Age to learn lawn mowing?

When is the appropriate age for boys to start learning how to mow the lawn?

I have a Honda self propelled and it has the blade engagement handle. This means once the hand is off the yellow push down knob and handle is released the blades instantly stop. It's not the older styles that the blades keep spinning as long as the engine is running. Does this factor into your age pick?

I say 10, SWMBO disagrees.

For me, it was when he was strong enough to push it and control it. So I would say it has more to do with strength than age. However, our mower is not self propelled.

dladuke said:

For me, it was when he was strong enough to push it and control it. So I would say it has more to do with strength than age. However, our mower is not self propelled.

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Yep, this ^^^

No age, but when they are physically able to control the mower safely. I was using a riding lawnmower when I was 7 and doing my grandparent's 2 acres of lawn. That's when I was able to reach everything on the mower. A year later I'd grown enough to be able to do the push mower at home.

I'm going to venture that your SWMBO wasn't tasked to mow the lawn as a kid, and her point is kind of moot. Your mower sounds like it has an important safety feature and is foolproof. If he's physically big enough, he should be doing it already!

12-ish. Even if a boy is bigger physically, I want him to have some mental maturity so that he doesn't stick a hand into the outlet to clear something while the blade is moving.

When my boys were 10 I did hands on training under close supervision with the mower and snow blower. After five or six sessions they were capable of going solo. I always told them I can replace equipment but I can't replace hands, toes, and fingers. Of course, when they became teenagers they grew smarter than me.

Depends on the kid and his development.

I was mowing the yard when I was bout 9 or 10. But it was a riding mower - nothing to it really.

Show him a few things with the mower and safety tips. You'll know if he's ready.

Always went outside to watch Dad work on the car or the yard.

I was probably 9 or 10 when I first used the push mower... got $3 to mow the front and back yard.
It was not self-propelled and had no safety. It was a crank-start rather than pull-start... wind up a clockspring, set the controls to starting position, then push the crank down which engaged the clockspring with the crankshaft.

I agree with all of these sentiments. My son is 10, has a mild form of ASD, is a big kid, and has started mowing this summer to earn a little cash for Pokémon cards. We have a manual push mower which he uses only on the front yard which is flat/wide open and only under my direct supervision (the first day was safety and observation). If it seems right, go ahead and do it. If it doesn't, don't, which leads to my last point - Happy wife, happy life.

Ok, Ok, one last point. Be patient. He won't cut as straight or as quickly as you cut, but instill in him to do the job right. We walk my son's work down post-mow and get the areas that he might have missed as I let him do his thing while he is doing it. It got better in the second week as he hates the rework.

I think I was about eight. We had an old two stroke, and mum or dad had to start it for me.

I began mowing my parent's lawn at about that age and by the time I was 13 I was mowing almost every lawn in the neighborhood. By the time I was 16 I was pulling down about $50 a week mowing during the summer ( this was 1968... according to all the charts that would be equal to about $350 today).

My father had me out mowing lawn when I was about 9 years old. He said it built character I was a military brat he was a AC-130A at the end of Vietnam all the way through the 1st Gulf War.

I got started when I was about 7. I remember me and my shortness struggling to turn the mower at the end of a pass. No self propelled back in the day we'll for me anyway.

I was mowing 1/2 an acre with a manual mower at age 7, then a power mower at age 11.

If you feel that your child is mature and strong enough then go for it, but don't forget safety glasses, steel toe boots and gloves.

I think it's clear that as men, we all agree my son not only should be learning to mow he should have already been learning. SWMBO needs to back off and let me teach him things a boy should learn. Something tells me I'll have a few nights on the couch this summer, but it needs to be done IMO. Thank you all!

When he's strong enough to manage the weight of the lawn mower (and don't cheat on this because you have a self-propelled mower ... it's about being able to be "in control" if he needs to in a tough situation.)

... and ...

When he's mature enough to understand the destructive power of that machine, and how to be responsible with it. You paying the teenager down the road to mow your lawn for a while longer beats the heck out of your son spending the rest of his life with one and a half feet.

Take a rolled up newspaper. Tell him "this is your hand or foot". Poke it under the mower and then show him the result. That should remind him to keep the digits clear of the blade.


I was actually terrified of the mower blades when I was a kid. Still am really. There was no way I was going to get my hands or feet anywhere near them, and I still stand about a foot further back than I have to when emptying the catcher.

One of the biggest dangers with kids and mowers is them happily running over rocks and other things. I broke a couple of windows that way.

Legion said:

One of the biggest dangers with kids and mowers is them happily running over rocks and other things. I broke a couple of windows that way.

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Main reason my dad always bought a side-discharge mower and never had the engine running without the catcher installed. We didn't even take it off to empty without shutting down.
Side discharge made sure that anything that got thrown that was bad enough to penetrate anything went through the catcher first, and not into the operator.

I got lazy one time and decided to mow the lawn without the catcher. Figured I'd mow and mulch at the same time.

Nobody said anything about the empty trash cans.

3 days later, I was out raking the yellow out of the yard.

I remove the spark plug cap every time I get near the business end of a mower. Taught the charges the same.

I gotta agree with those who said it depends on his strength. See how he can manage the mower when it's not turned on, have him push it around the yard and make turns with the engine cut off.

My father gave me lessons similar to August West and I was mowing the lawn when I was around nine.

my mower is rated E/F for everyone/family