Dear Sir,
I know your plight and wow...been there and done that. I tackled it this way....safety features, safety features and higher calling. Woman are naturally protective of the nest (family) and are much more cautious and we are more fly by night have fun. In saying that, you must respect her and find the avenue that is a win-win situation. For us, this is how I handled it. My wife was too protective...seemed all I was doing was watching football or TV and needed some excitement. I took her camping at the local ATV trails....lakes, trails, river...get the picture. She like it so much and found it so relaxing that she loved the idea and love the peacefulness it brought. Sell it as not just bonding btwn man and son...but see if she'd like to also. I was amazed that my wife did an about face and now loves it. I bought her a Honda Recon 250ES w/ electronic shifting (hence ES)...she just loves it. We are all about family. SEADAWG[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Just go get him one. I tell you what. I bought my son a sunl 90 about a year ago when he was 5 1/2. He loves it. It still runs great. Only thing I have had to change on it was the battery. You know how much I paid for it?? $377.58 brand new including taxes and a helmet. Not a bad deal AT ALL. For that kind of money you can afford to put a little wrench time on it, but fortunately I haven't had to. It doesn't sound like you have money issues since you used to race porsches, but if a low cost atv would sweeten the deal even more then there you go. haha!! I started riding when I was 3 on a honda atc 70 trike. By the time I was 4 I was on the Big Red 250ES. I am still into atcs but I went with the Yamaha Tri-Z. As far as my son goes. You can get sand paddles and baldies and wheel spacers to widen the sunl's and go dune riding. Tell your wife whats the worst that could happen if he falls off in sand???? haha!!! Good luck.

 

I've been watching this thread and now can't help but chime in.

Safety? You bet. Top priority. But if safety is all you think about, you won't even buy him a bicycle OR a dog. My 4YO son has a bicycle and has been injured far more seriously on that than on his ATV. We have a dog, too, and I've had more injuries from playing rough with our very friendly dog than from any other "sport" I participate in including whitewater kayaking, rock climbing, skiing, etc.

Guess what my son's most serious injury has been so far? A broken arm. Guess how he got it? Falling off a chair in the kitchen while helping Mom bake cookies. I am not making this up. He does almost all the sports we do (though not to the same intensity, of course) and his most serious injury occurred in the kitchen while baking cookies.

Life is about balancing risk. As parents, we must 1) make those decisions for our children, while 2) teaching them how to do it for themselves. They say raising children is like holding a bar of wet soap: Grip too tightly and they spring from your grasp, but hold too loosely and they slip away. Managing risk is just like that. You want well-rounded, well-balanced children who are still in one piece by adulthood.

In our case, our son was riding on the gas tank in front of me on my SP700. Definitely not safe. He'd had a battery powered ATV for a couple of years plus was already very skilled on a two-wheeler, so we reasoned that a gas-powered ATV of the same size as his battery powered one was probably OK as long as we restricted the engine's power output.

That's proven to be exactly how it's turned out. We gave him lots of instruction up front, and then for his first ride Mom was on an ATV while Dad ran alongside him shouting instructions. He's proven to be extremely responsible and it has been a HUGE boost for his self-esteem. We have his LT-A50 restricted down to the point where it maxes out around 10-12 MPH best case on level hardpack, and then we ride with one adult ATV in front and the other in back so he can't get away from us or out of our sight.

I should add that he considers his ability to ride his ATV as probably his single biggest privilege. When the rare occasion comes up that he needs something to go on "restriction", he protects his ATV access like nothing else. This, in turn, has given us a lever with which we can encourage proper "big boy" behavior.

My wife was hesitant but, knowing that he'd had two years on a battery ATV... seeing him ride 18-20 MPH down hills on his bicycle... and knowing that we never permit him to ride without a designated adult whose sole responsibility is tracking his every move, she went along. She's very glad she did because of the happiness she sees that it brings him, and the fun family times we've already had in less than a year.

By the way, his ATV is pull start and he is not strong enough to start it himself. It also has a key which we control. There is no way for him to use it without our help, and he knows that if he managed to do so it would be the next thing on CraigsList or eBay. He is the ONLY person allowed to ride it - none of his friends are permitted and we've told them AND their parents - so he knows he has strong backing should any of his friends try to pressure a ride.

