From Barbara Whiting,
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Question
My son will be 8 this summer, and while I'm not ready to let him cut the grass, I was wondering when your kids started doing so? How did you start teaching them how? What about using the weed eater? It seems we did those things at such early ages. - Babs

Answer
When I was growing up, we were never allowed to mow the grass. I mean never. I'm allergic to grass, but that wasn't the reason; it was just that my dad had known too many people to lose toes or feet to lawnmowers. My son is 13 and we might consider it if we had a flat lawn, but the yard is so uneven even hubby has a hard time with it. - Marcia

About age 12. My "theory" was as soon as they were at least 12 and as tall as me, they could cut the grass. With a lot of supervision at first. Since I can handle the mower (height wise) I figure they could. - Barb

I think I started my son mowing the lawn when he was 11. We have a push mower though, boy-power only. I have been letting him use the weedeater as well though, which definitely has power! I got him some cool looking protective glasses for that. - Curious

I know some folks who allow the 11 year olds to drive the riding-mower under close supervision while the grown ups are doing the trim work or something. These folks have large flat yards with only a few large obstacles (trees) to mow around. I suppose if an electric weed-eater is light enough, an 11 or 12 might could do it, but a gasoline-powered one might be too much for them, IF you can trust them to only eat weeds and not flowers. - Lindina

I was seven or eight, and it was way too young. I'd wait until the handle of the mower is between shoulder and elbow height on the child; any higher and they're so hard to push! - Stormy

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