Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio

Agriculture is an important industry in the United States, usually involving the entire family. On farms, youth are put to work at very young ages for a variety of reasons: economic necessity, lack of childcare options or to instill a work ethic. The real dangers lie in the assignment of farm tasks to youth who do not have the physical, mental or emotional ability to perform the assignment. As reported by the National Safety Council (1994), the statistics are startling. Approximately 300 children die and more than 27,000 sustain serious injuries on U.S. farms each year. A National Safety Council survey found children ages 5 to 14 were two-thirds more likely to suffer a farm work accident than adults ages 45 to 64.

In most farm-chore related accidents, the supervising adult's expectation exceed the child's developmental stage (Clark 1994). A common assumption is made that when a child looks large enough to reach the pedals, operate the equipment, or handle the livestock, he or she is ready to perform that particular chore. While some children are physically larger than others, it is false to assume that physical appearance equates with mental and emotional competence. Children develop at different rates (Gabbard, 1992). Instead of body size, chores should be assigned in respect to developmental stage. This type of assignment is more logical than traditional family practices, but it requires analysis of a child's physical, cognitive and psychosocial dev-elopment. Using this three-fold approach assures that a child is physically, mentally, and emotionally comfortable with his or her assignment.

Physical Development

Physical growth varies during the first 20 years of life (Gabbard, 1992). A very rapid growth rate takes place from birth to age 4. During this time, children are just developing their motor skills. These children experience balance problems and clumsiness, making coordination virtually impossible. Preschool children generally have slower reaction times than older children. It is difficult for them to determine speed, weight, force, acceleration, distance or location accurately (Keogh and Sugden, 1985).

Between preschool and puberty (ages 6 to 11) , there is a period of steady growth. During these ages, children try to master more complex tasks requiring eye-hand coordination. However, development of these skills is usually slow and improves with practice. By age eight, a child can begin to deal with issues like location, distance, weight, force, speed, and acceleration (Keogh and Sugden, 1985). They develop directionally (north, south, east, west) around age 12 (Long and Looft, 1972). Between ages 9 and 11, the child begins to accurately judge the flight of a moving object and their ability to distinguish objects in motion slowly improves (Williams, 1983).

At puberty there is a disproportionate growth of various body parts; usually the arms, legs and feet will grow and change so rapidly as to disrupt the body's ability to keep up with coordination skills (Lloyd, 1995). For most children at this age, they have mastered kinesthetics, speed, and direction of moving objects (Keogh and Sugden, 1985).

Around 15 years of age there is a deceleration of growth (Gabbard, 1992). By this time most awkwardness has been overcome and the mastery of small and large muscles is complete (Clark, 1994). These individuals look more like adults than children.

Cognitive Development

Preschool aged children use preoperational thought (Piaget, 1971). They are in the process of learning language and basic problem-solving techniques. It is very difficult for them to remember rules and their attention span is less than 10 minutes.

Children between the ages of 6 and 11 operate on concrete facts (Piaget, 1971). They must be able to see, taste, hear, smell and feel the job at hand before they can understand the concept. They are not capable of dealing with abstract ideas and their attention span is approximately 12 to14 minutes. Due to the limitations in their cognitive development, oral instructions do not work well. Demonstrations of how to do the task are necessary (Clark, 1994).

Children begin thinking abstractly around 12 to14 years of age (Piaget, 1971). They can understand instructions without seeing the task and can generalize past tasks to new experiences. However, they have trouble generalizing tragic experience to themselves. They have a strong feeling of immortality and believe that accidents only happen to others.

From ages 15 to18, abstract thinking has been accomplished, allowing for oral instructions, generalization of skills from one task to another, and making projections into the future (Clark, 1994). However, they still think that accidents will not happen to them and that they possess the size and strength to overcome any problem.

Preschool Development

Preschool children have a high level of curiosity and will act on impulse. However, they lack the control and judgment to stop and think before they act. Even at this early age, they exhibit a strong will and determination to do things for themselves (Clark, 1994).

Children between the ages 6 and 11 do not take responsibility for their actions, usually blaming others or the situation for any downfall. They label tasks as being "interesting" or "boring," and rarely follow them through to completion (Clark, 1994). Since they are still developing their small muscles and eye-hand coordination skills, tasks are not done with any precision or accuracy.

During puberty, children are pre-occupied with themselves and their own problems. They tend to be risk-takers and rebellious towards authority figures. Parents' ready-made solutions may be rejected in place of their own ideas and solutions (Clark, 1994).

The rebellious, risk-taking and aggressive stage continues on through adolescents. As more activities compete for their time, interest for the farm often takes the back seat, and haste in completing chores often leads to accidents (Clark, 1994). Although they may have mastered their physical and cognitive development, their maturity level fluctuates between the very childish to the sophisticated.

Implications for Parents

Accidents occur to children because they have slower reaction times; lack the experience, knowledge, and physical ability to perform most farm tasks; and exhibit no fear or respect for the dangers involved with the task. Children want to test their skills and try new things. They will not admit they lack the ability to perform the assigned chore.

Children of any age tend to believe they possess greater strength than they actually have (Clark, 1994).

The majority of farm accidents occur to children while they are accompanying adults to the workplace. However for the most part, the worksite is the homesite for farm children and the hazards are abound.

Supervision is necessary at any age of development; the level of supervision is dependent upon the age and developmental stage of the child in respect to the assigned task.

Summary

Choosing age-appropriate tasks for kids working in agriculture is an important adult responsibility. However, entrusting adults to understand youth development issues merely because they are adults, is a fallacy. The future of agriculture safety programs involves adult education in childhood development stages.

Teaching adults about the common risks that youth take at different ages of their lives and protective measures for each age level is a key concept in safety education.

Learning how to downsize farm chores is an obligation that every parent, grandparent, or supervisor should recognize.

References

Clark, R. (1994, June). "Developmental characteristics of children: A framework for age appropriate tasks". Proceedings of the 1994 National Institute for Farm Safety (pp. 33-41). Bloomington, Illinois.

Gabbard, C. (1992). Lifelong motor development. Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown Publishers.

Keogh, Jr., and Sugden, D. (1985). Movement skill development. New York: Macmillan.

Lloyd, M. (1985). Adolescence. New York: Harper and Row.

Long, A., and Looft, W. (1972). Development of directionality in children: Ages 6 through 12. Developmental Psychology, 6, pp. 375-380.

National Safety Council (1994). Accident Facts, 1994 ed. Chicago, IL: National Safety Council.

Piaget, J. (1971). The construction of reality by the child. New York: Ballentine.

Williams, H. (1983). Perceptual and motor development. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

Previous Page
Next Page

Return to Table of Contents
Return to Title Page