I was at the Fort

[Sgt Mickey]

and we were waiting at the bus stop near the cabins. A truck was driving back and forth on the street with the dad letting the kid on his lap "driving" he had to be no older then two. Unserstandably the speed limit is slow there and not alot of traffic but with the recent accidents happening there we know they happen why risk your childs life

 

[kazlac4]

Parent's like that are some of the reason WHY there are crazy accidents in this world. Some people just don't use their brains!

 

[terri01p]

 

[mnsprk]

Parent's like that are some of the reason WHY there are crazy accidents in this world. Some people just don't use their brains!

They are just plain "STUPID".

 

[jriae2000]

As farm kids we drove down the lane at 5 or 6 ( go cart)to get the mail. Even over to the nieghbors if mom was cooking and needed something. At 13 or 14 we were driving full grain trucks "legally". In farm comunities seeing a child driving on thier parents lap is not uncommon. These people are the backbone of the country and constantly parent thier kids. They are taught to respect machinery and vehicles. Besides, when we "drove" at 2 or 3 our dad always had his han on the wheel at the same time. As you know there are parents whose children seem to be smarter than they are but ( go ahead and flame away) I really wasnt upset to hear this.

 

[mnsprk]

As farm kids we drove down the lane at 5 or 6 ( go cart)to get the mail. Even over to the nieghbors if mom was cooking and needed something. At 13 or 14 we were driving full grain trucks "legally". In farm comunities seeing a child driving on thier parents lap is not uncommon. These people are the backbone of the country and constantly parent thier kids. They are taught to respect machinery and vehicles. Besides, when we "drove" at 2 or 3 our dad always had his han on the wheel at the same time. As you know there are parents whose children seem to be smarter than they are but ( go ahead and flame away) I really wasnt upset to hear this.

NO FLAMES, JUST FACTS..

That was then. Now it is illegal in all 50 states. They could also be charged with child endangerment (I don't agree with that)if someone would complain. Why take the chance?

 

[jriae2000]

NO FLAMES, JUST FACTS..

That was then. Now it is illegal in all 50 states. They could also be charged with child endangerment (I don't agree with that)if someone would complain. Why take the chance?

In Illinois its still 14 for tractors, combines and farm equipment. 90% sure same for most states with ag as a major resorce. Farmers cant afford to hire drivers most years. That is why this is allowed ( at least here).

 

[I'mDownWithDisney]

I remember being about 5 yrs old and driving in my dad's lap all over town. He worked the pedals, and I handled the steering. I started running a backhoe at 8 and was operating one pretty well by myself at 12. I used to drive the forest roads near my house in a manual transmission truck at 13. Its a miracle that I made it to adulthood....but I can drive anything that burns fuel and run anything that has levers.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

As farm kids we drove down the lane at 5 or 6 ( go cart)to get the mail. Even over to the nieghbors if mom was cooking and needed something. At 13 or 14 we were driving full grain trucks "legally". In farm comunities seeing a child driving on thier parents lap is not uncommon. These people are the backbone of the country and constantly parent thier kids. They are taught to respect machinery and vehicles. Besides, when we "drove" at 2 or 3 our dad always had his han on the wheel at the same time. As you know there are parents whose children seem to be smarter than they are but ( go ahead and flame away) I really wasnt upset to hear this.

We live in the country. I agree that these farmers are the back bone of our country. When I was growing up,,ALL the farmers taught their children about about driving vehicles and farm equipment. Our neighbore down the road is a big farmer,,currently his boy is 10,,but he taught the boy about driving when the boy was bout 7. It is not unusual to see this boy driving a farm truck or equipment down our roads.
Now that being said,,I would like to say this,,,
while growing up I can also remember hearing bout children being mamed and even worse, death, from operating vehicles and equipment,,(I would guess it had to do with mainly their size and very little strength in their small bodies to be able to use proper control of vehicles/equip.

On the farm is one thing,,but I can assure you, our neighbor doesnt let his 10 year old drive to/thru town on his own,,or send him to Wal-Mart etc,,just cause the boy can drive.
There is a time and place for everything,,and on vacation, inna park/campground ,etc, is not time to teach a kid to drive.
Now I'm a far cry from being someone with any smarts, I'll admit,,,
but a lotta folk today just seem to have the brains of dirt. Common sense sure doesnt seem to fit inna lotta folks heads now days.

 

[liv luvs disney]

On the farm is one thing,,but I can assure you, our neighbor doesnt let his 10 year old drive to/thru town on his own,,or send him to Wal-Mart etc,,just cause the boy can drive.
There is a time and place for everything,,and on vacation, inna park/campground ,etc, is not time to teach a kid to drive.

Frank, once again, I agree with you. Growing up in the country myself, it was common to see youngins drive around family property, not saying it was right, just saying it was fairly common. Heck, we didn't own a vehicle with seatbelts until I was in the 8th grade (and I'm not that old) and never wore the darn thing until I moved off to Gainesville for college.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I doubt any of those old cars or tractors had air bags. I have seen many deploy, some in seemingly minor wrecks. They deploy with a huge amount of energy. I agree that there WAS a time and a place for it, not now and not at the Fort though.

