Photo: Stocksy United
If you?re over the age of 30, chances are good you were riding in the front seat of your parents? car well before you entered your tween years. Car passenger safety regulations have come a long way since we were gazing out the window unbuckled and car-seat free?but kids? desire to move on up to the front seat hasn?t changed much at all.
There are plenty of reasons kids beg to sit in the front. They might want to see the road ahead, talk more easily to the driver or separate themselves from their siblings. And then there?s the cool factor: Sitting in front makes kids feel more grown-up. For 10-year-old Luca, son of Toronto mom-of-three Marnie Rubio, watching his older sister Gigi and some of his friends hop into the front seat makes him want to, too. ?There?s this whole, ?So-and-so gets to do it,?? says Rubio. But no amount of begging or badgering should sway parents? resolve to keep their school-ager in the back. Studies show that the back seat is up to 40 percent safer than the passenger seat for kids under the age of 13. And although there?s no law that says kids can?t ride in the front, both Transport Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend that kids be at least 12 before doing so.
?But, Mom,? whines your 10-year-old, ?I?m the same height and weight as you!? Yep, some school-agers are about the same size as their moms, thanks to early growth spurts?but that still doesn?t mean they should ride shotgun. ?As we pass through puberty, our ...