3 year old child killed by 7 year old brother operating farm equipment
http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/article/20120512/SPJ0101/205120504/3-year-old-boy-dies-farm-incidentBERN -- A 3-year-old boy was killed Friday near Athens after he was run over by a skid steer loader driven by his 7-year-old brother, police say.
The younger brother was riding in the bucket of the skid steer with two other siblings, ages 4 and 5, said Lt. Fred Goch of the Marathon County Sheriff's Department. The 3-year-old fell out of the bucket, and the skid steer ran over him before the child's older brother could stop the vehicle. The children's father was working in a field 50 to 80 yards away, Goch said.
The children were playing with the machine, which was regularly used by the 7-year-old around the family's farm to do chores, Goch said.
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A skid steer is a versatile and maneuverable small-framed vehicle steered by controlling the speed and direction of two sets of side wheels. Skid steers can be used with different pieces of equipment at the end of two arms, such as a bucket.
Seriously, what the fuck. How many flavors of stupid were these parents for even letting a three year old out there on the work site?
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And I started driving on the gravel streets of my grandparent's small town when I was 10 (under supervision, but not necessarily with anyone in the vehicle with me. I had the hardest time with his Volkswagen bus because the steering wheel was right over the wheels and I had a harder time grasping turning. Country kids who work on a farm almost always learn to drive early because driving doesn't take a lot of muscle. No seven-year-old kid has any business being responsible 
(!) for three younger siblings. What horror for the whole family.
at a young age, privileges such as driving are earned earlier because it takes a load off the parents. I bet freeways are a challenge, though. Hard to get experience with that on the back 40 in any country. When I think of Pacific Islands, though, somehow I never picture driving. Very interesting. 
a 3 and 7 year old running around dangerous equipment is okay? That it's okay for a 7 year old to DRIVE?
Farmers, if they have to go work around equipment, should have to find a babysitter like everyone else. I can't imagine that I would be allowed, if I worked around machinery, to bring my 3 and 7 year old to work.
My mom grew up on a farm. My grandfather, who was 45 when my mother was born and still remembered farming with a horse-drawn plow, was extremely strict about children around the equipment. They weren't allowed to try the tractor until they were in their teens and there were very specific rules. If my grandfather was using the tractor, the kids were not allowed in the same field, lest my grandfather backed up without knowing they were there or something. They also had a small sawmill and again, the kids were not allowed anywhere near it until they were in their mid-teens. There were 8 kids and none were hurt in farming accidents. However, they had cousins that weren't so lucky. A few died from equipment accidents (getting run over, hurt by harvesting equipment, etc). My grandfather had nothing but contempt for other farmers that allowed their children around equipment. My mom and her siblings did things like pick blueberries or weed the garden or gather eggs when they were little, and when they got older they were allowed to milk the cows and shovel shit (yay, lol).
I think too many parents WAY overestimate the capabilities of a 7 year old. Our neighbours had a 7 year old that had his own snowmobile. One day, he was out riding it and I was unaware that he had come into our yard with it. I heard it, and went out to tell MY children to come inside as I didn't trust that a 7 year old was in control of such a machine (it certainly didn't look like it to me!). JUST as I went out to do that, I heard my daughter scream and I looked just in time to see her get RUN OVER by the 7 year old. Luckily she was totally unhurt (it was very cold and she was totally bundled and the snow was soft). Her snowsuit was torn though. I was very upset. The dad came over to make his kid apologize. I was like WTF? YOU are the idiot that lets your 7 year old drive a skidoo! He continued to berate his son in front of me about how careless his son had been and that he would be punished for not being safe. omg. 
7 Year olds are simply NOT capable of safely operating machinery. Ever.