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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1981)
January 19,1981 Page 9 Children and Allowances Extension Notes As long as it’s financially possible, each child should be given a share of the family’s income, and the freedom to decide how at least some of it should be spent. The only way children can learn to manage money is to have some of their own and the freedom to decide how to use it. By making small p u r c h a s e s , sa v in g s f o r something more expensive, and occasionally spending money on a disappointing item, the child learns to live within a budget. As to how this learning experience can be structured, is best to not have the allowance be tied to chores or good grades, and it shouldn’t be part of a disciplings system. Using an allowance as a reward or punishment mixes love with money, and may encourage the child to think that money can buy affection or make up for injury. It is perfectly reasonable to expect a child who is old enough to receive an allowance to contribute to the household work, but it should be made clear that chores are family responsibilities, not paid jobs. An allowance should be based on the child’s needs, and should be adjusted to m eet. rising prices as well as increasing expenses. Fifty cents no longer buys a comic book and two double-dip ice cream cones. Today a dollar isn’t a fortune even to a 6-year. Parents should encourage a child who wishes to save part of an allowance toward some short term goal. An older child may want to open a savings account. An allowance may not, and should not be expected to cover all a child’s expenses. Parents may w ant to en co u rage children to take on small jobs to supplement their income. However, when parents pay the child for such work, it should be clearly outside the range of normal household chores and sh o u ld m eet re a s o n a b le standards of quality. When fin a n c ia l p ro b lem s force cutbacks in the fam ily’s spending, children should be included in discussions about the types of changes that will be made, whether their allowance will be affected or not. A child needs to understand that differences in wealth exist among families, and that every desire cannot be satisfied by the available resources, these lessons are best learned in a real-life situation. No matter how an allowance system is structured—whatever the amounts, the pay periods, the rules about borrowing, saving, and outside work— parents should remember that the money, or some part of it, is the child’s own to spend as he or she likes. Parents who constantly q u e s tio n a n d c r itic iz e expenditures are not helping their child. Poor choices, after all, are part of the learning process, and gently parental guidance is a useful tool in teaching money mangement to children. Children and Stress Most parents find it hard to believe that childhood can be stressful. However, anxiety, fear, withdrawal or depression are not exclusively adult stress symptoms. We often disregard the seriousness of childhood stress' because we think of childhood as being carefree. We’ve forgotton how scary the dark was, how fearful tests could be or how threatening bigger kids seemed. Childhood is full of fears that we eventually outgrow as we master ever larger environ ments. But in addition to normal childhood fears and pressures, modern children are faced with more threatening kinds of pressures than their parents probably were. Today greater emphasis is placed on excelling in school. With this emphasis comes pressure to excel, to get good grades and to plan for the f u t u r e . A c o m p e titiv e , industrial society demands excellence causing tots and teens to be pushed and pulled to w a rd a c h ie v e m e n t. In addition to school work, there is pressure to become part of the school social scene. Peer pressure for socializing and status is never greater than during school years. If parents are not aware of this, children can end up with an average week that allows no chore time at home or no free time at all. For the child, every day is pre planned with niter school meetings or group activities. Another pressure comes from a society that offers conflicting ideas about life and death, love and sex, honesty and dishonesty. Children are exposed to hundreds of hours of TV, dozens of records as well as movies and magazines that promote varying values and conflicting information. With these influences, children struggle to find their identity and develop a set of their own values. A group of ten to twelve y e a r - o ld s r e p o r te d th e following events or anticipa tion of such events as being most stressful in order of appearance: Losing a parent; g o in g b lin d ; n o t b ein g promoted; wetting in class; parental fights; caught in theft; poor report card. Suspected of lying; sent to principal; having an operation; getting lost; put down in class; move to a new school; scary dream. Not making it; picked last on team; losing in a game; going to the dentist; giving class report; new baby brother or.sister. These ratings may not apply in the same level of importance to your child, but they represent stressors in children’s lives that parents must recognize and take seriously if they are to help their children overcome them. Free extension publications available R eq u est th e follo w in g publication be sent to you by calling Sandra or Pennie at the Extension Office, 553-1161 ext. 238. FS 231—Nutritional Needs of Oral Contraceptive Users WRAES 103—Wood Stove Selection EC 847—Gathering Fuelwood For Home Heating EC 1023—Fuelwood Facts WRAES 95—Heating With Wood EC-991-EC 1000—Learning Is Child’s Play (a series of publications on homewood educational toys) Cost sharing funds available Funds are now available to cost share on conservation practices under a number of practices such as reseeding abandoned farm lands to permenent grasses, improving areas already in permenent cover with fencing, sagebrush spraying and seeding and water impoundment reservoirs for livestock water. So that all farmers have an equal opportunity to request funding, the Wasco County Committee has decided to hold a sigh-up period. The period will be now through January Additional information can be obtained from Clint Jacks, Extension Agent in the' old a d m in is tra tio n building. Sign-up for the program is in the Wasco County ASCS office 400 East 5th Street. The Dalles Oregon, phone 298-8559. 