The most obvious difference between a kids ATV and an adult ATV is the size, of course. This is so that kids can ride their ATVs comfortably without stretching their backs over an adult ATV and their feet can actually touch the ground. Letting a kid or pre-teen ride an adult ATV is dangerous and you, as a parent, should warn the kids about riding an adult ATV without supervision or without your permission. It's dangerous even for pre-teens so, give them a short tutorial about safety guidelines pertaining to riding ATVs. The rule governing usage of ATVs is that kids below the age of 16 should NEVER be allowed to ride an adult ATV.
The ATV looks like such an easy-to-handle machine that there shouldn't too big a fuss about letting the kids ride it, you're saying? No, it's not true. It takes a great deal of skill and physical coordination to handle an adult-sized ATV.
So, if your kids have an interest, get them their own Kids ATV.
Besides the size, the adult-sized ATV is considerably heavier than a Kids ATV. This is partly due to the size of the machine and the difference in material used when producing the ATVs. Adult-sized ATVs are faster than Kids ATV - and needless to say, we don't want our kids speeding through dangerous terrains if they are not yet trained to do so. Only adults with some form of education, training and guidance can handle ATVs like that. So, don't leave our kids to adult-sized ATVs.
Adult ATVs come with many different cooler features not present in Kids ATV and because of this fact alone, our kids might think that ours is much cooler and would beg us to get them an Adult one. But don't. The features are not there in Kids ATVs because these features are not suitable for kids.
On the flip side of things, Kids ATVs come packed with a different set of features - safety features. These features help parents control their kids in the middle of all that action. Some Kids ATVs also come with features that ensure that parents can intervene when kids are in danger. These are extremely useful. Safety features include bigger brake pedals, bigger mirrors, smaller handles for smaller hands...etc. some models come with a remote control emergency brake too - which means that if the child has problems stopping their Kids ATV, parents within a certain distance (like riding behind their kids) can press a button on a remote control to stop the vehicle. This is a very neat feature to have, indeed.