[SouthEastTurf]

7 years old is far too young to be 'working' on a mowing crew and the adolescent mind is not developed enough to handle any safety issues that will present themselves. It just isn't a good look. With that said, I have had suppliers with children under 15 loading supplies with bobcats. These kids are born into it and were running machines at around 5 years old on their own. I worked at a company where my boss was doing commercial snowplowing at 13 years old. His dad was able to leave vehicles on site for him and his brother to use.

LOL, i wasn't going to put him on the crew!!

 

[Iced]

I have a 7 year old as well. I let him on my stander and let him mow a flat certain part of the yard. I always make sure he is being safe with proper PPE and never keep my eye off of him until he is done. As far as running one for the business, hell no.

 

[J. Baker]

i started cutting grass at 7 at my house. just a regular push mower but back then it had no safety stuff on it. at 10 years old i was cutting my grandfathers farm/house for $10.00 a week this was 1984, 1985.

Yep. Same here. We must be really close in age.

I was on a garden tractor at about 6. Rolled the yard, pulled the little trailer around hauling stuff. Seems I was 7 when I got to start mowing. By 9 mowing the neighbors yard. Next year had several yards to mow. Before turning it over to my brother I had at least 3 farms we were mowing. At 13 I started running the big farm tractors working ground, so mowing went to the younger boys. Ran a grain truck that fall. Running combine alone at 15/16. Had a class C license when I was 16. (2 ton grain truck.) Got a job for another farmer after high school and learned to run a backhoe and got my class A CDL at 19. At 19 there wasn’t much equipment I couldn’t run like a pro, and if I had zero experience on something new it wouldn’t take me long to figure it out.

Kids only grow up running equipment if you let them/teach them. My younger bros were different. Took them a bit longer to do the stuff I did, (as in age when starting) but they weren’t far behind me. Year maybe.

 

[Derwood]

Hate to tell you, but on the farm, we do what we want. No one talks about child labor laws. No one complains, no one turns it in. It’s just how it is.

Absolutely! All bets are off when you’re on a farm (or really, basically when you’re on your own property)

 

[JD317]

So I am older than dirt, but I got a 7 year old boy. Great kid, very smart, big for his age. Plays baseball and football.

Before you ask why I got a kid young enough to be my grand kid, young girls just won't stay away from me. I try telling them. I think it's the pot belly and bald head.

Anyways, I say he can operate a walk behind. He is plenty big, weighs 100 pounds. 54 or so inches tall .

His mom says no. I got listen to her, because I ended up marrying her.

Honest opinion, 7 yr old to young to operate a walk behind with supervision?

Absolute idiocy! Are you too old to cut your own grass? That kid loses a foot or hand, you may stay out of jail, but you will live with that for the rest of your short life. He will live with it a lot longer. Thankfully your young wife has more common sense. Leave your vanity in your Lazyboy and get out there and work off that pot belly.

 

[Derwood]

Absolute idiocy! Are you too old to cut your own grass? That kid loses a foot or hand, you may stay out of jail, but you will live with that for the rest of your short life. He will live with it a lot longer. Thankfully your young wife has more common sense. Leave your vanity in your Lazyboy and get out there and work off that pot belly.

SE Turf - I think your kid has an account here now lol!

 

[JD317]

Hate to tell you, but on the farm, we do what we want. No one talks about child labor laws. No one complains, no one turns it in. It’s just how it is.

Some folks here are pretty caviler with their attitudes. Until something bad happens. Coming from Minnesota, a farming state, it was all too common to hear of farm kids' lives being taken or seeing crippled kids as a result of farm accidents. It's easy to talk tough when you have gotten away with it. Talk to somebody who hasn't. It's these attitudes that created the need for child labor laws. The days of having children to do your farm work have long passed.

I have no idea what your situation may be, but I would advise you not to post comments like this on the web. Should the worse happen, I guarantee you they will be read during the court proceedings.

