(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

OK - Do You Let Your Kid's Run A Tractor?

K

kruser

Well-known Member
Got Bashed on JDSeller's question down below about a Kid running a ATV/UTV.

Question is - Were you working around more dangerous parts as a "kid" (12 - 16) - ie, baler, chopper, no PTO shields, methane gas, moldly corn, etc. BTDT+
 
yup, my daughter runs tractors, also has a 4 wheeler and a motocross bike. good shot with a shotgun, rifle and a pistol. she is now driving and has a z-71 chevy 4x4 pickup with a lift kit. she is very cautious. she was taught early on how to run equipment and be safe. generally when somebody gets hurt on any machine, its always the machines fault, never the stupidity of the operator.
 
Had the bleeding hearts seen me doing everything I did that was considered "the normal course of business" when I was a kid, Dad would have been run out of business and brought up on charges. And I would have turned out like most of the people in society today that can't pour pi$$ out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel! My son was running a JD 310A backhoe when he was 12.
 
when i was 13 worked in field plowing. 65cents per hour. mm u 3hree 16in. bigest tractor in our parts. Boy I thought I was in tall cotton... hand clutch
 
My son at 12yo was hauling 10000lbs of water or 28kGCW for several miles on the county roads without any problems.

My grandson is 22yo and I wouldn't let him drive my empty pick-up.

Two totally different young men. Does that answer your question ?

T_Bone
 
I was driving tractors by 8, working fields (disking, dragging) by 10, running a AC66 combine by 11-12, and plowing by 12-13. At 4 my dad needed to get a tractor and pickup home, so he pulled the p-up with the tractor and I steered and ran the brake for three miles.
 
I have a late bday, october. I remember when I was in first grade I was 5 years old, I had not yet turned 6 and I was hauling in corn to the crib with a WD45 by myself. Ran all the equipment it took to run a farm then. Worked everyday on the farm in the fiftys and early sixtys.
 
Grew up round Dad's sawmill all kinds of spining parts on that thing, was useing a 4x4 army truck to skid logs when I was bout 14 on back roads. skiding 3- 30 foot logs, when I came to the hill the ft end would go bout a foot up in zee air and the truck wood slide over into the road ditch, then when I toped the hill the ft end wood come back down and I could steer back onto the road no cab or fenders, had to watch that limbs didn't get stuck in zeem tires chains and hit Me on zee head
 
My nine year old daughter drives my pickup rather well, but not on the road. There is a half mile lane between my place and my parent place. One time I told her don't go over ten mph. When I mentioned to her she was going 25mph she said "I didn't think you would notice Daddy". Gotta love that girl!
 
Neighbor let his son go to work pushing brush with a D-7 for a local contractor at 14. (of course he had been on his dads since he was born)
 
I've been driving a tractor since I can remember, I must have been about 6 or 7 when Dad had me drive while he threw out hay in the winter back in the early 60's. Running equipment is a piece of cake compared to working cattle with the equipment we had and I've been doing that since I was 3.
 
I did not mean to get you in hot water!!! All of my kids and most of the grand kids have worked on our farms. I know that farming is the most dangerous thing according to the "experts" next to mining. The different is that we usually match the chore to the kids age/ability. As They grow up then they get to do more and different things.

I don"t leave loaded guns laying on the kitchen table. So I also don"t want a fast machine, ATV, motorcycle, Dune buggy,etc., where any of the kids can get on them. The ATVs seem to draw a kid like a moth to a light.

kruser: you are teaching your Daughter how to work. Even if she never does any thing around a farm after she is grown. She knows responsibility and the joy of getting a job done.
 
Let my three year old nephew drive my tractor. He is sitting in my lap of course. Just tell him to go that direction and he puts his weight into the steering wheel and goes. Momma always said it's not good to shelter your kids from the world or it'll chew em up. As I said in the last post. If you teach em to run it and be safe then you'll be ok. I also have learned that if you work on your own stuff (change oil, restore tractors, etc) then you have a respect for it and don't do stupid things, especially if it means you don't have to redo something that you just fixed. 2 cents
 
JD,
Thanks for the comments!
Dotter is good and is a lotta help for the "Ugg Ugg" horses.

Jim
 
It's a wonder I, my brother and cousins survived our youth by today's standards. We didn't have atv's but did have mini bikes then dirt bikes in the summer. Winter time the sleds came out. High performance Yamaha's capable of 70+mph. Cleaned snow and barns with a JD A narrow front with 7' snow bucket.. This is the "rig of death" according to some. We never tipped it over. This was the era of little or no safety equipment. We had common sense, good training and the respect for the equipment was instilled in us.

