That age is NOT out of the question but the conditions of the area, his maturity and his size impact the answer. Urban/suburban society tend to coddle more than those of us from the farm regions. The open areas of the farm gave me opportunities to do many things that city kids couldn't try till they were in college! All these other experiences play into what is an appropriate task to assign and how to teach it.
When are kids old enough to start operating tractor?
- Thread starter yelbike
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That age is NOT out of the question but the conditions of the area, his maturity and his size impact the answer. Urban/suburban society tend to coddle more than those of us from the farm regions. The open areas of the farm gave me opportunities to do many things that city kids couldn't try till they were in college! All these other experiences play into what is an appropriate task to assign and how to teach it.
scrappy isb67
Gold Member
get him on the tractor with you , set the cruise and tell him to turn the key off if anything goes wrong. then you get off the tractor. by setting the cruise YOU can control how fast he goes.
experience doesn't happen without doing.
This aspect and the chance of a lawsuit, make it a careful decision..I cannot affort to hurt one of the kids, even if it destroyed the tractor??[/QUOTE]
I am willing to lose everything BUT my daughter! I can replace everything else!
My daughter is 9 and is very mature for her age. I cut her loose in the 1 1/4 acre field next to the house. i mow ~6 passes around the field and set the cruise and get off letting her do the remainder. she was instructed if she thinks she is in trouble to just shut off the key(which she has). she has ridden with me on the tractor for several months. she paid attention to what I was doing and learned quickly. she has also driven the tractor around the yard by herself following me so I could put yard debris in the bucket. I trust her with the tractor because she is very mature for her age and has shown me the desire to do it. I won't let her run the tractor without me close by though. but IMHO, that is the only way for her to gain experience.
I am not going to ask her to mow my main yard until later(after she gains more experience with obstacles) and she will not mow my ditches. the only one that will mow the ditches is me, I won't let my wife or even my 35yr old buddy mow the ditches. The ditches scare ME while operating. But I have lots of experience with off camber situations, everyone else has not. they would be safe with the ROPS and seatbelt but their lack of experience is what stops me from letting them.
kiotiken
Veteran Member
My kids will not touch my ztr until they are much older than that, probably in their teens. I believe that is the most dangerous tractor I have, wet grass + hills + inexperience = disaster. I am planning on letting them use my JD riding mower somewhere between 8 and 10, they love riding with me on the Kioti now and I've stood beside them (behind the stabilizer) and introduced them to digging with the bh. They will likely be 10 - 12 before they can drive the tractor with my supervision and teenagers before they can use it without me being right beside them.
Perhaps here's an example of how NOT to do it ... :thumbsup:
Dad arrested after child drives car into house | ajc.com
Dad arrested after child drives car into house
By Angel K. Brooks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A man was arrested Monday night after his 9-year-old daughter drove a car into a house in Conyers, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Conyers police told Channel 2 that the family's car was parked at a vacant house. The girl intended to back the car out of the driveway, but she accidentally put the car in drive and slammed into the home, which suffered structural damage.
Neighbor Frankie Juanita Brown told Channel 2 that the collision sounded "like thunder."
She said the girl's father was in the passenger's seat and was going to let her drive the car back to her mother's house a few doors down.
The father was arrested and charged with reckless conduct, police said.
His name was not released in order to protect the identity of the child, Channel 2 said.
Dad arrested after child drives car into house | ajc.com
Dad arrested after child drives car into house
By Angel K. Brooks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A man was arrested Monday night after his 9-year-old daughter drove a car into a house in Conyers, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Conyers police told Channel 2 that the family's car was parked at a vacant house. The girl intended to back the car out of the driveway, but she accidentally put the car in drive and slammed into the home, which suffered structural damage.
Neighbor Frankie Juanita Brown told Channel 2 that the collision sounded "like thunder."
She said the girl's father was in the passenger's seat and was going to let her drive the car back to her mother's house a few doors down.
The father was arrested and charged with reckless conduct, police said.
His name was not released in order to protect the identity of the child, Channel 2 said.
ruffdog
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A 3 year old dies when run over by 7 year old driving skid steer
3-year-old boy dies in skid steer incident | Wausau Daily Herald | wausaudailyherald.com
3-year-old boy dies in skid steer incident | Wausau Daily Herald | wausaudailyherald.com
FunnelWeb
Member
I was 6 when I starters "driving" a tractor. I would do it while we were feeding hay to our dairy herd.
