How young is too young ?

[woodyguy]

The issue is that a kid of 6 has no proper perception of risk. I thought he handled the saw pretty well and was a much better advert than his dad. It's just that a 6 year old with a saw, loosely supervised is frankly criminal, as with little PPE, a momentary distraction or lapse of concentration could cut his leg badly.

[arborlicious]

I caught my three year old going chainsaw crazy in the backyard.

 

[agg221]

For me, the key points are lack of ppe and the fact that nobody can intervene in the event of something going wrong.

 

My daughters are 3 and 5. When my 5yo was 3, her preferred bedtime treat was to watch videos of people using chainsaws on YouTube and criticise their lack of ppe ('silly man, no special trousers, no special hat). A few months back we worked out that they were both worried when I used a saw. It turned out that because they had been told not to touch the saws as they are sharp, they were worried that the saw would hurt me. More explanation required - they now know where the handles are, the sharp bits are and the hot bit. They now know how to pick up a saw without being hurt. They will not be anywhere near a running saw for many years.

 

I do encourage both children to take risk (5yo sometimes uses the ride on mower) but there is always a 'what if' risk assessment - I put the mower in first and walk with it. I do the edges and she only does clear areas where there is nothing to hit, although she is good at steering it and doesn't hit things anyway. She will be driving the Land Rover on the field when she can reach the pedals and learn double fe clutching. I reckon around 10 or 11.

 

3yo just climbs rocks like a mountain goat!

 

Alec

[kieran connell]

do you think a six year old can handle the weight of a chainsaw, what about kickback?

come on get a grip, whoever allowed it needs a kick up the jacksi.

[Peasgood]

Beats the Hell out of me why any parent would put their kids in harms way.

[Steve Bullman]

That kid in the video also has better operator positioning, with the exception of when he checks the front of the bar from the clutch side, than 75% of professionals, nor once does he put himself in a position where the bar could contact his legs. Sure, he doesn't use the brake, and could have caused kick-back, but even with his tiny arms, the brake would activate.

The video may have been a one-off, who knows, the kid is safer than 99% of saw related vids on YouTube!

His dad was crap though, didn't move one log! They were a trip hazard!

On another note Mr. B, what's that pistol your daughter is holding?

 

 

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I can't remember. It was quite a low powered one though, unlike the ar15 assault rifle she was firing haha

 

 

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[Steve Bullman]

The dad set a pretty poor example whem he marked the cutting points on the log using the tip of the bar!

 

If someone wants to remove themselves from the gene pool so be it, but gambling with a small child is criminal.

 

Steve - it looks like the range is geared up for youngsters - goodness knows how detailed their risk assessment must be.

 

 

Not at all. That was in America. All the guns and gear belonged to my wife's uncle. There wasn't even anyone at the firing range monitoring. It was a local gun club, just turn up and shoot

 

 

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[agg221]

Beats the Hell out of me why any parent would put their kids in harms way.

 

I think I understand the motivation - there is a tendency to sanitize life so much that children are often not exposed to risk, which means that later on they have not learned the skills necessary to make good judgements themselves (lack of common sense). They then go to one or other extreme - playing on building sites or become health and safety police.

 

To counter this, there is a need for controlled exposure to risk, which means developing understanding. The challenge is getting the line right. For me, children using chainsaws lies the wrong side of the line, but keeping them completely out of harms way lies the other.

 

I think it's about consequences. Our two both learned about pain through stinging nettles at the age of 2. 'Don't touch the nettles, they will hurt', cue ignoring what they are told, touching the nettles and crying. 'Did you touch the nettles?', 'Yes', 'Did it hurt?', 'Yes', 'Did I tell you it would hurt?', 'Yes', 'Well you're very silly then aren't you'. No risk of lasting harm, useful lesson learned. We're just back from holiday and both children went scrambling over rocks on the beach, mostly no more that a couple of feet up, but including into a cave with an entrance about 10' up a steeply inclined face. There were people around when 3yo was going up - they were offering to help her up, and down, but I wanted her to do it for herself. I was right behind her and had an arm just behind her on the tricky bit, so the most she was risking was grazed knees. To me, this lies on the acceptable side of the line. In practice she was fine.

 

Alec

[Eddy_t]

I can't remember. It was quite a low powered one though, unlike the ar15 assault rifle she was firing haha

 

 

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AR15?! Pity we can't get those over here! Looks like fun I would imagine the pistol was a little .22, whilst low powered, it's still strong enough to kill

 

 

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[Peasgood]

I get all that Agg, but pre-teens and chainsaws? I won't ever understand that one.