I was operating a 8n ford before I could reach the pedals. Sitting on a cousins lap he would put it in low gear, jump off to open the gate as I drove it through he would shut the gate and catch up with me.

I started my son and daughter on a go cart with a 5hp briggs at about 4, slowly worked them up to the riding mower then atvs then the bigger equipment. By the time they where 14 and got learners permit they where already a good drivers.

Yes my kids operated tractors at a young age.
 
I ran a lawnmower when I was 5, 4wheeler at 8, tractor with loader at 9, backhoe at 12, bobcat at 14. A friend of mine started out mowing with a Farmall Cub when he was 6 I think and moved on to much larger tractors and combines by his early teens. We both take operating any machine very seriously. It's a good way for kids to learn responsibility, but supervision is required until they do learn.
 
I think most of us grew up early in life on the farm. Times are diffrent now. I grew up in the 60s and ran everything you could think of. Tractors, corn pickers combines hay equipment and learned to respect all of them. When I was 7 the older farmer next to us was killed in a rollover plowing, I saw it happen, Ran to get help and ran back to try to help him. There was nothing I could do but stay with him till he passed. I guess thats why I never let my boys have a dirt bike or quads because they did not have respect for them. There in there 20s now and now they understand why I would not let them have these toys. My youngest now helps out on the farm and I trust him to run the tractors because he understands the dangers now. Bandit
 
I've been driving equipment since i was young. Mowed the grass from about 8 up and atv at 10 ford 8n at 10 and dads old ford ranger at 12. His rule was if I went hunting with him I had to know how to drive as he is Diabetic and if i should have to get him out I know how to drive.
 
Heck I bought a 1950T oliver when I was 13. I don't know,but it depends on the person as there are a lot of 50 year old folks I wouldn't let on my equipment.

Most of us lived and a couple of my friends died one got drunk and rolled his truck the other was rideing a quad on the road and got hit by a car.Sad and very hard on there family,but if we shelter kids to much they don't seem to turn out very good either.
 
I think back in the fifties when I was growing up and agriculture was still the way of life, safety was more or less understood. And it was dang well drilled into you as well. Dad put me on a 9N when I was 10 years old and I drove it through the field while he threw corn in the wagon. From the time I was 11 until I was 18 and went to work off the farm,I remember only one serious accident in the community. Nowadays, around here, 75% of kids couldn't tell the front end from the rear of a tractor, much less drive it.
 
kids today are babies. i was encouraged to start driving at a young age. (earn your keep round here-lol). i rolled a jd m at 12 yo and got wrapped up in a chopper at 17. i'm still here
scarred......and wiser. if they are taught the
basics and dont have that"cowboy" mentality they are fine.
 
Was 10 when bringing loads of ear corn in from the field. In the spring of the year when I was 13 dad bought a F-20. I plowed and disk ground while he planted with the other tractor. Also hire out to the neighbor to work ground and he had a SC Case. When 14 did a lot of baling with a WD and Roto-baler. Was close enough following dad everyday to be the tail of his shirt.
 
My 12yo son works land bales hay been doing it for a couple of years. Hes been around tractors and equipment and knows the ins and outs. Jim
 
i was doing all farm work when i was 12. did everything. my son drives every tractor we own and does almost any tractor work. he is 16 and started when he was 8. i have my other 8 yr old son raking.
 
yes i always let mine run what they could,doing work within their skill level of course.they didnt run them without supervision when they had friends over though,to much showing off or distractions in my opinion.
 
Depends on how much seat time they have on the tractor with dad, mom, grandpa, etc. Kids that grew up around the equipment have an understanding of it. To just put any kid on a piece of equipment without some experience is like signing their death warrent as well as asking for your machinery to be destroyed. Kids that grow up on the farm think of running machinery as a right of passage but they must be taught good safety practices first by riding with/watching someone who is willing to teach them and actually knows what the he!! they are doing.
 
Trust worthiness and age have a certain reliable correlation but are by no means set in stone. With the proper instruction and a little guidance I would trust my boys before many adults.
 
I'd put my 13 year old son on it before I'd trust my wife. The kid checks the oil, and thinks things through. The wife not so much. The kid will come and get me when the lawnmower makes a funny sound, or doesn't feel right. Not true of the better half. The kid follows directions, and asks if he doesn't understand. I'd trust my 12 year old nephew before my 13 year old son. The nephew isn't book-smart, but he's safe and he pays attention.

At least I'm not bitter
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

O
Gleaner K2 Plot Combine - Assistance Needed
Replies
5
Views
4K
OldCrow51
O
N
What do you think???
Replies
15
Views
4K
Billy Shafer
B
J
Tractor Buying Advice Revisited
Replies
7
Views
2K
Anonymous-0
A
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top