Not Raising a “Bubble Kid”: Farm Parents'Attitudes and Practices Regarding the Employment, Training and Supervision of Their Children

Abstract

This article explores farm parents' attitudes and practices regarding the employment, training and supervision of their children among a sample of 24 farm couples from southeastern Washington state. The goal was to gain a greater understanding of parental attitudes and practices in order to devise appropriate and meaningful efforts to improve the safety of children and adolescents involved in farm work. Demographic data regarding the farm families and their farm safety practices were collected through a short questionnaire, and parental attitudes and practices regarding the employment, training and supervision of their children were explored through open-ended, semi-structured interviews. The results suggest that farm parents have developed a logical and consistent set of beliefs and attitudes regarding the employment, training, and supervision of their children that is based in part on the belief that farm work is highly beneficial to their children's development. Safety interventions to reduce childhood farm injuries will have to acknowledge farm work as important and beneficial for children in order to maintain legitimacy and credibility. Nevertheless, because farm parents' practices regarding their children's employment reflect cultural beliefs and values regarding children and child-rearing, some recommended safety guidelines will be difficult to implement.

Child Work Safety on the Farms of Local Agricultural Market Producers: Parent and Child Perspectives

“…As in earlier studies, 12 , 18 the parents and children whom we interviewed believe children should work on farms and that parents know best about child maturity and safety. Our results are similar to other findings that suggest that children participate in the full range of production tasks that parents felt were age appropriate.…”

“…14 , 26 , 27 Without relevant data describing the work of children working on LAMP farms, the development of these safety programs cannot progress. Neufeld and colleagues 18 concluded that because parents’ practices regarding child farm work reflect their beliefs and values regarding child-rearing, recommended safety guidelines, such as delaying farm work and not riding on farm machinery, will be difficult to implement. It is important that the beliefs and values of parents, as well as their perceptions of their children working on their farms, be documented in further research.…”

“…Several projects conducted around 2000 11−20 addressed a variety of issues related to child agricultural health and safety. Qualitative analyses 12 , 15 , 18 indicate that both parents and children are complicit in the occupational risk experienced by children working on farms. Children acknowledge that they break rules and take risks, but also report that they are modeling the unsafe behavior of adult relatives, and that pressing labor needs determine their tasks rather than their maturity.…”

“…Children acknowledge that they break rules and take risks, but also report that they are modeling the unsafe behavior of adult relatives, and that pressing labor needs determine their tasks rather than their maturity. 12 , 15 Neufeld et al 18 note that parents have a coherent belief system justifying child farm work, and that any efforts to reduce child risk will need to acknowledge the ways parents perceive that their children benefit from farm work.…”

Safety and Injury Characteristics of Youth Farmworkers in North Carolina: A Pilot Study

“…12−16 Studies have also considered farm parents' beliefs about the safety of their children working on the farm. 17,18 However, little primary research has addressed the safety and health of youth employed in agriculture. Westaby and Lee 19 completed a national survey of Future Farmers of America (FAA) members and found that dangerous risk taking was the strongest predictor of injury.…”