Kids are old enough to cut the grass when?

[atgcpaul]

We are back in the US and I want my kids to have the full experience including cutting the grass. How old were your kids when you first had them cut the grass using a push mower? I guess it depends on how much you trust the kid to be safe without too much supervision, how strong they are, and how much whining there could be. I think I first started cutting the grass when I was 10ish but I could be wrong. I was definitely on the riding mower by 15.

Paul

[twistsol]

I mowed our 1.5 acre hilly lawn for a couple of years with a push mower and a year with a rider, since we moved from that house in the spring when I was 13 that means 10 and 11 for the push mower and 12 for the rider.

My daughters were 12 when they started mowing with the rider, but had been driving it since 10 pulling the lawn sweeper, trailer to pick up branches and haul gravel etc.

The neighbor kid (farm family) could handle a skid steer and backhoe at 10 better than I ever could.

[leehljp]

Probably about 8 or 9 for me. I started driving a tractor and plowing a field when I was 12. I started welding when I was about 11 or 12. Cutting grass and plowing was work to me. Welding was fun and creative.

I will say that dangerous work was a topic that young kids were aware of and took seriously in my generation in rural settings. This kind of work was also "life" - meaning as kids at an early age were needed to contribute at least in some way financial or in food production. That was rural life in semi-poor settings. Today, this kind of work is not a necessity for survival, and as such, the safety or lack of safety in some one else's experience is not something talked about around the table when accidents happened as it was back then. Just my experience.

[Jim Frye]

I started mowing our lawn when I was 10 or 11. A couple of years later, I was mowing neighbor's lawns for money. I also mowed the lawn at my Dad's office building. Back then, it was safe for a kid to ride his bike across town to do it and I didn't have to lock the bike up when I was mowing. The neighbor's daughter behind us started mowing their lawn this year and she's 12.

[capncarl]

I have never seen any of my neighbors kids mowing their yards. Some are mid 20s now. Pitiful way to raise kids to be responsible adults if you ask me.

[cwsmith]

We moved out of the city when I was about ten, the house was built but not finished and there was no lawn until the following year, so that's about when I started using a gas-engine push mower. Mowing the lawn was just one of my many chores as I helped finish the house doing whatever I was told and learning along the way. A lot of jobs I hated to a point of resentment. When I became a father, I still mowed the lawn. Basically telling our son that his job was to be a kid at whatever age he was. At about fourteen, he started mowing a few lawns in the neighborhood, but I continued to mow ours by myself as our lawn was quit hilly, with a steep front bank.. His own enterprise was up to him and frankly I never once gave him any chore outside of keeping his room clean and on rare occasions giving me an extra hand if needed.

As it was, he mowed a few lawns in the neighborhood, watched houses when neighbors took long vacations, taking care of their pets, mail, etc. and when he turned sixteen he took a job with Wegman's, a new, very large grocery store in our area.

CWS

[Jim Frye]

This thread got me thinking about the kids on our street and how they behave when not in their parents company. The two young ones across the play lot from us are well mannered and do chores around the house. No lawn mowing as Dad's mower is a 54" walk behind and really too big for a 10 - 13 year olds to handle. The two teens behind us (boy & girl) do the lawn and help Dad with projects outside. Then there's the two boys across the street, both under 12. We refer to them as free range kids. Can't wait for them to become teenagers. Probably should be thinking about installing cameras outside soon.

[capncarl]

I learned about one of my neighbors kids when that neighbor was visiting my shop and enjoying a cold one. He received a call from his 14 yr old son. They talked for a few minutes and he excused himself, saying that he had to go fix his son a sandwich. I bit my tongue, thinking at this rate the poor kid will starve when he leaves home, definitely can’t get a job mowing grass because he has never done that….. but making his own sandwich , that’s bs.