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Do you let your 13yo sit in the front seat?
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I’m in Florida and the law here states:
Child Car Seat Requirements
Never place a child in a child safety seat in the front seat of a vehicle equipped with a passenger air bag. Always use the back seat.
Florida law requires children under 5 years of age to be properly restrained no matter where they are seated in the vehicle. Children through age 3 must be secured in a separate carrier (child safety seat) or in a vehicle manufacturer’s integrated child safety seat. For children ages 4 – 5, a separate carrier, an integrated child safety seat, or a safety belt may be used. If a safety belt does not fit the child correctly, a booster set should be used to correctly position the lap and shoulder belts once they outgrow forward facing child safety seats (generally at about 40 pounds and 4 years old). Children from approximately 40-80 pounds and under 4’9″ in height should ride in a booster seat.
Infants must ride rear-facing until they are at least one year old and weigh 20 pounds or more. Rear-facing, the infant should be semi-upright at an angle or no more than 45 degrees. A forward-facing older child should ride sitting upright.
We buckle up for safety and follow the law, but I’ll admit that I bristle at any government telling me how or where I can seat my family members within my personal vehicle.
Out of curiosity, I checked MN. The law states age age 7 and under OR under 4’9″ must be in a booster. MN recommends 13 and under go in the back seat, but it is not a law.
It is the general recommendation that 13 and under sit in the back seat and while that may be law in some places, it’s typically a recommendation only.
Some of this is NICE to think about, but do use parental common sense. Putting a teen in the front seat is better than sticking him in the hatchback. I had one child hit 6’1″ at age 11. He could NOT sit in the back seats–his legs didn’t fit. We decided putting him there was a leg-breaking risk. I still think body size HAS to be a factor. And if your teen needs to sit up front, if he/she is a good size, simply remind them of basic airbag safety–you can move their seat back to the farthest position (unless you have a tall kid sitting right behind him! Also a factor at my house!) and remind them to stay sitting upright with legs down (it’s dangerous to be bent over, head near dashboard, or legs up on dashboard or crossed.) I kind of agree with Christie, I guess. If we think too much about this stuff, we’ll never leave our houses. I remember when my baby sister was born–way back in the 70’s–we had JUST bought her a carseat, and proudly put her in it–and then put it, unattached, in the front seat. 🙂 Our kids are safer than children from past generations.
I also remember a funny. When I was a younger mom, and my third had just been born, I had a sudden attack of worries. I used to worry that somehow my car would end up in the river (which bisects our town and which I drive over multiple times a week.) I was almost panicky that this would happen, and I’d have 3 young children and we’d get stuck in the car and sink and even if we didn’t sink I could never swim holding THREE children and what was I going to do and I made my dh buy me a tool to break my windows and cut seatbelts and I kept inner tubes (uninflated) in the backseat (I guess I thought I’d have time to blow them up and put the two older ones in them????) and I watched EVERY TV segment on cars in water and panicked and prayed and made myself NUTS. It got to the point that I infected my kids with my worry. Now, I’m certainly NOT saying that we should all throw caution to the winds. Not at all. I’m just saying–use reasonable precautions, use reasonable knowledge, but try to live and enjoy life and not stress over all the “what ifs” because life is so much nicer that way. 🙂 There might be a point where making an 11yo sit in a booster in the back would negatively affect his life enough to let the risk rise a teeny bit and give him some dignity. 🙂 Remember the Lord has NOT given us a spirit of fear, but of a sound mind. Extreme fearfulness does not come from Him, but from our enemy. Good, sensible, sound precautions come from Him, but He doesn’t want us to make ourselves crazy. Listen to His voice, and it’ll be OK.
Bookworm- I have to laugh because while I don’t have inner tubes in the van, I HAVE thought about keeping our life jackets in, but haven’t done it. For some reason falling into a river while driving is a big fear for me – I think it has to do with a very old Focus on the Family broadcast where a family in Kansas was caught in a flash flood and the only one to survive was the Father – the mother and four or five children didn’t make it.
