Driving lesson turns TV lesson for the Joneses
TEN's new series has come under fire today for a scene in which a three year old boy was shown steering a truck while sitting on his father's lap.
- Published by David Knox
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Nothin’ like a bit of controversy to kick off your new TV series.
TEN’s new series Keeping up with the Joneses has come under fire today for a scene in which a three year old boy was shown steering a truck while sitting on his father’s lap.
In the new series, ‘Little Milton’ was seen behind the wheel of a truck on private property.
Farmsafe Australia was surprised by the sequence, which flies in the face of a national campaign aimed at protecting children on rural properties. It reports that about 30 children die on Australian farms each year. Executive director Jamie Cupples said learning to drive at a young age was a common experience in the country but supervision was vital.
Milton’s mother Cristina said they were prepared for the backlash from viewers and said they would never put their children in danger.
“They will be freaking out about the driving and stuff, like when Steve Irwin took his little baby into the crocodile pen,” she said.
As the incident occurred on private property it is therefore not punishable under territory road laws.
In the series, dad Milton said of the moment, “If he’s going to make a career in the bush he’s got to learn about it.
“He learns by looking, showing. Actually doing it.”
Source: Courier Mail (includes quotes from TV Tonight readers)
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- Tagged with Keeping up with the Joneses
43 Responses
thats the way of the outback for you if you live way out in the bush the young kids have to learn to drive so if anything happens to a parent ect they can get help
well someone must have actually watched this
I don’t have a problem so much with kids behind the wheel of a car with doors, but it was a jeep/truck with no doors on it – and he didn’t have a seatbelt on. If he’d run into or over something he’d have fallen out much more easily than if he’d been in a regular vehicle with doors and windows. My parents grew up on farms and were driving from an early age (and survived), but I shuddered as I watched Little Milton!
I’m sorry, but I agree with Farmsafe. No way this kid should have been driving. He should have been flying the chopper. Any kid can drive.
@brisvegas – I also have very fond memories of sitting on my dad’s lap whilst driving down a quiet dirt road on the south coast of NSW. The fun police strike again….
it does smell a little bit of publicity stunt – surely there couldn’t be a big enough group of morons who would kick up a fuss over something like this.
What a perfect bonding moment between a father and son. One of my first and fondest memories is of meeting my father at the gate of our property and “driving” up to the house on his lap. If this story is true and there actually are people with little else to do, then I feel sorry for them. You really do have empty lives.
People will complain about anything. Do this type of things is just life on farms. I did the same thing. I like to think if nothing else it has made me a better driver.
@Brent – yeah how many get run over by parents in SUV which have never seen a dirt road or beach?
Everyone does that in the bush, you probably only drive 10 to 20km’s per hour, so big deal! The fun nazis won’t be happy until we are all wrapped up in cotton wool, sitting inside all day and reading the dictionary. I’ll do whatever I want, whenever I want, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else! so the fun nazis can mind their own business!!
HAHA jesus some people do enjoy a whinge; who hasn’t steered the whell whilst sitting on their fathers laps when they were kids?
I don’t like on a farm or the country and I have done this.
Anyone who complains about this must have really sad lives and love to make a fuss when they spot someone doing something out of the ordinary.
And this boy will probably grow up well adjusted, and successful… unlike thousands of other dip shi_s out there!
FFS people, concentrate on the stuff that really matters in this world!
Yawn…. the do-gooders are at it again….
It’s what is done in the country
I grew up in the country, and most of my friends who were farmer’s kids learned to drive on the back paddocks when they were very young.
Older than 3, though.
i just went to the website, “viewer outcry”?, one comment is slightly concerned. publicity stunt i say, and not a good one at that.
shame because the show was pretty good mostly becayse of little milton and the scenery, i thought the other cast members were not very interesting.
This happens every day, it might shock some in the ‘nanny state’ the kind of people who wrap their kinds in cotton wool before letting them go out and play in their padded play grounds.
These goody two-shoes need to get over it. It’s not against the law, and his dad is right there.
Clearly the kid’s feet can’t reach the pedals, he’s only steering (with help from his dad), and dad decides how fast it’s safe to go.
What’s next, ban kids from driving dodge-em cars at the show?
I thought the show was great… good to see a little boy not wrap up in cotton wool while learning how to play video games.
An original idea for realty tv thats Australian!!! Not some American crap about dating geeks or the like…
And yet no backlash to the little tacker shovelling dirt with no shoes on? Little Milton is already the hit of this series. When is he going to get his own show? Could we have him host the Logies?
Ah go away you goose’s,kids have been doing that on farms since Henry Ford was a twinkle in his old man’s eye.’30 children die on Australian farms each’,yeah and I’ll take the bet not one of them died sitting on their fathers lap while steering a car or truck on the farm.All these experts in their own lunchtime give me the pip.
oh please… it’s not like the kid was unattended behind the wheel… find something actually noteworthy to complain about people…
people just like to kick up a stink don’t they. most kids in the country can drive a car by the age of 10, and they do it every day. that’s country life.
they say 30 children die on australian farms each year… i dare say many more die in suburbia…
Some people just can’t mind their own business
Milton and Christina Jones came to Melbourne today to promote the show, and appeared live on 3AW’s Neil Mitchell program this morning. I forgot most of what they said, but Milton defended taking his son (Little Milton) on the lap and letting the boy taking the wheel.