# Driver in Training



## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

He is starting to get pretty good for only spending 3 weeks with me during the summers. He is almost ready to take the 4040 out on the road by himself since it has the powershift. He is driving all the tractors now and hooking up equipment. He is a little behind being 10 but not bad with the limited time he is here. This spring he was pulling logs with uncles 6100. I just hooked and unhooked the logs. I think he is to the point he can drive the truck a little in the driveway. When he was driving the 1586 I started to receive texts from him. Had to put a stop to that. Makes you wonder how we can control this when they are driving age. It's already unsafe on the roads. What will it be like in 5-10 years??


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Good for you IH for the investment....and good for him for being very mature about being given some responsibilities. The self esteem is written all over his face in the 2nd photo. Priceless!

Best Regards, Mike


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

Vol said:


> Good for you IH for the investment....and good for him for being very mature about being given some responsibilities. The self esteem is written all over his face in the 2nd photo. Priceless!
> 
> Best Regards, Mike


Thanks


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Amazing how much more kids can do as youngsters (and later on in life) when you don't treat them like a helpless 3 year old til they are 20... Well done.


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## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

Looks like he's a fine strapping young man who will do you proud


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Great job!

I just gotta say about the texting part... "ten year olds with their own phone... REALLY???"

Guess I'm just hopelessly old fashioned. H3ll *I* didn't even have a smartphone until about a year ago... only had a flip phone for maybe 5-6 years before that. Prior to that, it was just the old house/shop phone on the wall... LOL

My daughter is ten and NO WAY would we get her a phone. She asked for either a phone or an Ipod for Christmas... she got the Ipod. IMHO kids that age flat out don't NEED a phone... My sister got her son a phone (he's 13) and honestly I don't think that was the smartest move in the world, either. Keira (my daughter) can basically have one when she can pay for it... LOL

I guess whatever floats yer boat, but AFAIC, I don't think kid's should have phones til they're older...

JMHO.... OL JR


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

luke strawwalker said:


> Great job!
> 
> I just gotta say about the texting part... "ten year olds with their own phone... REALLY???"


I agree but he doesn't live with me, he lives in Indiana. If he did he would not have one yet. Every morning we text and most evenings. Call him when working in the fields. He wants to know what I'm doing everyday. His brother will be 8 this year and I am thinking of giving him his brothers old phone. He doesn't talk on the phone as much and maybe this will help. He also uses it to talk farming with his cousin that lives here. It's just a phone and we just started texting couple years ago. I was to cheap to pay for it. It's handy but annoying now.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Very common Luke to see very young people with phones....you are behind times Luke....better get out of Shiner a little more often. 

I saw about a 5-6 year old with a phone TEXTING in our retail store about 2 weeks ago....I was stunned.

Phones are the new life line for the entire population....and they are not going anywhere but in peoples pockets.

Regards, Mike


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

My kids have all three had phones by the time they were 11. They had to have them. We use cells for all communication, no land lines either. My boys were both driving tractors tedding, raking or doing tillage by the time they were 11 and they needed a phone when I left them in a field only God knows where. My daughter got a phone when she turned 11 because she likes to be home and will commonly stay home by her self and with no landline, she needed communication in case of trouble. As far as kids and tractor driving, they can't start young enough. My boys are 17 and 14 and can absolutely operate anything on the farm and are more proficient than my dad who is 72. There comes an age when the reflexes just get too slow.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Vol said:


> Very common Luke to see very young people with phones....you are behind times Luke....better get out of Shiner a little more often.
> 
> I saw about a 5-6 year old with a phone TEXTING in our retail store about 2 weeks ago....I was stunned.
> 
> ...


Well, maybe so... but things were better in the past, in a lot of ways...

I don't *HAVE* to "get with the times"... if other people want to, that's their business, just as if I *choose* to be old fashioned, that's nobody else's business...

Just stating my own opinion on the matter... My nephews are "plugged in" like the rest of these kids nowdays... Those boys are COMPLETELY and utterly useless for anything-- they can't do anything, they don't know anything... the can fart with the latest electronic toys and know enough about computers to pretty much permanently screw them up, but that's about it. My ten year old daughter has been working with me since she was old enough to walk... we fix cars and farm equipment, do electrical wiring and plumbing, run cows and fix fence and run machinery... she plays softball and swims, volleyball and archery, she can drive a truck with a trailer, and learning about running the tractors and equipment. I've tried to involve the boys, but they're not interested or complete blockheads who don't want to listen or learn... or they're too "bored" or whining for their electronic toys... The can't take the heat, can't take doing any physical activity, have no skills or abilities, beyond working their electronic toys and gadgets.

