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[dayne66]

http://driving.ca/harley-davidson/auto-news/entertainment/dad-lets-six-year-old-ride-a-harley-in-the-desert/

[murphy]

Two words - stu pid!

At least he had the kid wearing proper nylon riding shorts though.

[ultrarider123]

Here's my take....when I was growing up, we rode in the back window of the car (plus only lap belts and no airbags), drank out of the garden hose, rode bicycles without helmets or pads, rode go-carts with little/no brakes and no helmet and generally had a great childhood.  I learned to drive from my dad in an old Ford Econoline pick-up with three on the tree around the backroads at home...I was 8.

Would I do this?     Probably not these days as somebody would see it, I would be in jail for child endangerment and the kid would be custody of the state 
However, my daughter was 6 when she rode with me the first time (but didn't drive it).  This father/son had a straight road, no traffic and looks like this kid had done this before (maybe on a drive around the house?).  He handled the big HD pretty well....

[cambo]

I'll be in the minority and say my two words: cool dad!

 
Some of my fondest memories of my childhood involve my uncle's Jeep with us kids sitting in the back with our feet dangling from the back of the jeep or when I learned how to drive when I was 10 years old in the same Jeep. Or when we all piled up in the back of another uncle's pickup truck on the way to the beach, or piled up in the back of the family station wagon without being strapped down in child safety seats. And we all survived. Try doing that nowadays and see how your kids might end up in foster homes. And we all know how that helps bring kids up safe and sound!

JMHO.

Cam

 

[TinSpinner]

I have no problem with giving the kid a fond memory, I think I would have been going a little slower though and had the kid dressed safer. My dad let me drive his truck when I was about that age and I had my own dirt bike. Bet that kid has one too.

[Fired00d]

I can remember taking my oldest daughter on rides on the gas tank of my first bike (Yamaha) when she was about the same age as this kid. Didn't let her drive/control the bike such as this Dad did but I also didn't have an open straight road with no other traffic on this to attempt it either. Right or wrong this Dad is spending time with his son and hopefully giving the son a pastime he will enjoy for the rest of his life (we get another rider amongst us ). I can think of so many negative things that a Dad (or any adult for that matter) could do that would be a lot worse than this. I do agree he maybe should have had his son wear better protective clothing... I have scars from being burned by hot motor/exhaust, they are no fun.

 
Ride Safe,
Fired00d
 

[murphy]

I learned to ride at four, taught my daughter to ride at seven, always with the appropriate gear on and at way less speeds than the 50 or so that this fellow was travelling.

[Twolanerider]

Would be a good bet this kid has already spent a lot of time on a 50 or some other small dirt bike and has obviously ridden on the road with his dad before.  They seemed to have some shared and understood hand signals figured out and the kid didn't seemed freaked at all.  The ride had been planned and practiced enough for they had the camera in place.  This incident will, of course, totally push many people over the edge.  I'll be in what's probably the minority and say good on them for all the shared time, practice, picking a nice straight rode and building some great memories. 

[senorjeem]

  Way to go dad!!  Way better to teach, and be with the kid when he is young as opposed to just giving him a quad or bike when he is 13 and waaayyy less likely to heed your instructions.  I have done the same with my daughter over the past 20 years on snowmobiles, quads, bikes, skidsteers, zoombooms, pickup trucks, you name it.....and my girl is waaay better skinner than a lot of full grown men that were unnecessarily sheltered by overprotective parents who were too concerned with what other people thought. 

[05Train]

I started riding dirt bikes at the tender age of 8 in the mid-'70s.  Helmet?  Gloves?  Boots?  Hell no.  If it wasn't raining or bitter cold, my brother and I were sliding around in the bed of an F-100.  We used to have BB gun fights.  We jumped off the roof into piles of leaves.

When did we become such pu$$ys that we try to protect our kids from having fun?

[Steve Cole]

Sure is funny how these days a parent gets in trouble for teaching there kids. While I will be in the group that say  way to go Dad. I learned to drive at 6 in a 50 Buick by my dad. I never got to do it by myself until I was about 8 or 9 but by then he had already taught me how to take the engine apart and repair it too. So much for giving the parents the responsibility to teach there kids right and wrong. This seemed to be well set up before hand and the kid sure seemed to understand what he was doing. Without knowing what was done before hand it's hard to know for sure but there is no way the kid just jumped to this level all at once.

[Rooster]

My first thought was long pants please. Best part for me was his right hand grabbed the throttle first and cranked it before the left hand went to the bars. Atta boy.

[FlaHeatWave]

COOL!! It's great that the Dad is giving the kid an experience like that, having him focus at an early age. Most of us 'Boomers had similar experiences growing up and I feel it made us better persons for the most part.

I am so glad that I grew up in the days before "politically correct"!

With experiences like that, the kid will have a leg up on his peers. 

[D-N-D]

A Great Father & Son moment it look harmless ??

[Twolanerider]

Sure is funny how these days a parent gets in trouble for teaching there kids. While I will be in the group that say  way to go Dad. I learned to drive at 6 in a 50 Buick by my dad. I never got to do it by myself until I was about 8 or 9 but by then he had already taught me how to take the engine apart and repair it too. So much for giving the parents the responsibility to teach there kids right and wrong. This seemed to be well set up before hand and the kid sure seemed to understand what he was doing. Without knowing what was done before hand it's hard to know for sure but there is no way the kid just jumped to this level all at once.

Sounds similar.  Though my first drive was in a 64 Chevy 1/2 ton.

My niece has been on the back of the bike since before she was two.  On her own little dirt bike since she was 8 and on her little 110 ATV since she was not quite six.  She likes the ATV better.  She also now helps with oil changes and other basic maintenance on it too.  If she's going to ride it she's got to help keep it going.  That's the way it should be.