My son is 9 years old. His dad picked him up the other day and mentioned that he's getting big enough to start cutting the grass. I wasn't thinking about him cutting the grass yet.
At what age did your son start to cut the grass?
My son's dad lives in Ohio so this would not be something that he could regularly monitor. Our son has chores and responsibilities so that he can earn an allowance and learn basic life skills, so while I appreciate everyone that mentioned that responsiblity is NOT a concern.
He helps with other yard work, but I personally feel like 9 years old is not old enough to safely cut the grass. So when he gets back here from spring break, he won't be starting up the lawnmower just yet.
My boys started cutting grass at 8 years old. It's HILARIOUS watching them push that mower!
Don't worry too much...just step back and let dad supervise this one. This is important daddy/son bonding time.
I think SS was 12. I think it depends on what's involved. Is his dad setting him loose with the mower or will he be pushing the mower (or riding it?) with his dad doing work near him?
My daughters started mowing around that age. Of course, they weren't exactly experts to start with! We kept our expectations pretty age-appropriate for the first few years. At first, my husband or I would take care of the trickier spots and edges, then go over spots they missed at the end. Eventually, we just pointed out things they should fix. Finally, we didn't even need to look since they did it just fine by themselves.
when they were old enough to push it, and responsible enough not to get hurt. Of course we watched them. They were probably 8 or 9. Now they do it for money. Its a good responsibility.
I was nine when my dad taught me how to use his riding mower.
my boys started with the push mower around 9/10. I didn't feel comfortable with a rider until they were older. But the push mower is fine. All the ones I have seen have the little lever on the handle that once its relased the mower shuts off. They are pretty safe as long as your son is responsable and knows the safety factors ( no putting hand in the deck even while off, watch where toes are stuff like that) and you or dad are supervising him then yes I think he should be just fine doing it, assuming its a push mower.. a rider Im not comfortable with at that age personally too many things can happen with them.
Nine sounds great. I think that's when our kids started with supervision and they were expected to do it totally on their own by age 12. Make sure he's wearing close-toed shoes and something on his eyes.
My daughter will be 9 next month and last summer tried cutting the grass, it was the backyard because my husbands lawn is like his baby and knew she would butcher it (no straight lines etc. lol) She had a little bit of a hard time but I am sure this summer she will do fine. Plus she is the one who wanted to do it.
My oldest two were 12 and 13 when they started. They needed to be tall enough to see in front of the mower and strong enough to control the thing. Personally I think 9 is a little too young.
I have a 9 year old. Still too young, IMO.
My dad lost a few toes to a lawnmower, so I tend to be on the high alert mode around lawnmowers, chainsaws, you know....the things that do permanent damage?
my brothers started at a very young age i believe it was about 7!! with a riding mower. My son is only 4 so we have a few yrs. Our neighbor kid was 14 when we hired him to mow our grass for us. He displayed such annoyance and disrespect towards our husband we told him he did not have to mow our yard if he did not want to that it was a job he could earn cash for. He chose not to mow for us. The other neighbor boy has been mowing our yard since he was fifteen he is now twenty and is considering opening his own yard business. Although his lack of work ethic is keeping him from earning more. Its a great business opertuinity . I am hoping he can learn work ethic, money managment and have quality guy time with your husband. Look back at the yard and be proud of a job well done. Entirely up to you but some day allowing him to mow others yards too. Which both my brothers did to earn extra money. My cousin in law??? mows yards for extra cash on her off days. I am all for it under supervision and you can quickly tell if he is ready for it or not. Good luck to him!
I dont know how all these kids could use a riding lawn mower at these young ages...7 and 9 etc. I am 5'3" and I have to really lean forward to inable my foot to reach the clutch to push it all the way in to start the thing! My grandson is nine and he can't reach it.
I agree with dad he's old enough for responsibility and choirs. But dad needs to make sure he knows safety of cutting lawn
We let our son mow our grass at the age of 9 under supervision.I always tougt or boy to earn his money instead of asking for a hand out,it means more to make money and what he buys with it makes it better knowing he worked for it.He also helped the church cleaning and earned money from the paster .Now he is 26 now and has a great paying job and buying his own house and rasing his little girl. Work ethics starts at the home while young and earning pocket money which he got weekly....also praise for a job well done helps...
With dad's supervision he is old enough. Make sure he wears jeans or heavy pants though. My friend was mowing her yard one time and the mower sucked up a mason jar lid that was deep in the grass and it came up and sliced her shin open. She ended up with 10-12 stitches. They told her if she had not been wearing shorts she would have not had such a severe cut. Also shoes, he must wear work style shoes or boots. There will be stuff thrown by the mower.
My oldest is 13 and just started doing it last year at my mom's on a rider. But I think my brothers stated younger. I would not want a 9 year old to push mow but a rider as long as he's a responsible kids yes.
I think 9 is still too young to handle a lawnmower unless someone is standing right there with him the ENTIRE time.
My GD started cutting our lawn on his own when he was 14. Before that, he would do it, but only under strict, direct supervision. Those blades whirling around in there just scare the he!! out of me when it comes to kids.
IMO, that's too young. My husband is a products liability lawyer and although I admit we hear the worst, we hear all kinds of stories about horrible accidents with dangerous products such as mowers. Our oldest didn't start until he was 14/15. Most of the kids in our neighborhood seem to start around age 12. We also have a family friend whose son lost his foot at age 2 because he was riding on the riding mower with dad and fell off. We are extremely respectful of mowers in our household, maybe to a fault. Be sure to protect his ears too once he starts.
depends on the kid. If he is accident prone and just not coordinated..... no way.