My legs were too short to reach the brake and clutch pedals so my dad would put the tractor in gear and let the clutch out. He would then jump off the tractor and run around the back to the carryall. He would jump on the back and then I would use the hand throttle to get up to an appropriate speed. While I steered the tractor around the paddock, dad would throw out the hay.
When it was time to stop, I'd throttle back and dad would jump off the carryall, run back around to the tractor and climb aboard.
This would have been about 1975.
My legs were too short to reach the brake and clutch pedals so my dad would put the tractor in gear and let the clutch out. He would then jump off the tractor and run around the back to the carryall. He would jump on the back and then I would use the hand throttle to get up to an appropriate speed. While I steered the tractor around the paddock, dad would throw out the hay.
When it was time to stop, I'd throttle back and dad would jump off the carryall, run back around to the tractor and climb aboard.
This would have been about 1975.
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For me it would have been about a decade earlier...
I can't express the feeling of being useful, trusted and dependable that came about the first time my Grandfather let me "Drive" the tractor... it was not play time and I knew I was being of real help to him...
Ed of all trades
Elite Member
My Dad got sick when I was 10 and I was the one to get the work done. I had ben driving both tractors for years (ford jubile, farmall A) for a couple of years mom baled the hay and I did 90% of the rest. wont say it was the best run farm in the county but I got the work done. If I had not ben working at everything on the farm before that I could have never done it. We had 64 angus cows + calves and bulls, by age 14 we had over 100 cows and put up around 10,000 squaer bales a year. Today I run into upper teens that have fathers that are mechanical greats and the kids don't know what a set of vicegrips are. We need to teach our kids to work and how to work. It will binafit them and us. they get to learn to take care of themself and learn to know Dad in a way that they will never know if all they do is say hi as we walk by the chair they are sittin in. I am thankfull for the time my Dad spent listening to me and answering. teaching me to work and helping me to know him. What would a kid who does not now what a pair of vicegrips do if hardtimes come?
Jagged1
New member
That's similar to what I tell my wife when she gets all over-protective with my boys. I do feel like I need to do more to teach them to be self sufficient; and comparing theirs to my own childhood is night and day. All they WANT to do is play bleepin video games. Well my oldest does anyways, my youngest wants to learn but has no fear and that's not good either.
I still remember riding the old Cub Cadet hydrostatic garden tractor from my Grandpas with my Dad (around 5 or 6) through the village 1/4mi+ to borrow it to mow our lawn. He let me steer, throttle it up, and speed it up with the chrome hydro lever, from his lap of course. It's one of the few things I remember doing with my Dad before my parents divorced, so it made an impression to learn. I also remember helping him work on the family cars and such... but crusin through the village on that silly garden tractor seems to stand out.
As for doing things on my own, I used to mow our lawn (at around 9 or 10?) by myself and I ran into the car with the small rider we had.
My Mom was not happy!It was one of those small riders with the handlebar that turned when you swung it left or right. It had no seat-belt and I hit some ruts in the dirt/lawn along the driveway and when the tractor rocked over the bumps my first instinct was to try to use the handlebar to keep from falling off. Well all that did was make the tractor do a hard right into my Moms quarter-panel on her Chrysler Lebaron and dented it up a bit. I think that's the reason you don't see any more mowers with that type of steering anymore. There really wasn't anything to hold on to on that piece of junk design. Man, I can still see that car in my head right now; like it's burned into my brain!
Anyways I couldn't let my kids do much of my lawn anyways (maybe the backyard), as it is loaded with obstacles and banks and ditches and the front banks lead to a ditch on a the side of a main road... with a 6 in crumbling shoulder they'd end up in the State Highway upside-down. I even used to worry when the wife would mow the front yard! I think she got sick of me reminding her to be careful but I had to do it... I always felt it was my job, but I couldn't do it for a while. Actually the lawn needs mowing right now...
Back to the kids... We need a tractor that can be remotely controlled by a PS3 game controller. That way they wont get hurt and wont have to go outside and get TICKS or West-Nile or dirty. What I really want though is for a new tractor to spawn in the garage if they crash it!!! Like in their games... :laughing:
Later, Glen
Mark Page
Platinum Member
I was doing skilled work in my fathers business at age 12. At age 11 I was running my grandfathers 8n pulling a cart and picking rocks out of his new garden. Somehow I figured picking up rocks gave me permission to run the tractor. Man I picked up a lot of rocks that summer.
