to think it's a bit indulgent to put a child in the front seat of the car rather than an adult?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

Obviously in the passenger seat.

And don't get me started on the safety of it.

i would put my 3 yr old in front with cab driver while i sit in back with 2 yr old and baby

I quite often get lifts from friends, our teenagers sit in the back with their ipods and we have a chat. How do you have a conversation if your'e sitting in the back?
I also agree it's common courtesy to give the front seat to an adult (unless there is car sickness problems)

Can't understand the problem. Weird thread!

Kids in the back at all times unless there is only one of them and I am feeling nice. Riding in the front is a privilidge not a right.

As for the height thing, I am taller then my mother and when we go somewhere as a family I have to sit in the back as I am the child

I saw a couple drive up to collect their DD (around 10) from art class last week. Mum was driving and when the child came out dad moved to the back and the daughter sat in the front. Don't know if I would call it indulgent but I definitely clocked it enough to think "how strange".

My dh used to have me sit in the back because I flinched so much it really irritated him (he's not a bad driver, I just used to be very very paranoid). Sometimes splitting up the children made journeys much easier, and sometimes it was just nice to keep one of them company.

I'd never make them sit in the back if it was just me and them - that would seem very odd to me (especially as I often have one of them with me for company). But they are both over 5' now so I don't think it's an issue in any case.

Ridiculous! I am 25 and I still sit in the back when riding with my parents or anyone older than me for that matter. It never occurs to me otherwise

I thought it was illegal in the UK for a child under 12 to sit in a front seat unless there was no space in the back. I remember investigating this when my eldest was 9 or 10 and wanted to sit in the front as so many of his mates did. So he didnt. And still doesnt however much of a big burly rugby player he is - if his grandma is in the car he goes in the back.

I have some children in their pre teens and two in their early teens.
The unspoken rule is that mum and dad in front. If one of us is driving without the other parent it is a bit of a free for all.

However if another adult - friend or other family member cas a lift the children automatically offer the seat to thee guest and jump in the back.
We see it as good manners and it is not something I taught - it just happens.

Really? I've never heard that, seems a bit excessively prescriptive to me. Bad enough with all the booster seat rules (I know that they are for safety, but they never seemed to be very comfort orientated).

WorkingItOutAsIGo

There is no law saying children must travel in the back seat. I think many people assume there is as children usually travel in the back due to there being two parents in the front.

The front passenger seat is the death seat and the mostly likely person to die in the car is the person in the front passenger seat. This has the bearing on the fact that is there is room in the back seats under 12 should sit in the back not in the front passenger seat.

Young teens girls that die, there biggest killers are there loving boy friends, they sit next to them in the car in the front passenger seat and young lads driving aren't always as sae as older drivers and when they have had crashes - it is there g/f who have died in that seat.

A few years back there was a documentry on this and there were several mothers who had lost their daughters in this tragic way.

It is safer to use the front passenger seat last, leave it empty if possible

'I actually hadn't considered the car sickness thing bullet, a very good point.'

Lucky you!
Both of mine were projectile and copious vomitors for years, DS grew out of it, DD still finds it tricky.

So why would it ever be safe to ride in the passenger seat then? What has age got to do with it (I'm sure you are right about teenage drivers, but that's not particularly relevant to whether parents have their children in the front is it - well at least not for me as I am almost 40).

But I see that you are right. I would have never thought that the middle back seat was the safest place to be.
www.automaxblog.com/2010/03/safest-seat-in-a-car/

Can understand the safety aspect or the rudeness aspect but not how the two combine. You have to be respectful to Auntie Hilda because of her age, so you offer her the death seat .

My immediate reactions was 'car sickness' I know someone whose DD used to throw up every time (even on the school run) - the only place she was even vaguely OK was in the front passenger seat. That's not indulgence, that's self-preservation.

PMSL Cory!!!

I'll bear that in mind when some gracious teenager offers me the front seat!!

dd is another one who goes in the front for journeys where she is likely to feel travel sick. Much nicer situation for everyone!

If my sister and me (both 25yo) are at home and being driven by our parents somewhere, if it's a short journey us "kids" are in the back, but if it's longer than about 20 minutes I would sit in the front because I still get car sick quite easily and my Mum is vomit-phobic so doesn't want to risk it!

My daughters ait in the front if we are half way through a long journey and they feel travel sick,its easier than the crying and moaning about feeling sick.I understand because I used to get travel sick;but then my girls are very big for their ages,so hasn't felt like such a problem.
Sometimes easier to put one in front because all three fight and argue in back,so I can keep more distance between them.Loved it when I had 7 seater,because I could space them all out to different corners of the car.I miss that car.

sat not ait

nooka - why wouldn't you steer your loved one out of one place and into another space that is far safer, with children you have that choice but with a woman of 40 she has to make her won choice

The safety of the front depends on the age of the car. In older cars, yes, the safest place in the centre back, then the back sides, then the driver's seat and the riskiest the front passenger seat.

In newer cars, the front passenger seat is safer than everywhere but the driver's seat and definitely safer than the back sides. This is because of the fact that it used to be riskiest and is the most often used, so all the recent improvements have gone into making it safer whilst everywhere else has been left alone.

So, if your car is new, the front passenger seat may be safer for a child than anywhere else, airbags allowed for, particularly once the child is of a reasonable height. Depends on the car!

T'is why ou should look at NCAP and Which before buying, if you have the chance.

My dd who is 3 sits in the front with her dad when Im not in the car.They like to chat to each other.Shes far enough back for the air bag to not touch her if it went off.New cars have curtain airbags that will go off in the back too remember ,we dont have those . We would much rather include her than shove her in the back out of the way!