My two children were raised on our small farm. My son Nate used to tease his sister, Jennifer, “If you would come outside and work with us, you would learn some common sense.” He also used to lament, “I feel sorry for city kids. All they have to do is walk the streets and get in trouble.”
Wise words coming from a young boy. Words I hope the U.S. Department of Labor takes in to consideration as they revamp their child labor laws. Proposed revisions to current laws would prohibit children under 15 from working on farms other than their parents’. They would also ban children under 18 from working in non-agricultural duties at grain elevators, sale barns and livestock exchanges. Children under 16 would not be allowed to operate tractors and other equipment. Another provision would ban children under 15 from working near “sexually mature” livestock.
I’ll admit farms can be dangerous, but so is life without proper supervision. Farms can also be a great place to learn safety, common sense, work ethics, life skills and all about the birds and the bees.
By observing adults and operating tractors and other equipment under careful adult supervision at an early age, farm kids are more prepared to operate motor vehicles when they get their driver’s license. Anyone can drive a car, but farm kids are better able to react calmly under pressure, having fine-tuned their motor skills and reactions on actual equipment instead of video games.
Working for room and board comes natural to farm children, and I believe the skills and work ethics learned on the farm at an early age make them better employees and contributing members of society. They understand where the food on their table comes from and the effort it takes to get it there.
One of the greatest life lessons children learn on the farm is where babies come from and how to care for and protect them, something that seems to be lacking in urban lifestyles, judging by the number of unwanted, neglected and abused children in this country. On the farm they see normally docile mother cows, horses and hogs protect their offspring to the death. They learn to feed their animals before they feed themselves. They learn about the inevitability of death and how to cope with it.
They learn to live by the Future Farmers of America creed written by E.M. Tiffany in 1930:
“I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds — achievements won by present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we enjoy now have come to us from the struggles of former years.
“I believe that to live and work on a good farm, or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny.
“I believe in leadership from ourselves and respect from others. I believe in my own ability to work efficiently and think clearly, with such knowledge and skill as I can secure, and in the ability of progressive agriculturalists to serve our own and the public interest in producing and marketing the product of our toil.
“I believe in less dependence on begging and more power in bargaining; in the life abundant and enough honest wealth to help make it so — for others as well as myself; in less need for charity and more of it when needed; in being happy myself and playing square with those whose happiness depends on me.
“I believe that American agriculture can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life and that I can exert an influence in my home and community which will stand solid for my part in that inspiring task.”
Enough said.
Lorraine Melgosa (lorrainemelgosa@yahoo.com) of Manzanola is a self-employed farmer and owner of the Wellington Carriage Company.
