During this pandemic, it has been anything but life as usual. Kids have been going to school with modified schedules, and some have elected to do virtual all year. It has led to some challenges for family farming operations. There are positives and negatives to having kids around the operation when they would normally be at school. Today, researchers are looking at those differences we are seeing.
Melissa Ploeckelman is with the National Farm Medicine Center. She says that the pandemic situation and its effects on daily schedules have been a challenge regarding farm kids. It has become an interesting scenario, to say the least.
Ploeckelman says that there is research being conducted on this ?Farm Kid Paradox.? There have been some benefits found so far. In fact. Some farm kids are seeing decreases in respiratory ailments, and also the education and human development side of the equation.
There has been increased strain on the family farmers who are having kids at home. Not only are they trying to manage their operations, but like urban parents, they are having to be teachers as well. They are balancing being a farmer, a teacher, a coach, a superintendent, an employer, and more.
It has also created safety concerns with having the kids around the operation more often. It is a concern not only for the children but also for the parents themselves. More distractions can lead to more accidents.
The research is still ongoing. It will be some time before we know if the pandemic caused more accidents on the farm or not. Like with anything we will have to see if the benefits outweighed the risks families had to take.
