Parental responsibility, kids and tractors

[AlanB]

Just got off the phone with my 10 year old son who is spending the month in Germany with the in laws. He is very excited to be going out right now with his uncle and grandpa and other family members to bale the hay and take it in.

Then of course he says, yeah, they let me drive the tractor in etc etc. I just cringe some. I read the stuff here, and I know what I did as a kid, I know my wife literally ran over her brother (crushed leg and pelvis) on probably the same tractor my son is driving, heck, probably in the same field, and just cringe thinking about all this.

I cautioned him to be safe, talked about the PTO and staying alert, and paying attention, then said have fun.

Sometimes being a parent sucks, on the one hand I want to keep him away from all things dangerous, and on the other I know that there is an element of risk in all actions, even inaction, yet I think he needs / deserves the experiences and the insights that are gained from doing this type of work.

Somehow it is both easier and harder to not be there at the same time.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Somehow it is both easier and harder to not be there at the same time. )</font>

I think all of us parents understand that. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[BamaRob]

As Bird said, we understand. It's a constant struggle to protect them yet let them experience life. And, I'm finding with my 16 and 11 year old boys, it doesn't get any easier the older they get.

BR

 

[JerryG]

It's a rock and hard place thing. You want them to have freedom to have fun and learn things, but on the other hand you want them to be safe and not get hurt.

 

[AlanB]

Well, it actually gets funny at some point, they say to my son, OK, Dean, here is a pitch fork, you load the hay and your uncle Paul will drive the tractor, My son say's oh, no, I will drive the tractor and Paul can load the hay, that would be much better and as Paul is bigger than I am, he can load more hay and stack it higher....

My brother in Law said he was just laughing under his breath, and Opa (Grandpa) said, the boy makes sense, so they let him drive all day while everyone else loaded the trailers.

Thats my boy /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I have a saying I use a lot, "when you find yourself at the bottom of a hole, the first thing to do is to put down the shovel"

My wife said that never would apply to me, it would have to be "get out of the bobcat" as surely I would never be seen with a shovel in my hand. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I think Dean is taking after his old man on some points.

I think he spent about 5 hours driving today if I have the timeline right.

It is funny, they call thier IH tractors all McCormicks. I think it had something to do with the way they were exported. (and all the tractors there (in the family) have the "rider" seats) for folks to go with you on the tractor.

 

[Soundguy]

I remember learning to drive on a tractor.. I also remember riding down the road on the fender of an old ford standing on the running board while my grandpa drove, pulling a disk down to the pasture to disk.

As you mention.. everything in life is a risk. At any moment an airplane could crash on you.. so even staying home ain't 100% safe.

People have to learn responsibility.. and that will sooner or later be happening while the kids grow up.

At least he is learning with family, who , presumably have decent skill in this area.. vs learning from friends who may not be so safe.. etc.

Still... good luck... I know it's a nerve racking experience..

Soundguy

 

[Dex]

Being a parent is the toughest job that you will ever love. The best thing that you can do is educate, steer then in a positive direction and give the the reasoning skills to be successful. My 13 y/o son drives my tractor all the time and rides his motorcycle like a crazy kid. What I do for him is have him ask himself "if I do this what will happen?" This seems to make him thing about actions and reactions. So far it has keep him alive but not always without injury. "Boys will be boys"

 

[frank_f15]

Kind of late to this thread as like many of you had trouble logging the last few days. but you have to give the boy /girl room to grow, not to soon but there is a time when parental concerns must be set on the back burnner. I personally at 10 years old was driving tractors, field trucks, mowing hay etc! but that was different time back in 1950. wait till the fist time the boy take the car for the 1st time all by himself, i know when each one of my 3 kids tok the car i was a nervous wreck. i still tell my kids to be careful, AND the youngest is 34 and my son(38) goes to work with a gun on his hip and police dog as his partener and i still tell him to be very careful out there. guess it is just ingrained in parents.

 

[coffeeman]

I drove and worked with farm tractors at a young age; 12, 13 or so. I grew up and had kids. Don't farm but always had a tractor or two around to cut grass and work around my property. Never would let my kids ride on tractor with me. I rode when I was young, but not my kids. Now, I'm really older and really smarter. Last week I sat way back on tractor and let my grandson sit on edge of seat in front of me. He drove and I operated clutch etc. I still can't believe I did that.

Cheers....Coffeeman

 

[AlanB]

Well, he is back home now, so I took him out to our landscaping property with me. We went through the controls on the NH 1925 HST and we talked about it, and safety and going slow.

Then I let him go at the woodchip pile. Dig, scoop, dump, play in general.

After a while he was doing pretty well, so we put in a tractor parking area with woodchips so we would not have to mow there anymore.

At some point, it was seeming to take him forever to get stuff moved, then I remembered his age and experience level and said he is doing just fine.

He got in about 1.5 hrs seat time, made me work with a rake (which made his mom very happy) and we did not destroy anything. Now of course he thinks he is an expert, but I told him he has just taken the first step on a long road....

It is kind of cool to have someone else out there helping.