My son was driving the tractor, with me on the fender within easy reach of all controls. Running on flat land at less than 1mph. Don't get me wrong, things can go very south very quickly at that speed. In my opinion other than sitting in the house, the tractor seat is one of the more safe locations during small square operations.
I remember as a kid always wanting to ride on the fender of the AC WD with Dad. He had a flat tool box mounted halfway down that made a seat. At the time my Mom was still here and she sewed up a pillow so our butts were cushioned a bit. Dad fashioned up a seat belt to strap us in.
I had probably not talk much about all the things my brother and I did farming with Dad as kids as Dad is no longer here to defend himself. I will say the day we took the dozer down the ice covered bluff road to pull some guy out of the ditch was an experience. We were ages 10-12 and Dad was gone. The man needed to be pulled out of the ditch so that was just what you did.
After having kids I believe I tried to be safe but also wanted them involved. We had a Massey 510 combine. Now if anyone has had a 510 they know there is literally a shelf behind the seat ahead of the window to the grain tank. I was cutting beans and my oldest son was riding with me on my knee. He was probably 2-3 years old and it was nappy time. There was no such thing as a cell phone to call my wife. I just shut down for a second., wrapped him up in my coat and laid him behind me on the "shelf'. He slept nicely back there as I continued to run. I wish I would have had a camera.
I was behind the 8 ball one time on hay as it was down, rain coming in, and I needed to get going. I had the rake on a Allis Chalmers 180. Now again if folks are familiar with the Allis Chalmers of that series they had POS gear transmissions but the 2 speed power director was solid. It had what I call a solid placement oil hand clutch. I know that makes no sense but hey....You could use the foot clutch to put the standard transmission in gear but still have the power director in neutral. I put the tractor in 5th and had my wife who could not work a foot clutch at all ride with me. I showed her how to just use the power director hand clutch to go from neutral to forward. She rode a few rounds with me. I told her if she got worried just pull back and it will go to neutral. If all else pull the injector shutoff and kill the engine. She did phenomenal! I followed here with teh baler and we got it done.
She continued to build confidence and help out but my father came over one day and laid into me about having my wife doing that. He was a great man but as with us all had flaws and respect for women in the workplace was one of them. He did not feel my wife should be running a tractor. He seemed to forget that his mother used to run Grandpa's Titan 10-20 in the 1930's. If anyone has seen a Titan 10-20 you will know what type of tractor that is.
From that point on I put one of my sons on the tractor after going through the same procedure. My oldest now works for our Deere construction equipment dealer. He does a lot of their heavy hauls. Just this past week he was hauling scrapers that were over 14ft wide and in the 120,000lbs area. Another day it was a off road truck. I asked him how much tire was on the trailer, he said ...awe plenty I had 6 inches on the trailer".
I guess starting them out early had a few benefits.
