Where should they ride when you're out on the trails.I want to be able to see him so I can correct him if need be,but Iv read where others have them ride behind the adult.

Mine son is 9,and we have never been on any trails on seperate atvs.

This is what I thought of doin,take my walkie talkies with the ear piece in place and let him lead,but if I need to correct him,I just talk into the mic.
But the ones I have aint voice activated,so he wont be able to talk to me,but I at least I could to him.

Any other ideas,

How do some of you do it?

 

We use these - well worth the $$$ considering it's your kid.

http://www.collett.mb.ca/

Our ideal kid location is to have one adult rider in the lead with another adult in the back. This way the kids are always in the saddle. I'll go so far to say that until the kid has some real trail experience that this is the only way I'd do it. Once they get a little experieince than I prefer to be in front if I am the only adult rider. I have a couple of mirrors that I add on for these rides. Not the ideal situation but I'd prefer to be the one in control of the trail speed plus the kid in back allows them to see what hapens to my quad and pick a line. Also, if I hit a difficult area, I can radio for them to stop - I can get through - and then walk back or give advice as needed.

All this is flexible as the kids skills get better. The radio's are a must in my opinion.

Jaybee

 

Well,alot of the time it'll be me and him,no one else I know has an atv exept a couple of 18-20 year olds,and they aint gonna putt around with kid.
I'll look and see how much a set of voice activated mics are.
Mirrors,never thought of that,might add some to mine.

 

I wouldn't ride unless it was with two adults until he gets major trail time.

If you MUST, though, I'd put him in back as my first option (especially on trails he's not very familiar with). If there's an emergency, it might be too late to talk him out of it. If he's in back, you have to really work to watch him, (get mirrors), but you don't have to worry about him going into something too fast or any other of a million things that can go wrong to an un-experienced rider.

Kids panic, and you can't always count on them to do the right thing, even (sometimes especially) when you're inside their helmet telling them to do something that contradicts what their inexperienced reactions and instincts tell them they should be doing, however wrong they might be.

Another option is to use a trail that he is intimately familiar with, and put him in front with VERY STRICT RULES about speed and course. Then make sure you're RIGHT behind him and always in a position to get in front of him to stop him in case of emergency.

That's your son we're talking about, and there should be absolutely NOTHING left to chance when it comes to his safety and teaching him properly.

 

Mirrors, looks goofy! But I flipped my KQ700 over at H-M because I just looked behind me to check on my buddy to see if he was still there, hit a good sized rock and over I went. 2 hrs later there was 9 atv mirrors purchased in town at the local dealer, everybody got one, Best money ever spent, also Kolpin makes handguards with built in blindspot mirrors in them, not the best quality, but you can pick them up at Bass Pro. Since it's just the kids and I that ride together, they stay in the back, they too have mirrors and we communicate with hand signals. Stopping, turn direction, a obstacle, so forth, not hi-tech but so far it works. I do like the radio deal though, borrowed my neighbors, but my 7 year old girl likes to sing while she rides!

 

Most places around here in north Ga.,it 2way trails that crammed packed,but they are closed till April.
There is a place close Greensboro,Ga. that has a 1way trail and every time Iv been there's only a hand full of riders,if any.It's not really steep or rough,even though some mud holes are very deep,but there is always a way around them.
Ride at a leasurely pace 10-20 mph and it'll take 3-4 hours to make the loop.
Thats probly where I'll take him first.He just rides in the yard now and some at my church which has a 3 acre field.

Also,I have'nt got him any gogles yet,I need to before we get on the trail.He wears wrap around shades for now.

 

Just an idea, when I took the atv safety course( where else do you get paid to ride) a lot of neat ideas were thrown my way and I used them with my and my neighbors kids, set up lumber (pending on the ground clearence of there bikes) like 4x4's or landscape timbers, set them up for crossing over, off camber crosses, shifting their weight sitting back/leaning forward, there was right much there to work with to teach them balance.