand yippie, yea, hip hip hooray, wow wee, let's get on the shiny yellow "Disney ride" with big tires and things that will shred you into a 1,000 pieces.

On the other hand, as a parent, it's incumbent upon you to keep a child 100% save 100% of the time until that child is old enough, experienced enough, aware enough to manage dangerous equipment.

Ya it's noble to say " ya my daughter was three years old when she was on my John Deere plowing fields all by herself. I even made a set of wooden blocks so she could touch the pedals and I bought her 13 cushions for the seat so she could see over the steering wheel.

Here's a noble idea. How about as parents we let children BE ACTUAL CHILDREN and let them play with other children doing things like playing house, playing with dolls, riding bikes, coloring in books, blowing bubbles.

No child needs to be anywhere near dangerous equipment. Their brains don't understand anything about equipment, they are not 100% coordinated, their brains aren't developed yet, they don't have the strength to hold on tight, etc.

Lastly, what's the upside of having a three year on equipment, they have no desire to be there, they aren't learning anything, they really, really are scared even if you don't know it or not.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Why single out agriculture/tractors? I personally have zero interest in getting into a sports car or speed boat ever in my life again, and from personal (bad) experience and find them to be very dangerous. Keeping things in perspective, If I had a young daughter, I would fear, many, many times over, her getting into a car with a young man or worse on to the back of a bike, then any matter concerning a tractor.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ Or shop machinery.

 

[LouNY]

Swaddle them in cotton balls stuff them in drawer till they are mature,
then pull them out and wonder why they screw up everything they touch.

 

[Diggin It]

^^^ But that way, at least you have a chance to see them grow up instead of burying them.

 

[3Ts]

There is only so much protection, training, and guidance of children you can provide. Hopefully, they learn before they need it.

We are in a rural area, closest town has less than 1500 people and a 4 lane divided highway runs along the edge of town. A kid riding his bicycle decided to cross the road while wearing his earphones and not paying attention to traffic rode out in front of a semi. Affected the whole town. I have no idea how that could have been prevented. On one hand you want the kids to have some freedom of movement but want them to use due caution as well.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I watched a young woman wiping down handles of the grocery carts prior to handing them over to customers. I doubt, I could have done a poorer job if I tried. One swipe across the top, maybe half. Excercise, totally pointless!

If young people like this, apply no brain power to anything they do, there can't be much hope for their futures.

 

[Mat4644]

Plenty of things to be involved with on a farm without putting them in excessive harm's way. There's a lot of stupid things we did years ago that are not acceptable now. Such as putting a dozen kids in the back of a pickup on the road.

 

[Industrial Toys]

IMO Life was far better in the days that you could do that. I don't recall that people were getting killed and injured right left and center when you could ride around in the back of a truck. Seen pictures of Kids having a great time in the back of a pickup in Mexico. Maybe that's the place to live. No helmets, nets, seatbelts, airbags! Just FREE living.

 

[LouNY]

Yet each year thousands and thousands of children are hurt or worse...mostly by mowers and mostly in rural areas...

>>>...Each year, 800 children in the US alone, are run over by riding mowers or small tractors and more than 600 of those incidents result in amputation; 75 people are killed, and 20,000 injured; one in five deaths involves a child. For children under age 10, major limb loss is most commonly caused by lawn mowers.<<<

OK the "headline" sounds terrible thousands and thousands hurt or worse;
then read the commentary so 75 killed one in five involves a child so now we are down to 15.
So for 15 kids a year everyone has to follow inane safety rules.
While we hope that none are our relatives or friends and we all ( well most all) feel bad for the parents who lose kids nothing any wheres is going to be 100% positive to never have any kind of incident.
In reality a bit more freedom with risks and responsibilities is much better in my opinion then what this country has become with all of it's "safety" regulation.
In a great many respects we have gone way to far overboard on so called safety which completely hinders getting work done, much of the newer safety regulations are inane works of art by highly educated individuals who could never have done the job in the first place.