Talk about resurrecting an old thread!
For me, my young son is now 5! And is a bit too big to ride with me in the cab. Short of making a buddy seat (Or spending several hundreds on ebay for a seat not made for my tractor) we have tried everything. A pillow wedged between the range selector and main seat seemed to work well, for a while. But then he would complain about how uncomfortable it was. And for a small child who LOVES tractors and loves to ride-along, that's some serious uncomfort.
I now have a second son, who is 2, who is also in love with tractors. But has yet to build up the courage to ride in the cab. Even on my lap.
When my oldest does ride along now, he sits on the right side of my seat, splitting the seat with me, pressed up against the console, in the way of my arm operating the controls (he is getting better at doing that for me), with nothing much to hold on to. He doesn't last long before he wants off the tractor.
I'd be willing to explore this buddy seat thing again. I believe it's extremely important to have children ride-along. From a safety standpoint, they will be out there with us working. They are little vacuums, sucking up all the knowledge. For my children, if someone is working outside or in the shop, they want to be right there. So they will either be running round the tractor, playing, getting into the way, hiding in blind spots, or they will be in the cab. Another reason it is so important is the general knowledge of how things work. Seeing that 'ah-ha' moment when something clicks for them. They finally understand, to some degree, that the rototiller turns up the ground and makes it ready to plant. Or the bucket lifts the scoop of gravel to spread on their playground. Education should come from doing and observing the real world, not from a tablet or cartoon. But probably the most important reason to have my small sons ride-along with me is, I don't get to spend much time with them. They are in school, asleep, or I'm busy doing chores or projects. Any moment I get to spend with them, is gold. If that means killing two birds with one stone: getting projects done and spending time with them with something they are interested in doing, thats a win!
But the real reason I want a buddy seat is so they can learn what I'm doing so I can go sit on the porch with a glass of lemonade and watch them do the projects!
Yeah... It's not a high priority at the moment, but I should really look at installing a buddy seat.