I don't think I am but am prepared to be told I am if the MN Jury thinks so

[fuckmepinkandCALLmegoran]

DD1 is 12, she is at her dad's this weekend, and has gone to her grandmother as they have a farm and it is silage time.

She has just sent me a picture of herself in overalls DRIVING A TRACTOR WITH A TRAILER ON IT

I have texted her and she is delighted to be allowed to cart the "near home" fields where she doesn't have to go on the road.

I am most displeased about this. I think it's dangerous and irresponsible.

But past conversations with ex when DS was this age did not go well, as he cannot see the problem nor can his family. They all did it at that age.

So, oh MN July, AIBU to think she's too young, it's too much responsibility and far too dangerous?

Omigawd - I base my opinion of risk on my personal experience and knowledge of the parties involved and the law of the land.

Which trumps made up percentages any time in my book

yabu.every farming family i know round here(cornwall)has children that drive on there own land.

but yanbu as its your own dc.

Cheesesarnie - please advise them if the children are driving or indeed on a tractor under the age of 13 in the UK it is illegal.

Also, as I've said, the driving of the tractor isn't such a big issue as the towing of the silage trailer.

And it's the thin end of the wedge.

"You need to stop making up numbers of children who do various things, because you have no idea."

Its not me making it up....you can read them yourself - Farms:

[http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/pdf/childsafetyae.pdf]

Cycles and all vehicles:

[http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/worksheets/ras30002.xls]

Where does it say on those sheets that 1% of children under the age of 13 drive tractors?

And why do you keep ignoring the fact that it is ILLEGAL for a child of 12 to be either a passenger on or driving a tractor?

It even says very explicitly says that children under 13 must not drive tractors!

Did you even read your own links?!

Omigawd

The farm safety leaflet only identifies the number of deaths and injuries. It does not identify the number of children actually using farm machinery. The numbers also dont show how many accidents are CAUSED by underage operators.

I would also doubt that any statistics will be complete as the (ir)responsible adults will have a vested interest in covering up accidents where they can.

Gnome - I have asked Omigawd repeatedly to supply those figures. It seems this information is not readily googleable.

Anyway up - Fuckmepink.

What are you going to do?

That's what I want to know.

I've spoken to DD today- she gets it. I laid it on heavy about her being criminally responsible and how she wouldn't get into vet school if she had a criminal record (I know I know maybe not strictly true but it could affect it)

She says she won't cart again, so I'm just going to go see the solicitor when I get back and take it from there.

That's great news - really glad she understands.

Good luck with the lawyer.

FMP - I think a large number of the early 'never did me or my kids any harm' posters have discovered from this thread that what they did/their children are doing is ILLEGAL (as you have been trying to get through!)

I am fairly sure that there have been a number of hasty phone calls taking place along the lines of

"Sorry Mum, I'm afraid the 3 year old twins wont be able to operate the combine harvester this year, apparently it's illegal. Can you believe it? They'll just have to do the milking then!"

Gnome -

The 1% is a " suppose if", which given that 1.5% of the population are employed in farming is not unreasonable - especially as looking at the fatalities only 1/3 rd were employed in farming, the rest were casual labour or members of the public (no doubt brought in at peak times) so it could arguably be 3x larger.

ie, you made it up.

fuckme-theyve been doing it for centuries!

well not centuries,i dont think tractors have been around for centuries.but generations.
i doubt theyd listen.

Hurrah - at last everyone agrees with you. Good good good. I hope this gives you a lot of strength as you move ahead into what could be a difficult situation. Look, you persuaded all these naysayers and poo-pooers on mn - inlaws should be a piece of cake compared to the nest of vipers

good luck

Omigawd - why do you keep ignoring the fact that it is ILLEGAL for a 12 year old to even be on a tractor?

Do you think the governments of Ireland and the UK just made that up for fun?

X-posts Gooseberry

Omigawd - assume -ing anything makes an ASS out of U and ME

@fuckme I got that it was illegal, but I also got that your Ex and In Laws don't give a monkeys, and your DD is a few months off 13 - so it's very probably moot. That's why I got interested in how risky it actually all was.

I'm in Ireland. It's 14 here.

I still think unless you have actual figures to show how many accidents are caused by children driving tractors your figures are meaningless. Since all you are doing is guessing percentages.

Actually you would need to compare child-tractor-hour-deaths with child-cycle-hour-death figures. There is/are a lot more than a hundred times child-cycling hours than child-tractor-hours.

So comparing a flat rate wouldn't work, and omg's figures are a bit not very salient