 

[J. Baker]

Some folks here are pretty caviler with their attitudes. Until something bad happens. Coming from Minnesota, a farming state, it was all too common to hear of farm kids' lives being taken or seeing crippled kids as a result of farm accidents. It's easy to talk tough when you have gotten away with it. Talk to somebody who hasn't. It's these attitudes that created the need for child labor laws. The days of having children to do your farm work have long passed.

I have no idea what your situation may be, but I would advise you not to post comments like this on the web. Should the worse happen, I guarantee you they will be read during the court proceedings.

I’m not worried.

 

[sidemouse]

Hate to tell you, but on the farm, we do what we want. No one talks about child labor laws. No one complains, no one turns it in. It’s just how it is.

As was stated it's not too smart to discuss illegal behaviors online, especially when we can't be but so careful about protecting our anonimity... I won't discuss illegal acts, mostly because I wouldn't want someone to follow my example, get hurt...

When we discuss things online we're no longer John Doe in small town USA where nobody knows nothing and nobody would ever tell... Suddenly anyone in the USA can read what we say and if they get hurt over it, their fault right? But they contact some lawyers, those attorneys are seeing $100,000 or more in medical bills so they start digging deep for their client. Next thing you know I get a phone call or a letter...

It's not hard, the owners of LS would get contacted first and be told in no uncertain terms to hand over the IP address and any other pertinent information to username such and such. They won't have much choice, if they don't want to be taken to court over it themselves.

Oh and it does happen!

Years and years ago, the whole mess with exploding cans of $1 fix-a-flat...
I used to swear by it, publicly too.
Long story short, you won't find dollar fix-a-flat in any stores anymore.

What happens in Vegas...

 

[Crazy 4 grass]

Actually the op asked for our opinions on and experience with, having kids operate mowers.

My eldest is 7. I will not let her mow yet.


Also not sure where all this labor law discussion even came from. It was pretty clear the op was not suggesting adding his kid to a crew

 

[Hayduke]

Plays baseball and football.

Tee ball? Coach pitch? I'd say once the boys are pitching off the mound themselves, they are old enough to run the walk behind...

 

[SouthEastTurf]

7 years old is far too young to be 'working' on a mowing crew and the adolescent mind is not developed enough to handle any safety issues that will present themselves. It just isn't a good look. With that said, I have had suppliers with children under 15 loading supplies with bobcats. These kids are born into it and were running machines at around 5 years old on their own. I worked at a company where my boss was doing commercial snowplowing at 13 years old. His dad was able to leave vehicles on site for him and his brother to use.

I wasn't going to show up at a house, and unload my 7 year old. I was just going to let him learn in my back yard...LOL

 

[JD317]

These sites do have a way of turning an innocent question into an argument. I have strong feelings about letting kids operate equipment based on a very bad experience. I'm not about to tell anybody how to raise theirs, my intentions are hopefully to help keep others from having to go through it. Let the children have their childhood. Lord knows there are enough other things to keep them occupied and they will have to deal with the real world soon enough. About the time he/she hits thirty, the damn lawnmower will be the least of their problems. No backyard experience is necessary.

As for the "OP", (yes, I know what that means) I think he knew full well his question was a loaded one and was likely looking for the responses he got. Or, he knew the answer to the question already. (he did) Maybe just wanted to flaunt his young bride who apparently wears the pants in their house? It was a very strange way to open a post, to say the least.

In any case, be safe out there.

 

[JD317]

Actually the op asked for our opinions on and experience with, having kids operate mowers.

My eldest is 7. I will not let her mow yet.


Also not sure where all this labor law discussion even came from. It was pretty clear the op was not suggesting adding his kid to a crew

They're not only "labor laws", they are "Child protection laws" that apply specifically to parents. Another road you never want to go down.

 

[AlohaMowing]

While a powered mower would be asking for injuries, I think you could get the kid a non-motorized reel mower and put him to work under supervision.

