Tractors and kids

[cowboydoc]

The oldest is 7 going on 30 and the younger one is 5 and going on 5 /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif. The younger one drives the gator and mule but not anything else. She isn't quite as capable as her sister and I doubt I will have her driving the tractor when she is 7. She just isn't as careful and isn't more mature like her sister is. That's where I was talking about that it all depends on the individual.

 

[19th_VA]

dmccarty,

I think you're thinking about kids and the attraction to things forbidden is right on. Probably more true for boys but each is an individual. My parents wouldn't let me ride minibikes or anything remotely "dangerous." I was sneaking the car out of the garage when I was 14. Let's not forget that when we are old and gray (oops, I'm already gray and after two hours working in my 4.5' attic last week, I feel really old), the memories of those smiles will still be with us, even if we have forgotten most of what we ever learned.

 

[bgott]

That would probably work with a girl but a boy will want to follow you around so he could throw stuff into the pto shaft or under the mower deck just to watch it explode. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[19th_VA]

You got that right!

 

[ScottAR]

Old Bath towel or mat would make the point. I saw a demo at a farm show once that used a burlap dummy stuffed with fluff. The dummy hit the shaft and then the fluff was flying. I got the point at 7-8.

 

[Egon]

Oh Dear; from the information given on this thread I see impending hardship for tractor owners. It becomes quite obvious that child labour laws are being ignored and we may be subjected to very scurtinous observation by the authorities who administer these rules and regulations. That means more people will be hired to oversee, enforce and prosecute these violators. Needless to say taxes must be increased to accomodate the increased budget.

Egon

 

[bgott]

I heard that! You're better off using illegal aliens, er, undocumented immigrants. They work cheaper and the government pretends that they aren't even here!

 

[ScottAR]

Work? What work? I was playing! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif While I was operating the machine, I was the coolest person I knew at that moment.

 

[dmccarty]

Cowboydoc,

How did the PTO "take" the doll? Did you just throw the doll
at the shaft? A toy is a good idea. I'm thinking a stuffed
animal might be good, though a bit messy.... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Which is
a good lesson I suppose.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[cowboydoc]

Dan,

I tied it on a string and sat with them up in the cab. I let the doll down the pto collar where I knew it would grab it and make a mess. It did and they got the point. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[dmccarty]

Cowboydoc,

Ahhh, said the blind man. Great idea. All do it.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Taylortractornut]

WHarv I just read your story and it reminded me of what still sticks in my head and what got me to be an operator. Dad worked on roads away from home when i was younger coming home once or twice a week and sometimes mom would take us out to the jobs if the company had dads mobile office there. ONe morning early mom got me and brother up and took us to tuscaloosa Alabama to see dad. When we got there Mom said look for a track hoe i think i was 4or5 and i knew what a dozer and scraper and hoe was. THen mom pulled up in front of a massive 235 Cat hoe and handed me up to dad. I remeber clearly there was a creek next to a right of way. Dad put my hands on the controls and let me try it i remeber dipping out a wad of willow trees and mud and dumping them in the back or a 621 B scraper that my older brother ran. From then on i knew what i wanted to be and enjoy every second of it. I even went to college to be a machinist and all and my first job as acnc operatorprogrammer i coukld see a backhoe laying pipe outside after being trapped in a glass room and being miserable at it i quit and got a job moving dirt and been happy since.