I hope this helps.

 

For anyone who is worried about what WhoDatInDaMud said, keep this in mind: My petite 9yr old daughter races a hopped up Predator 90. She has raced for 2 years already (80 races last year alone) and has never once crashed on her quad. (Yes I know, knock on wood!)

I could put her in gymnastics, but the same risk would be there. She could fall off a beam, land on her head and be paralized for life.

I could put her in softball and she could be hit hard in the chest or head with the ball and die (it does happen.)

I could limit her to riding her bike (which she is required to wear a helmet) but what good is a bicycle helmet when some drunk or distracted driver hits her with their oversized SUV.

I could let her take walks, but some weirdo/pervert could grab her and do god only knows what.

I could take her to the beach (I live 2 miles from Lake Michigan) and she could be sucked away by an undertoe and drown (it happens to several adults & children every year!)

There is a risk with everything. Supervise your child and teach them what they need to know and the risk will be low. Yes, ATV's can be dangerous - but if your child is supervised and taught properly, they can be lots of fun. If you child can't follow the rules, then the ATV needs to be taken away from them. If they can't respect the rules, then they shouldn't have one.

 

Way to go, WAATV, and I hope others who read your posting will find your model useful for them as well. We would see a lot fewer ATV accidents involving children.

 

Well put WAATV, couldn't have said it better myself. I have to wonder about those children that were killed or seriously injured while riding ATV's. Were they ALL wearing helmets, chest protectors, and boots? Was there an adult around supervising? Were they riding an ATV that was a proper fit for them physically and matched their capabilities as a rider? There are so many variables that contribute to accidents. I would be willing to bet most every one of those accidents could have been avoided by one of the things I listed above. As for these "runaway" ATV's, most of the Chinese quads I am seeing nowaday even come with a remote kill switch on the keychain. As WAATV mentioned, you can get hurt badly at any time, any place, doing ANYthing.

 

My advice is this... Be patient. I rode quads when I was a teenager, then moved on to streetbikes. My then fiance and I were almost ran over by a car trying to merge into our lane and that was the last time she ever rode the bike. Pretty much the last time I rode it as well without having her jump on a soapbox, so I sold it shortly after we were married. Low and behold my brother picked up a quad a few years ago. At first my wife was dead set against it, but I kept a gentle, persuading bug in her ear. Just a few short years later SHE bought me a brand new Yamaha. When my son turned 5 I again started some gentle persuasion to buy him a quad. At first she was dead set against it. After a year or two he now has one, and with her total blessing.

Some of the things I did were to research a lot, and talked to her aboutt he merits of different machines I liked. I told her how much I enjoyed riding with my dad as a kid, and how I wanted to share that with our children.

Now the secret weapon, get a subscription to Dirt Wheels. The best thing about that mag is the huge readers section with tons of pics of women, kids, and families riding. Show her the pics, leave the mag lying around the house. Seeing so many other families enjoying atv's may help persuade her it IS a family enjoyable activity.

 

It is generaly accepted in the emergency medical community that there is a 75% expectation for serious personal injury for children under six years old who operate a over sized ATV. Some of my friends are very expereinced first responders in MN and they feel the number is likely higher.

I beleive if people excersized the supervision and safety features listed in these many postings - that number would be far less.

Unfortunetly there seems to be a point in most supervision expereinces where the parent goes back inside the house becuase nothing bad has happened yet.

That is where the trouble starts.

I think WAATV makes some very good points. If the parents of any of the kids I know of had parents being at half that kind of involvement I would have not seen the accidents or attended the funerals that I have.

My hat is off to parents like that.

 

Thank you for your kind words. We are exceptionally careful with our son all the time anyway; all the more so when he's on his ATV. Our goal is to let him have fun and educational experiences while keeping him in one piece. It's a delicate balancing act that requires full-time supervision, especially with anything involving a gas-powered engine.

I often ask parents who insist their younger children mow the lawn if they've really considered the fact that they are asking them to handle a large, heavy piece of equipment with an extremely sharp spinning blade powered by a five horsepower gas engine. I usually see two expressions: First a "Sheesh, come ON" look, followed shortly by a "Huh, I never... WHOA" look.

 

Give her three choices, tell her your going to get him into Atving, Dirtbiking or Hangliding. she will pick ATVing