Electric fencing and kids (human)

[username taken]

Just remember to put it back on

Very important!

 

[Mini-M Ranch]

Just remember to put it back on

Very important!

Oh, dear...something else for my tiny brain to remember...

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Just remember to put it back on

Very important!

Yes, very important. They don't work if not plugged back in.

Smart enough that just telling them something will hurt if they touch it will probably be enough without them touching it with or without the blade of grass.

I beg to differ on that point. Most inquisitive kids have to find out for themselves eventually. Oh, they may listen to you while you are standing there, but the moment your back is turned, they just have to see for themselves! At least, with boys its like that, I don't know about little girls.

I think the blade of grass thingy is how most country kids try it on for size.... I know I did!

With young kids, unless someone shows them the blade of grass trick, are they really apt to think of it themselves? No. If someone shows it to them, a probability. With the fencer we have, I would have known. They would have screamed loud enough to wake the dead. It's a strong fencer as it covers a lot of territory and believe me, it BITES!

 

[freemotion]

I read about a small child actually being KILLED by a modern fencer, the child's head touched the wire when the child was well-grounded on wet grass. Extremely rare situation, but why risk it?

Not every child learns by simply being told. You know your own kids.

I don't let young children open gates or doors around animals. It creates an unsafe situation for both. Unless, of course, I am so close I am touching the child and can block the animals with my body or scoop the child up.

Creating safety for children is always my first concern and motivation. No, you can't control everything, but if something bad happens, at least you can know you did everything in your power to prevent it.

I have spent thousands of hours teaching kids to be safe around animals, as a riding instructor and farm manager/trainer/teacher for a wealthy family with young children. Sorry if I come across as itchy-b, but I will always chime in on child safety issues when I can!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

freemotion, you didn't come across as itchy-b. I still can not figure out why anyone who is concerned about child saftey would teach them to touch it with grass. It is cruel! Maybe it's just me because of my sensitivity to it but, I would never harm a child and to me that is harming them. I've inadvertently touched via grass and it hurt.


BTW-While we are on the subject of children's saftey around electric fences, if a child grabs a hold of the fence and doesn't let go and keeps getting zapped. Grab them. Be ready to receive the jolt yourself but the child will usually let go then and be safe once again. It's the person at the end of the chain that gets the jolt. That is why when you grab them you get it and they can then let go.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I read about a small child actually being KILLED by a modern fencer, the child's head touched the wire when the child was well-grounded on wet grass. Extremely rare situation, but why risk it?

That probably falls into a health issue situation. But, it does show why they need to be taught not to be near the fence.

I've had other kids over that all I've had to do was tell them that the fence will bite and they leave it alone. Of course, there's always those who you tell not to do something and they will (my brother comes to mind).

 

[freemotion]

FK, I am also ultra-sensitive to it, the zap will jump the wire and get me long before I touch it, even on a very dry day at about an inch away! But when you use a REALLY long piece of a flat, broad grass such as a footlong leaf from a spear of timothy, you can touch the end to the wire and get NO zap, then move up a centimeter at a time until you feel the faintest zap. It only hurts if you move closer and closer and hold the grass very tightly. That way the kid can experience the electricity in a way that they can control without it even hurting. But the first little buzz usually startles them into jumping and dropping the grass, even though they then have to admit that it didn't really hurt. The bold ones will pick up the grass again and experiment to see just how much they can take, and the sensitive ones will leave it alone forevermore!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

FK, I am also ultra-sensitive to it, the zap will jump the wire and get me long before I touch it, even on a very dry day at about an inch away! But when you use a REALLY long piece of a flat, broad grass such as a footlong leaf from a spear of timothy, you can touch the end to the wire and get NO zap, then move up a centimeter at a time until you feel the faintest zap. It only hurts if you move closer and closer and hold the grass very tightly. That way the kid can experience the electricity in a way that they can control without it even hurting. But the first little buzz usually startles them into jumping and dropping the grass, even though they then have to admit that it didn't really hurt. The bold ones will pick up the grass again and experiment to see just how much they can take, and the sensitive ones will leave it alone forevermore!

Uh, maybe no zap for you but, I would feel it. I've felt the currents on electrical stuff when I've been told that there's no way I should be able to. It's not fun.

 

[mully]

My son at age 11 was told not to "play" with the electric fence because it would bite him. We had a long conversation about it and I run a 50 mile fencer on about a mile of wire so it will hurt. Few days later he cane in all scared and said he touched the fence, when I asked him why he replied to see what would happen ..he saw alright, never touched the fence again...There is an old Chinese proverb that I like " Children that can't hear must feel" Maybe your girls will not be so inquisitive as to touch the fence.

 

[freemotion]

FK, I hear ya. I was at the Museum of Science in Boston some years ago and I put my hands on one of those glass tube things with the "lightening" electricity that follows your hands....and I got a jolt that went straight to my heart, hard, that scared the $*&%^ out of me....I had to go sit down for a while. I was a young adult, and should've reported it, but for some strange reason I felt foolish so I said nothing, just my family knew. The family members I was with had no trouble with the exhibit. Glass should not conduct electricity....thick glass, too.