31,1981. Mice can become winter problems Winter weather often brings field mice into residential areas in search of food, especially in areas with snow cover. Rabbits and mountain beavers can also be a problem in rural areas. In cities or towns, field mice can become established in areas with thick stands of grass of weeds, such as vacant lots or parks. The rodents can severly damage trees and shrubs by feeding on their upper roots and lower trunks. If not controlled, they can girdle the plants and kill them. Recently planted fruit trees a re q u ite v u ln e ra b le to invasions of field mice. A fine mesh hardware collar wrapped around the base of from Pennie Little and Clint Jacks Overwintering Cattle How the herd is organized, fed and watered is very im portant to successfully overwintering cattle, according to Dean Frischknecht, Oregon State University Extension animal scientist. , “Cattle producers can do a great deal toward making the overwintering operation more productive by segregating their cattle according to age group,” says Frischknecht. Heifer calves, young steers, heifers that are going to calve for the first time in the coming spring and heifers that have just raised their first calf should be separated from the main herd and fed in their own group. S eparating the younger cattle from the main herd enables the younger animals to get enough to eat without having to compete for food with the older animals. Also, with the cattle separated it’s easier to feed them according to the nutritonal needs of the individual groups. “A sufficient supply of feed th a t c o n ta in s a d e q u a te nutrition is major requirement o f o v e rw in te rin g c a ttle ,” Frischknecht notes. Generally, cattle that are still growing require a little higher quality feed than the main herd for overwintering. In the case of cows that have calves, their nutrition requirements are higher when they’re nursing. Besides feed, adequate water and shelter are two other im portant requirements of overwintering cattle. “Usually all the shelter cattle need is an open shed or natural cover like that offered by trees,” Frischknecht notes. The best source of water for cattle is a spring or well where the animals can be assured of getting all the water they need. If the cattle have to drink from a trough and temperatures are likely to drop below freezing during the winter, an electric warmer can be installed in the trough to keep the water from freezing over. “It’s also important to have salt available for the cattle and to keep the cattle free of lice during the overw intering period,” Frischknecht says. Insects in firewood People who bring firewood into, their homes for use in fireplaces or woodstoves may unknowingly be opening their doors to a variety of insect pests. Many species of insects overwinter in the bark of tree trunks and limbs that may be cut up for firewood. If the firewood is stored in a garage or house, the insects in the bark respond to the warmer indoor te m p e ra tu re and becom e active. Types of insects that often shelter in wood bark are yellow jackets, bark beetles, ant termites, wood wasps and carpenter ants. “Most insects that invade homes are more of a nuisance^ than anything else,” says Joe' C a p iz z i, O re g o n S ta te University Extension ento mologist. “However, one pest that can be a problem in homes is the carpenter ant.” Carpenter ants like to make their nests in any soft material such as certaintypes of wood or insulation. If these pests are brought indoors on firewood that is left unused in the house for a few weeks, carpenter ant infestation may result. How old the wood is and how long it’s been in the wood pile often determines what kind of insects will take refuge in it,” Capizzi says. “One type of wood that isn’t likely to harbor insects is clean-cut wood such as that left over from the construction of a house or other building.” The easiest way to avoid invasions of overwintering insects hiding in firewood is to store the wood outdoors. In areas of heavy rain or snowfall the wood can be protected fro moisture by covering with a tarp or black plastic, if no other outdoor cover is available. Because firewood will absorb moisture from the ground, store it on a moisture-proof surface if possible. After storing the wood outside, bring it in the house only as it’s needed and avoid leaving quantities of it in wood- boxes or in corners of a back porch or basement. trees and shrubs will protect a g a in st m ice. T he mest hardware material is available at garden stores. Traps and poiso baits are also effective _in controlling Horse For Sale rodents. If poison baits are desired for A gentle three-year old mare sorrel marc Shadley is asking use, check with a local garden is for sale by Jack Shadley. A $600. store for types available and bridle, saddle, and saddle ■ If interested, call Shadley at conditions under which they blankets goes with the chestnut 475-6486. should be used.