 

[SouthEastTurf]

These sites do have a way of turning an innocent question into an argument. I have strong feelings about letting kids operate equipment based on a very bad experience. I'm not about to tell anybody how to raise theirs, my intentions are hopefully to help keep others from having to go through it. Let the children have their childhood. Lord knows there are enough other things to keep them occupied and they will have to deal with the real world soon enough. About the time he/she hits thirty, the damn lawnmower will be the least of their problems. No backyard experience is necessary.

As for the "OP", (yes, I know what that means) I think he knew full well his question was a loaded one and was likely looking for the responses he got. Or, he knew the answer to the question already. (he did) Maybe just wanted to flaunt his young bride who apparently wears the pants in their house? It was a very strange way to open a post, to say the least.

In any case, be safe out there.

when you as ugly as i am you just want everybody to know you tricked someone into marring you.

 

[Carolina Cuttin' Company]

Why not put your 7yr old on the mower while cutting so he can learn that way.

yes this lady was actually mowing with her kid sitting on the mower.

Seems like a burn hazard!

The simple answer is no.
Even on a farm the minimum age for any job is 12.

At that point a lot depends on whether it is paid work or not.
This doesn't cover safety, just child labor laws:

State Child Labor Laws Applicable to Agricultural Employment | U.S. Department of Labor

www.dol.gov

Then as far as I know, 12 for 21", 16 for riding mowers UNDER 20 PTO horsepower.
Might want to read up on some proper methods, also I would highly suggest training.
Once he reaches 12 years of age, that is.

I was running a 54" 25 horse ZTR on commercial accts at 15

7 years old is far too young to be 'working' on a mowing crew and the adolescent mind is not developed enough to handle any safety issues that will present themselves. It just isn't a good look. With that said, I have had suppliers with children under 15 loading supplies with bobcats. These kids are born into it and were running machines at around 5 years old on their own. I worked at a company where my boss was doing commercial snowplowing at 13 years old. His dad was able to leave vehicles on site for him and his brother to use.

Really depends.

All told. I agree with the guy who said talk to your wife not the internet. That settles it. Period Paragraph. End of Thread.

 

[SouthEastTurf]

Yea, my wife had already decided, I just wanted to see if I could show she was wrong....I pretty much lost the same argument twice..

 

[J. Baker]

As was stated it's not too smart to discuss illegal behaviors online, especially when we can't be but so careful about protecting our anonimity... I won't discuss illegal acts, mostly because I wouldn't want someone to follow my example, get hurt...

When we discuss things online we're no longer John Doe in small town USA where nobody knows nothing and nobody would ever tell... Suddenly anyone in the USA can read what we say and if they get hurt over it, their fault right? But they contact some lawyers, those attorneys are seeing $100,000 or more in medical bills so they start digging deep for their client. Next thing you know I get a phone call or a letter...

It's not hard, the owners of LS would get contacted first and be told in no uncertain terms to hand over the IP address and any other pertinent information to username such and such. They won't have much choice, if they don't want to be taken to court over it themselves.

Oh and it does happen!

Years and years ago, the whole mess with exploding cans of $1 fix-a-flat...
I used to swear by it, publicly too.
Long story short, you won't find dollar fix-a-flat in any stores anymore.

What happens in Vegas...

Nothing illegal has been discussed or admitted to. You are 100% within the letter of the law able to let your kids work at home, or on your own farm. Labor law would only apply if your kid worked for me on my farm. Then there are laws to follow. Been a farmer my whole life. You are just googling info again and trying to play expert. Farm is exempt from a whole lot of things. Including, but not limited to, driver’s license for those under driving age if they are driving between the farm location and a field or second location. But only if it is on their families farm.

 

[Carolina Cuttin' Company]

Sometimes patience and humility are your best friends. Is it the end of the world to say no to your wants? Isn't the relationship worth it? Now I do understand loving to teach a kid to work.