[Uturn2001]

Originally Posted by the Chef

im gonna guess that no one has though about weather or not this is out of necessity I.E. They lost their house or some other Extenuating circumstances. i can't believe how closed minded this thread is no one has thought to ask if there was a valid reason that they are taking an 18 month old over the road.

That is because as a parent and former OTR driver I can not see any reason to be taking an infant/toddler OTR.

[Double R]

Originally Posted by bluebarber383

double R, you seem ashamed of ur profession. What diffrence does it make exposing ur child at youth age as opposed to 18?- this job is what i do for living,i'm not gonna hide that from him. its the reality. maybe it seems wrong to bring the child on the truck in your eyes, but not MY eyes. i have a right to do so- just like u have the right to ur opinion. its not against the law for me to do so-
my wife and i will take care of him, we r researchin this decision- thats why we r looking at large sleepers as opposed to the normal sleeper size.
some people might say its bad to drop ur kid off at daycare- alot of parents do w/ no research- there may be a former criminal employeed there-at least our child will be w/ us.

we can have toys, kid dvds, everything we need on a large sleeper for our son. we can stop at rest areas and let him run around or a playground or mcdonalds playground.
were there to monitor and help filter out negative sides of the industry, but if u think that this industry is that negative, u seem pretty pessemistic, then why R U IN THIS INDUSTRY? if you think its that bad...
what about the good things? the travel- beautiful scenery- learning the geography n landscape of America, weather...
meeting diffrent people-
learning what makes this country run..

No, not ashamed with the industry. Just not impressed with the way it has gone down hill over the years.
As for my my first statement, I stand by it 100% and donot agree that the child should be in the truck. It is your choice. Just remember that people have thier views and have yours. Not everyone is going to agree with you one this one.

[Deus]

While I can understand and respect personal choice (I am against seat belt laws for this very reason). When it comes to children, you need to put their needs ahead of yours. OTR trucking is a hard business (I imagine, I've never done it.). Maybe you need to look at other employment at least in the first few years your child is growing up. Put your child's needs first. Their needs have to come first! Period! Talk to your wife and come up with a budget and a plan on how you're going to keep your kid out of the truck. If that means your wife staying home with your child, even though it will put strain on the marriage it will still be better than subjecting your kid to that.

I am a regional driver for a distribution company, and am gone most of the week. I am however single. I'm trying to save as much money as possible, so that if I do get married and have kids at some point I can go 100% local and be home every night with my family. If I was an OTR driver and had a kid I would give serious consideration to going local.

[pigrider]

My two cents!

Trucking is a hard and dangerous business. When I used to drive otr the road I would take the wife or kid for a week but not to live on the road! Thuck Stop life and rest areas is not a place to raise the a child. I get the impression that your wife is pushing this idea to because maybe she is lonely sitting at home also.

I would not get upset with the members on this forum voicing their opinions because you put it out there an asked!

On an open forum when you ask, you have to roll with the punches, sometimes most will be behind you and say "that's a great idea", then there are times like this, when most will say "You Got To Be Joking"!

There is a lot of good advice on this forum and I would just sit back a absorb all that I can.

Good Luck on you endeavors and I hope everything works out for you!!

[steelhauler2007]

You can lease a truck from Prime.I have seen entire families get out of Prime trucks.I drive a flatbed and alot of our customers don't allow riders under a certain age to enter their property.The age is usually 18 years old.Not knowing what type of truck you want to drive or are driving the age factor could come into play.

[AlexJ81]

Originally Posted by Double R

CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS OLD DO NOT BELONG IN A TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:x

I couldn't disagree with you more! (now I think it's completely foolish to have a BABY on a truck) Some of my BEST memories I have of my dad were the summer trips I would take with him in his truck when I was in elementary/junior high school.

You're dead wrong when you say "children under the age of 18 years old do not belong in a truck"

[okie]

I could not imagine a 18-month old in the truck. Heck I was stressed and worn out at home raising them, still am at 3. I would agree the road is no place to raise one. I would disagree with those that say it is no place to take a kid period. My kids love going with me, of course I am only a 250 miles out and back guy and weigh out the trip and possible problems beforing taking them. After all I did this career move in order for my wife to be a stay at home mom. After 10 years of infertility and 15 years at a job that moved to India, I thought she deserved to stay home if she wanted. I chose a company with one of the lowest ages children are allowed to go for that reason too. I only plan on this as a 10 year or so gig, then it is buy a dump truck work out of the local quarry plan. At three my kids woul have not gotten to ride wth me before I hung it up.

[mbadriver]

The less time at home!

[RottsATruckin]

At least once a week I'm at a customers dock that has a policy of "no non-CDL holders allowed on company property" or "no minors" sometimes I'm there for hours, where will your child be then?

Oh, and one other thing, SPELLCHECK!

It's "you're" "your" and "you" not ur (put that on a job application and see how far you get)

To answer part of your question, some of the bedbug companies have huge sleepers, I'm not sure if those are for owner/ops though.

[bluegrassdeb]

I drive truck now for a living and I at one time wanted to take my small son with me. Thank the Lord now that I look back I was not able to carry my plans out to become a driver when he was so young. I thought that having my son on the road with me and possibly my husband along would be great. Now that I am a driver I cannot begin to imagine how I thought that would be a possibility. My son was very active when young and would of drove me not to drive I'm almost certain in a very short time. It would not of worked out. I know this now because of all of the many posts here about why this is not a very smart thing to do. To many times at shippers that would not begin to allow children etc. There is lots of time spent out of the truck in this business. Even with a spouse to help out I think just the thought of a child stuck inside that much of the day would be down right unhealthy. I used to work at a warehouse and a driver had his three children with him. I don't know if it was because it was his turn in the summer to have his kids or what. Can't blame a guy for wanting to have his kids a few wks out of the summer and keep his job. But just like alot of drivers out there having a hard time finding time for personal grooming the kids were filthy. I did not give him dirty looks or anything because like I said maybe he couldn't afford to stay to visit with his kids or something. These kids did not look very happy. I know its better to be with family but when it comes to kids and I'm very open minded about alot of things other people would find not acceptable, I'd say spare yourself and your kids alot of pain and suffering.