My boys wanted to help me change the oil in my car. So we spent four hours changing the oil together. We learned about the floor jack; what it was for, how it worked, why it's not a good idea to stick our fingers in certain places, what factors we consider when placing it, how far away the handle needs to be kept away from Mom's car, etc. Then we learned about lifting the car and all the details about that. We learned about jack stands and all they entail. Then of course we learned about actually changing the oil.
I believe in safety, but I'm not the kind of parent that's just going to tell my kids to go away because something is dangerous. If you do that all the time you're going to end up with a young man that doesn't even know how to keep air in a tire. Instead we have good father/son times together and learn stuff. I like to make them think. I don't just rattle off a list of safety rules about putting a car on jack stands; I ask them what kind of safety dangers there might be, lead them to the right answers, ask them what rules we ought to have to minimize those dangers, and again lead them to the right answers.
This is going to sound so anti-PC when I say this, but in a healthy culture unfortunately some people are going to be tragically killed. We cannot run a productive society while at the same time eliminating all risk of everything bad. I mean you could design a tractor to be completely enclosed in a smooth foam-rubber shell that skirted every part including the tires right down to the ground, but such a thing probably couldn't get much work done. You make it safe but useless. And that applies to a lot of things in life. How can you guarantee a hammer will never smash a thumb? Easy; take the lump of metal off the end! That's great but it isn't going to drive many nails that way.
I do let them ride the tractor. Just up and down the drive, in low range. Not while doing any work. And they observe the "stop 50' away and wave at the driver until he says it's okay" rule for ANYONE on ANY motorized item, be it tractor, lawn mower, truck, golf cart, etc.
I believe in safety, but I'm not the kind of parent that's just going to tell my kids to go away because something is dangerous. If you do that all the time you're going to end up with a young man that doesn't even know how to keep air in a tire. Instead we have good father/son times together and learn stuff. I like to make them think. I don't just rattle off a list of safety rules about putting a car on jack stands; I ask them what kind of safety dangers there might be, lead them to the right answers, ask them what rules we ought to have to minimize those dangers, and again lead them to the right answers.
This is going to sound so anti-PC when I say this, but in a healthy culture unfortunately some people are going to be tragically killed. We cannot run a productive society while at the same time eliminating all risk of everything bad. I mean you could design a tractor to be completely enclosed in a smooth foam-rubber shell that skirted every part including the tires right down to the ground, but such a thing probably couldn't get much work done. You make it safe but useless. And that applies to a lot of things in life. How can you guarantee a hammer will never smash a thumb? Easy; take the lump of metal off the end! That's great but it isn't going to drive many nails that way.
I do let them ride the tractor. Just up and down the drive, in low range. Not while doing any work. And they observe the "stop 50' away and wave at the driver until he says it's okay" rule for ANYONE on ANY motorized item, be it tractor, lawn mower, truck, golf cart, etc.
