ELMIRA – Waterloo Rural Women (WRW) is hosting its 29th annual Children’s Farm Safety Day on June 7.
The event will run from 9am to 1pm at Kyle and Jolene Horst’s Hidden Lane Dairy Farm (7144 Line 86, Elmira).
“We are focusing on creating safety awareness with school age children” WRW board member Sharon Grose said.
Children will be divided into small groups and tour each of the six stations throughout the day.
Waterloo Regional Police will be talking about road safety for bikers and walkers.
Floradale Volunteer Fire Department have their bouncy house set up to demonstrate emergency exits. They will also be talking to kids about how to call 911 and discussing the importance of knowing your farm fire number.
Equipment Ontario, a local Elmira farm machinery dealership, will be discussing large machinery safety.
“People wonder why we bother to host a farm safety day each spring, but we have a committed group of volunteers who feel strongly about educating children about farm safety,” Grose stated in a press release.
“Farm kids re exposed to a lot of things at a young age.
“We only hear about the accidents that happened but we don’t hear about the accidents we have prevented by talking to students.
“Farm accidents happen in just a matter of seconds. Those close calls serve as a wakeup call and I know how important it is to get the message out to others, especially young children so they don’t have those close calls,” Grose stated.
“Farm children live where their family works, and often times they don’t see or are not aware of the many hazards of their daily surroundings” she added.
“We want to try and make children aware of the dangers and hazards found on the farm.
“Often times children will pay more attention if someone other than their parents remind them of the dangers.
“Farm families live where they work, we want them to be safe” Grose said.
It is important to get information out to kids when they are just starting to work on the farm, before they get drawn into bad habits.
“If we can teach children safety hopefully it will stay with them for life,” added Grose.
“Children will go home and tell their parents what they have learned so hopefully the whole family benefits from the day” she said.
“There are far too many kids being hurt. If hosting a day such as this can prevent an accident it is time well spent.”
We’re heading into the busy time on the farm, but we hope folks will take time to register their children for WRW Children’s Farm Safety Day Register for the event by emailing Susan at florahills2416@gmail.com, officials say.
