I hate to see this...

[Tr3kker]

Saw this on my FB feed today. Sure, start them out young, but don't turn a 5 year old loose on a zero turn mower. I'm surprised he weighs enough to activate the seat cut off switch, unless dad bypassed that. These are not toys. Once he's a little older, a little more mature, and can actually reach all the controls, get him some hearing protection and get him mowing.

 

[Wolverinefarm22]

He’s got the belt on so there’s a positive. My son was 2 when he drove our 50a case tractor baling hay for the first time. With me standing on the side step with him of course. And he only baled the last 100 yards of the last row but he was in heaven. Yes that seat switch was bypassed at the time because the switch had failed. But it was replaced before we sold that tractor. Now he’s 5 and can probably operate as well as I could at 12-13 when I first drove one growing up.

 

[ultrarunner]

No experience with a zero turn but 4 is when I was in the drivers seat going up and down the windrows at the dairy farm.

It freed up an adult to pitch hay into the wagon as the tractor did a slow crawl down one row and back.

It was life changing in every good way for a kid with mechanical aptitude

That said there are 20 year olds that fail driving tests…

 

[Wolverinefarm22]

My daughters were 5 when they “drove” the pickup truck and trailer for small bales. Set it in low gear, 4 low, and tell em keep it in a straight line. After a half mile walk picking up bales go turn it around at the end for her and walk back picking up the next row.

 

[old and tired]

Saw this on my FB feed today. Sure, start them out young, but don't turn a 5 year old loose on a zero turn mower.

The mower isn't on, the kid is sitting in the seat pretending to mow...

This is why you should not believe everything on the internet... except for aliens... they are real.

 

[workinonit]

Yea, when I saw that it was the first thing that popped in my head and then I read the thread.

 

[Tr3kker]

The mower isn't on, the kid is sitting in the seat pretending to mow...

This is why you should not believe everything on the internet... except for aliens... they are real.

On the post on FB the dad was so proud of his son mowing, so I’m assuming at some point the mower was moving. I understand this is just a static picture.

 

[Tr3kker]

I think some of y’all are missing the point - this isn’t a tractor where you can be on the side step to help them when something goes wrong. As far as safety, it’s all good until it’s not, then it’s the ER or worse … the morgue. Every Summer you read about how some child falls off a ridding mower and gets into the blades. If the dad has bypassed the seat switch, imagine what is going to happen if the kid gets spooked and tries to exit the mower.

 

[Tr3kker]

My daughters were 5 when they “drove” the pickup truck and trailer for small bales. Set it in low gear, 4 low, and tell em keep it in a straight line. After a half mile walk picking up bales go turn it around at the end for her and walk back picking up the next row.

But you were there to stop or help them in an instant if something went wrong. Little hard to run down a zero turn if something goes bad.

 

[Snobdds]

Growing up on a ranch...we learned how to be around and operate machinery at a young age.

We were fine and better off for it.

Damn, we're getting soft.