 

[petestulipbug]

I don't post often, but read the forums almost daily, I was at the fort this weekend, just got home last night, and was shocked at how many teens and tweens we saw riding the golf carts. And one on our way back from fireworks that was goofing around swerving between both lanes...It was the first time in 5 years of going to the fort several times a year that I noticed it. Maybe that is because of recent accidents and I have toddlers that I have to keep an eagle eye on, but it made for a much more tense weekend.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I didn't grow up on a farm but come from a farming family, so by 8 or 9 could drive a tractor. My buddy had his own pickup (not street legal) which he drove on his Dad's farm roads. He lost the keys once and we learned how to hot wire cars that day. I learned to drive a manual transmission car in 6th grade because my older brother had one and I got home from school earlier than him. I used to back it down the driveway and then see if I could get it into second gear before I went through the back wall of the garage. I always opened the garage door just in case. That gave me an extra 20 feet of wiggle room. I'm not justifying letting your kid steer on your lap at FW, I just had a flashback.

 

[seals]

We saw this on our recent trip, and some seemed younger than tweens, even driving with parents in the cart. I put this in the evaluation Disney sent and am thinking about writing a letter also. If you want to endanger your own kids, well, that's your problem and you should have your head examined. But you have no right to endanger MY kids and that's what you're doing when you drive a golf cart/vehicle like that in a place crowded with OTHER people. I fail to see where this is someone's right to drive that way. The golf carts seem to have all the rights and pedestrians pretty much none. We frequently had to move out of the way of golf carts whereas the golf cart drivers made no attempt to not get in our way even when we were crossing a road first. It doesn't make for a relaxing vacation for people who care about their kids' safety (or their own).

I don't post often, but read the forums almost daily, I was at the fort this weekend, just got home last night, and was shocked at how many teens and tweens we saw riding the golf carts. And one on our way back from fireworks that was goofing around swerving between both lanes...It was the first time in 5 years of going to the fort several times a year that I noticed it. Maybe that is because of recent accidents and I have toddlers that I have to keep an eagle eye on, but it made for a much more tense weekend.

 

[liv luvs disney]

I didn't grow up on a farm but come from a farming family, so by 8 or 9 could drive a tractor. My buddy had his own pickup (not street legal) which he drove on his Dad's farm roads. He lost the keys once and we learned how to hot wire cars that day. I learned to drive a manual transmission car in 6th grade because my older brother had one and I got home from school earlier than him. I used to back it down the driveway and then see if I could get it into second gear before I went through the back wall of the garage. I always opened the garage door just in case. That gave me an extra 20 feet of wiggle room. I'm not justifying letting your kid steer on your lap at FW, I just had a flashback.

Never learned how to hot wire, but I learned how to drive a manual in the 6th grade too. I was in the car port impatiently waiting on my mother to take me somewhere. Got the car cranked without a problem, backed it out without a problem, pulling back into the car port was where the problem occurred. A busted head light and the ever loving crap scared out of me was enough to keep me from doing it again...at least for a couple of years.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

Also growing up on a farm we also sat on dads lap while he drove tractors. The first thing I did think about is what if that airbag went off.
Not too mention just becasue they did it 20-30 years ago and you surrived dosen't make it okay

 

[liv luvs disney]

just becasue they did it 20-30 years ago and you surrived dosen't make it okay

So true and it actually still aplies to the stupid things we, I mean they, do today.

 

[ElementCamper]

I doubt any of those old cars or tractors had air bags. I have seen many deploy, some in seemingly minor wrecks. They deploy with a huge amount of energy. I agree that there WAS a time and a place for it, not now and not at the Fort though.

bigdisneydaddy's comment was right on, that was the first thing I thought of was 'what if the air bag went off?' All it would take would be someone to swerve and hit them head on or lose control and hit something.

 

[RocklandRVers]

I totally agree time have changed and there are lots of potential dangers. Back in the good old days it was much more acceptable Let me tell you my little story. We lived in the country (California desert) until I was 10 and we moved to NY (40+ years ago). I learned to drive by sitting on Dad's lap while he worked the pedals and held the wheel eventually as I got older I worked the wheel and so on. Eventually I was able to drive with Dad or Mom sitting next to me. Mom and Dad grew up on the farm in Oklahoma. Kids driving and operating farm equipment was just the way of life. I recall visiting Grandpa one summer and he put me to work bailing hay. I couldn't lift the bails so I drove his pickup along the rows of bails while he and an older cousin threw them on the truck. Then we would drive them to his barn and unload. This experience of driving served me very well. When I was 7 or 8, Mom went to the Dr which was about 25 miles from home. She got some medication that gave her a reaction about 5 miles out of town. Here we were in a hot car with my baby sisters in back on a desert road where a car might come along once an hour if you were lucky. Anyway, she scooted over and had me drive. She said head toward home not to town since she knew there was more traffic, stop lights, etc. She told me to go slow and keep it under 40 which I did. She went to sleep at some point but I wasn't scared and knew I could do it. I knew to stop just outside our little town and wake her up. By that time she could navigate the short mile or so to home and called Dad at work to come home.