At what age did your kids sit in the front seat of the car?
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Anonymous
Dumb-ass, you just said you have a 15.5yr old. |
Anonymous
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For me, it depends on the car and the kid. The kid has to fit properly in the front seat, i.e. feet reach the floor, knees bend at right angles, seatbelt hits at the right place. Some car seats are more adjustable than others, and some kids are bigger than others. Another factor is the airbag -- it can kill smaller kids.
I've let my eldest son sit up front in my car since age 8, but he's exceptionally tall for his age, my car has extremely adjustable seats, and the airbag automatically shuts off for passengers under 90 lbs. I didn't let him sit up front in my husband's car until he passed 90 lbs., though, even though he was tall enough, because that car has no auto-shutoff for the airbag. He's 10 now and 5'4"/nearly 100 lbs., as big as some adults, so I no longer worry about him sitting up front in anyone's car. My youngest, however, is more normal-sized, and won't be sitting up front until he fits in the seat properly, whether that's when he's 8 or when he's 13. |
Anonymous
Sure, I put them up there. It's easier for us, and it doesn't bother me to have them sitting up there. As someone else mentioned, it is safer for adults to sit in the backseat as well. But most of them choose not to. I love my car, and I love my kids, and life goes on. |
Anonymous
Poster above: I am a former Pediatric ICU Nurse: Please, please, DO NOT let your 6 year old ride in the front seat. belted in the back seat until age 13 is the standard and for VERY good reasons having to do, not just with airbag induced suffocation and spinal cord injury, but impact studies revealing what portion of car is typically hit and or absorbs most of impact. trust me, when a child goes through the front windshield, you'd wish you had made a different choice. |
Anonymous
Sorry, if you loved your kids you would keep them safe. |
Anonymous
| Just started letting my 12.5 year old up there occasionally. I would not do it until she weighed enough that the airbag would be working. I think once a kid is close to adult size it is fine. We would all be safer in the back seat and helmeted but.. |
Anonymous
You realize that by adding the weight of the booster, your passenger airbag would probably deploy? Sorry, you are making a horrible decision. You can say life goes on but for others, life didn't go on. You are risking such a young group of kids because you prefer to say "oh well - whatever" |
Anonymous
| My car shows a message that the air bag is turned off. We can't keep our kids in bubble wrap, people. Plus, what if I could not afford to buy a minivan. Am I not supposed to have 3 kids? |
Anonymous
| Curious why PPs who have an available rear seat don't wait until at least 13? |
Anonymous
My 11 year old is taller than me. A tiny 14 year old who barely weighs anything (me as a kid) is probably in more danger from sitting in the passenger seat than my already nearly adult sized 11 year old. Not sure why age specifically is relevant here rather than size/weight/ability to sit up properly in the seat or other things that actually have an impact on the physical safety of sitting in the front seat. |
Anonymous
| I didn't sit in the front when I was a certain age, I sat in the front when I was a certain height. Because THAT is what it is about. Not age. I am doing the same with my kids. I am from Germany, where this rule is what everyone goes by. Children have to be BOTH at least 12 years old AND at least 1.50m tall (that's almost 5ft) |
Anonymous
| We also waited until our kids were 13. Our kids knew the rule ahead of time and it was easy to explain our reasons for the rule. Aside from a comment here and there about how "everyone else already gets to ride in the front", our kids didn't start to complain about it until a month or two before their 13th birthdays. In a way, it turned out to be a cool "right of passage" sort of thing. |
Anonymous
Oh really??? Differences between children and adults include: 1. Children’s bones are growing. Children’s bones are softer than adult bones. The relationship between a child’s bones and muscles also changes over time; some bones grow faster than others. 2. Child bone growth occurs at the growth plates. Growth plates define the length and shape of mature bones. When growth is complete in adolescence, growth plates close and are replaced by hard bone. Growth plates are the weakest link in growing skeletons (weaker/softer than ligaments and tendons), representing fifteen percent of childhood fractures. Damage to child joints usually occurs at the growth plates. Of particular importance, damage to growth plates can affect future bone growth. Ligament and tendon injuries are fairly unusual in children with immature bone growth plates. Since ligaments are two to three times stronger than the bones, injuries are more likely as bone fragments than to ligaments. 3. Taller children are not necessarily less prone to injury than their shorter counterparts. People often assume that taller children are better able to safely perform manual tasks such as heavy lifting. Yet children may be at greater risk following a growth spurt. Bone growth in children requires "catch up". For example, the long bones of seven-year old girls on average reach eighty percent of their peak length – while the bone mineral content is only forty percent of the ultimate level. That is, their bones grow longer before they become stronger. Following a spurt of bone growth, children also need to learn posture and coordination; soft tissues need to develop to accommodate their new dimensions. |
Anonymous
| Why do people think it is fine with no airbag? Would you buy a car without airbags? No front seat for mine until she was heavy enough for the airbag to deploy. |
Anonymous
I know. Total logic fail. They put a kid that is really too small in the first place in the front seat, and then take out the First line of defense in an accidents. And think this is okay. No, not okay. BETTER. WHaaaaaat? |