Stewie1
Bronze Member
My wife is the eldest kid in a farming family and so she started driving tractors when she was 7. She had to get off the seat to use the clutch!
Now our eldest daughter is 10 and just big enough to satisfy the safety devices so we gave it a try.
She loved spreading woodchips recently. ROPS up, seatbelt on, hard hat as we are in the trees low range and operate at idle for now. Oh and close supervision from behind the camera. She paid close attention to what she was doing and hit nothing, which is more than I can say for myself!
Ultimately every kid is different
Craig
Now our eldest daughter is 10 and just big enough to satisfy the safety devices so we gave it a try.
She loved spreading woodchips recently. ROPS up, seatbelt on, hard hat as we are in the trees low range and operate at idle for now. Oh and close supervision from behind the camera. She paid close attention to what she was doing and hit nothing, which is more than I can say for myself!
Ultimately every kid is different
Craig
KubotaEd
New member
I was driving our John Deere "D" by myself using a field cultivator when I was 7 or 8. I would have to sit on the seat and use my foot to push in the clutch (a hand clutch on the JD) and then to disengage the clutch I would have to stand up put both hands on the clutch handle and pull with all my weight to stop the tractor. When I was 10 I was operating the John Deere #55 combine cutting wheat by myself. I'm sure something really bad could have happened, but something bad can happen to my at 72 on one of my Kubota untility tractors.
I would not want to change the experience I had as a "Farm Kid" for anything.
I would not want to change the experience I had as a "Farm Kid" for anything.
RaydaKub
Veteran Member
KubotaEd said:
Amen! I remember having to do the foot on the Model A clutch myself.
My youngest is 7 and I came out in the garage to find him sitting in the tractor seat. He said " I think I have everything figured out except how to turn it on." I started laughing and told him ". . . and I'm not going to teach you that right now." He'll get there soon enough but we don't live on the farm, it's hilly, and his mother would kill me. That said, he's ridden around with me a bit and is a ready helper.
I drove a MF with a pull behind bailer when I was 12 years old. We bailed from 12 am to 8 am at a big corporate farm. That said, there really wasn't a lot you could do wrong on a big flat field and it was fun for about 45 minutes. Then it just turned into work.
I drove a MF with a pull behind bailer when I was 12 years old. We bailed from 12 am to 8 am at a big corporate farm. That said, there really wasn't a lot you could do wrong on a big flat field and it was fun for about 45 minutes. Then it just turned into work.
BX25HD
New member
I let my son drive my BX25 when he was 8. I was cutting trees into fire wood and the putting the logs in the FEL. My son would then drive the tractor over to the log pile and then we would stack the logs and then back again. We traded the BX25 in for an L3800 last year. My wife is afraid of using it, but she has my son use it for some loader work. Today I had to trench with the BH going uphill. So he would drive use forward when I was ready. He loves to help. Sometimes I have to remind myself to take the extra time and let the kids help, that is how I learned when I was a kid.
Gobblebot
New member
I started driving our new holland lawn tractor at age 3 and then when i was 4 I had to drive the truck while hay was being loaded because I couldnt lift the bales but dad just put the truck in low gear and I idled it around the field. When my grampa was running the tractor I would sit beside him and operate the hydraulics and pto while he did the actual driving then at about 5 he put the mower on and let me drive it on my on and just said that if it was getting to close to something to shut the tractor down. ive been riding a quad since I was 4 and the thing is now that Im older all these things help with every part of my life in my area anyway you see 10 year old farm kids and they can operate equipment better than teens and adults from town. If kids get to operate equipment like this they learn and they take it more seriously because they know what it can do if used wrong
Jlillie2
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Most of the time when I read abut stuff like that, its not the well trained mature for their age child that gets in trouble, its the kid that steals the keys, and decides to give it a go on his/her own. My daughter in law cited one of those 'events' when we brought up the subject my grandson riding a honda 70 Quad runner. Two eight year olds decided to 'borrow' the neighbors yamaha rhino. predictably, they flipped, and one of them died. No permission, no training, no seatbelts = bad result. My grandson operates the equipment at our farm now, and as time goes on his skill set improves daily. We are always there, and he is very aware of the consequences of his actions. And as one other member on this board mentioned, he knows that if the sh&t hits the fan, shut the machine down.
NICKB304
Silver Member
i was driving my grandfathers IH cub with a blade and small lawn cart style trailer around the age of 10. i used it to make all kinds of trails and small jumps for our dirt bikes. picked up some good skills backing up that little dump cart too.
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