If that's how folks want to raise their kids, well, it's a free country. If doing things "the right way" makes me old fashioned, so be it... there's worse things I could be accused of... LOL

Later! OL JR


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

luke strawwalker said:


> I don't *HAVE* to "get with the times"... if other people want to, that's their business, just as if I *choose* to be old fashioned, that's nobody else's business...
> 
> Later! OL JR


Just teasing with you Luke....perfectly acceptable not to run with the pack.....I do the same.....with my cell phone of course. 

Regards, Mike


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> Just teasing with you Luke....perfectly acceptable not to run with the pack.....I do the same.....with my cell phone of course.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I didn't see where you told Luke to "get with the times" myself....just saying


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## AndyL (Mar 9, 2013)

somedevildawg said:


> I didn't see where you told Luke to "get with the times" myself....just saying


LOL Mike said, "you are behind times." I can see where Luke is coming from. Most, not all, but most. Can't function without a cell phone in their hand. Or all they wanna do is play video games. And whine if they have to do something that requires a physical effort. See it all the time.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Well, in fairness, I can see it SOME... haybaler101 makes some good points in his post... and hey, if it works for him, it's a free country-- more power to him.

I used to drive a schoolbus, so I saw every form of mind-numbing electronic device known to man in those kid's hands... At least they served a purpose and kept them quiet and, for the most part, in their seat...

I had a few bus driver buddies that said, "Oh, I don't allow kids to use electronics on my bus..." and I was just incredulous... I told them straight out, "Why on Earth would you do that?? Heck I let the kids on my bus have any electronic mind-numbing device known to man, if it'll keep 'em shut up and sitting down... "

So, in the right time/place, yeah, that stuff serves a purpose... but the problem is, most folks just give it to their kids and turn them loose with it 24/7...

Later! OL JR


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## CaseIH84 (Jun 16, 2013)

Kids today are not lazy and useless because of cell phones or electronic devices. They are that way because that is the way they were raised. Parents today with the very busy life styles and usually both parents working find it easier to let kids play with electronic devices then to teach them how to work. If the children are occupied than they are not bugging parents. Just my take on problem.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

CaseIH84 said:


> Kids today are not lazy and useless because of cell phones or electronic devices. They are that way because that is the way they were raised. Parents today with the very busy life styles and usually both parents working find it easier to let kids play with electronic devices then to teach them how to work. If the children are occupied than they are not bugging parents. Just my take on problem.


True...

I know as a bus driver, I basically had more problems with the PARENTS than the kids...

Everybody nowdays it seems think that *THEIR* kid walks on water... and anytime ANYBODY looks at them cross-eyed, they want to make a federal case out of it...

Geez I'm SO glad I don't have to work with friggin' kids anymore... like I said, kids can be kids, and kids do a lot of stupid sh!t, but the parents are the WORST... If you work with kids, you have to deal with the friggin' parents...

Most of whom are COMPLETE IDIOTS...

Later! OL JR


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

CaseIH84 said:


> Kids today are not lazy and useless because of cell phones or electronic devices. They are that way because that is the way they were raised. Parents today with the very busy life styles and usually both parents working find it easier to let kids play with electronic devices then to teach them how to work. If the children are occupied than they are not bugging parents. Just my take on problem.


You sir, are correct. Well said.


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## AndyL (Mar 9, 2013)

CaseIH84 said:


> Kids today are not lazy and useless because of cell phones or electronic devices. They are that way because that is the way they were raised. Parents today with the very busy life styles and usually both parents working find it easier to let kids play with electronic devices then to teach them how to work. If the children are occupied than they are not bugging parents. Just my take on problem.


Totally agree. Well said.


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I hate to say this, but my almost 3 yr old grandson can do more with my iPhone than I can. He also likes to type on the computer in my office and already knows the alphabet. Naturally, I think he very smart, but in reality it's what he has been exposed to and encouraged to learn. He will grow up in a much different world than his mother did and a very, very different world than I did.

To quote a chapter in The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

6. Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22.

Regards, Mike


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

My wife got a childrens bible story program for her pad. Our 4 year old can work the program. When he messes it up he comes to me(if mom is busy) and I have to try to figure it out. I don't use pads, and the 4 year old is better at using the thing than me. Its amazing what those minds can soak up...


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