I think that is way toooo young

 

No such thing as a calm ride on an ATV/Quad unless your parked on a paved road with the key off.

 

the thing to MOSTLY think of is, if the couple hundred pound atv accidently tips over,,,,,,the kids strapped in,,,,,,,,what are the chances the kid does'nt get badly hurt,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,not much of unfortuneatly.

 

I will rephrase the question: I am looking for what other people have done, or currently do. I wasn't really looking for opinions of what I was talking about, I meant to ask what other people actually do or don't do.
If, come next summer he isnt a lot bigger then I guess I wouldnt consider taking him on a trail ride. But, again, just looking for some real-world input. I have to believe people have taken children along on an atv. I really believe it has happened. If not at 3 then when, four? Five? Many people have their kids driving their own machine at 4 or 5.
If I decide he has to wait out next summer, then so be it, but I suspect that the following summer he'll be big enough to drive my truck. I measured them all for helmets, 6 y/o is 21.5 inches 5 y/o is 21 inches, 2 y/o is 20 inches. How is that even possible? His squash is nearly as big as the older kids already!

 

Northstar2,

Since my kids were old enough to keep their heads up I have put them on motorized vehicles. Ive got pictures of my daughter at the age of 2 ridding in front me on a motorcycle around the yard......Ive got pictures of her at 4 riding behind me on a motorcycle down the road (with no helmet). Some people gasp.....other applaud....some threaten to call the cops.....others took our picture. You cant make everyone happy, just shoot for making yourself happy.

My son went with me on a multi-day trip on my motorcycle at the age of 7.

In he end as long as YOU and YOUR family are comfortable with the siutation and your not breaking any laws, I wouldnt worry much about what others say.

At the age of 2 I would say the safest bet is to keep him in FRONT of you on the seat.....keep the riding sane and safe on good level ground.

Have a good time.

PS - the issue I found with helmets on the wee ones - the weight. Thats why my daughter NEVER wore a helmet until she turned 5, now she wears one all the time. I was literally concerned the weight of the helmet would break her neck......she could NOT support the weight and it made her head flop around....I decided no helmet was the better choice.

Id also suggest against trail riding with the wee one and if your on public land you will likely find your self the recipient of a very large fine for doing so. Then again I dont know what your trails look like. Here in Iowa the OHV trails I have access to are VERY steep, off camber and not very "newb" friendly. However your situation may be different....and your the parent, your choice.

 

we had an incident here a few years back where a little girl was wearing one of the styrofoam and plastic bicycle helmets on a four wheeler and crashed into a tree on our state trail. Our PD went to the state legislature trying to get the helmet law clarified for youths, but they, on the advice of Fish & Game, balked against requiring a DOT or Snell rating, because of the weight issue. It is in fact true that a real helmet is heavier and that weight is more likely to snap the neck of a child. I'm in the process of buying new helmets for my 5 and 6 y/o, but they are big and strong enough for them now. A little smaller and they couldnt support a big helmet, and the little one certainly cant. For just putting around the yard I have been making them wear the bike helmets until I can get the new ones.
That said, I would never allow them to ride without some sort of helmet.

 

I would recommend for a young child to get the "Neck Roll" racing support that goes under the helmet. This piece of safety equipment keeps the helmet from snapping back on the head in case of hitting hard bumps or a wreck.

My opinion here if your that concerned the childs neck cannot support a helmet then how can you justify letting the child ride without a helmet.

 

On a slight tangent here, this year our local racetrack said we should stop using the neck support pads. They got some goofy idea from somewhere that they were worse for you than not having one. They do recommend the HANS device however.

I did actually think about that neck support thing, for the kids helmets. Does seem like it would limit the neck-snapping motion of the helmet.

 

I have the "neck roll" for under my helmet that I wear when I want to get a need for speed in the sand and it works just fine. Of course they recommend the HANS device it runs somewhere around $200.00 - $300.00 where the padded neck roll is about $20.00. Just speaking for myself I don't get that stupid on my quad to warrant the money spent sense I bent the handle bar with my rib cage.

Again only in my opinion I would get the neck roll padding for a child only because they out grow stuff way to fast

 

Yeah its probabaly not good for the kid because his whole body is taking the impact, you on the other hand are probably standing up and yor legs act like shocks lessining the impact. I wouldn't recommend it.