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.