Do you let your kids ride your mower?

BlueGrass

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I've seen a lot of people let their young children ride their mower around their yards. I believe the youngest I saw was 5 years old. How young is too young? I personally wouldn't do it because they could get hurt really bad and I don't want to have to live with that.
 

Stash

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I've got several neighbors that do this all the time. It is extremely dangerous. Someone locally, a few years ago was doing this. The police where driving by at the time, saw the guy mowing his lawn with a little kid sitting on his lap. He was charged with child endangerment. Don't know the outcome. I know another incident where the kid squirmed, fell off his dad's lap, and the poor kid lost a foot. I don't understand how people can even think of doing this.
 

rekees

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How young is too young?

Lawn mowers aren't designed to carry passengers, period! Kids have no business on a mower until they are old enough to operator it themselves. I'd say in their teens.
 

ILENGINE

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We had a cub cadet model 106 when I was growing up and I started guiding it around the yard at 2 and was mowing by myself at 9. Had to slide off the seat to reach the clutch to start and stop and had to push with both feet to start it. Started driving tractors about the same age. i understand the safety factor but I wander is it safer for the kid to be on the mower, or sneaking out of the house and getting backed over like the little boy in Cleveland that started this whole can't mow in reverse situation. I think it should be based on the maturity level of the child.
 

jet62095

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We had a cub cadet model 106 when I was growing up and I started guiding it around the yard at 2 and was mowing by myself at 9. Had to slide off the seat to reach the clutch to start and stop and had to push with both feet to start it. Started driving tractors about the same age. i understand the safety factor but I wander is it safer for the kid to be on the mower, or sneaking out of the house and getting backed over like the little boy in Cleveland that started this whole can't mow in reverse situation. I think it should be based on the maturity level of the child.

I completely agree, in my experiences growing up, there were some kids that were much more immature than me that weren't allowed to mow their lawns. My dad used to tow me around in the Yard Cart while he mowed, Much safer than on the seat in his lap.
 

RockHound

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I used to mow when I was about 12 years old. I did know the seriousness of the situation because my Dad watched me about the first dozen times I mowed. He would stop me and tell me what I was doing wrong if I did anything the least off. I learned quite a lot from him and he would have never let me do it if he knew I wasn't mowing safely.
 

Mr. Paul

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My dad used to stand me up on the John Deere and let me steer or so I thought. I was maybe 4 or 5. I still remember doing this. I love to watch the sickle bar move back and forth it was so cool. I am 60 now so I guess I made it ok. He also took a red wagon and put a bale of hay in it and put a saddle on the hay bale. We thought we were on a real horse. On my lawn tractor I don't think it would be to wise.
 

Hand2ThePlow

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No.

Children should not ride on mowers - ever. There have been 2 deaths in my area in the last 5 years from kids falling under the deck when they fell off. There is a family that lives behind my mom's house that allow their 5 year old to sit on the front edge of their ZTR with his feet on the deck as they mow. I cringe every time I see it.

It would be irresponsible to let a 5 year old use a chain saw, why would the mower be any different.
 

JohnDeerex500214

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I'm 31 and started riding with my Dad on the same 214 I have now at age 2. Started to drive it myself when I was 7-8. I took it to the county fair for tractor pulls at 10, the youngest allowed by the fair. I also grew up on 243 acre farm and we had a coal mining company, so I was around D9's all the time. I think it has to do with the maturity of the kid. I understood what happened under that deck and had a fear of putting my hands under it.

Riding with your feet on the deck of a rear engine is teaching the kid disrespect for equipment, that is asking for it.

My daughter is 2... loves to sit on the tractors, but nothing to do with them when they are running!
 

ReggieDeere

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I just started letting my son mow the yard last year. He's 12 years old and he did a very good job. As a parent you should know when it's the right time to let them mow. I explained to him the dos and don'ts before I let him get anywhere near my mower. He used to watch me as a younger kid when I would cut the grass so, I just knew when the time was right.:smile:
 
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