I think you’re right – we DO need to trust God and I think I do, but for our family with young girls in the 0 percentile for height and weight that means exercising a little extra caution by keeping them in a five point harnass, but mostly because they can get themselves in and out of it – if I had to strap all four of my girls in, it probably wouldn’t be as high of a priority, so practicality does have to play a role! I certainly wouldn’t make my big boys (if I ever had any!) cram into the third row of our minivan.
Back to the original question of the petite 13 year old – Gina, you may want to look at likelihood of accidents – I think it’s MORE likely to be in an accident driving around town than on the highway, but I haven’t read anything about it in recent years, so I don’t know if that’s still true or not.
Christie – I totally get the riding on the armrest and without seatbelts (and in the back of trucks!!!!) as kids. For our family, I try not to take that into consideration because while laws are different, cars are also different – there’s a lot more disparity in size of cars on the roads, there’s a lot more traffic on the road, cars aren’t built out of steel (or whatever strong stuff they used to be built out of – I had a diesel oldsmobile from the 80’s and that thing was a tank!) and drivers are more distracted and less conceintious so that just plays into our being more cautious, but ultimately God is in control and what will happen, will happen so we can’t hide under a rock and we’ve got to make individual decisions for our own families and pray that God will bring unity between our husbands and ourselves.
Great discussion ladies!
@SaraB – my girls are all so tiny and petite – my 12 yo still only weighs about 70 lbs – that they all use boosters. After the age of 10 I decided that they were allowed to “grow up” a bit and they didn’t have to use them. However, they are so small that looking out the windows in the van is much easier to do in a booster. LOL I am not sure that they will ever out-grow those seats. But sooner or later a child’s emotional need to be taken seriously as a person and be grown up might have to overcome a five-point harness at age 17.
Artcmomto3…thanks for the article…used it in my ‘defense’ e-mail to hubby and dd:)
Bookworm…too funny. Sounds like something I might do! And thanks for the ‘no spirit of fear’ reminder. I definitely need to remember that:)
Rebekay…you are probably right…seem to remember hearing that most accidents happen close to home. But I guess I don’t fear those as much since it’s lower speeds. And in our vehicle both kids sit by the back doors…so wouldn’t it just be a matter of chance as to which door is hit?
Anyway, I appreciate all the thoughts. I’m feeling more peace and coming to a decision:) Thanks, all!!! Blessings, Gina
Also, you must remember that when I hear “when we get on the highway or if we are just around town”. I don’t think others or us ever plan on an accident but it isn’t going to matter where you are if it happens. Fast or slow major things, injuries can and will happen. Always be cautious.
I am glad to know that I am not the only stickler about car seats/safety belts. My girls are 8 and 6. The 8 year old just moved to a high back booster a couple months before her birthday. My 6 year old is still in a five point harness. I’m not sure she even weighs 40 lbs yet. I anticipate she will be moving to a booster by the end of the year though because of her height. I always joked that our kids would finally be able to get out of their car seats when the graduate from high school!! They are just now starting to talk more about the othe kids not riding in car seats or booster seats but it hasn’t seemed like a real big deal yet. I’ve always figured that if I get them the safest seat that I can and live by the safest rules, then if something happens I’ll know that I did my best and won’t blame myself for buying that cheap seat just to save money or letting them out of their booster seats early just ’cause the other kids are. And, as mentioned earlier, they see out the windows easier and with the high back booster have something to rest their heads on when on long trips.
As for the original question, I’ve always said at least 12 from the things I’d read, but if it is still safer in the back seat after 12 and due to size, I’d still keep her there. I’d rather her be safe than in the front.
Misty, I agree! Dd just recently said ‘we’re not going to get in an accident.’ And I told her that’s what everybody thinks…if they knew they’d stay home. I just meant that I don’t know that’s it’s any more dangerous for her (at lower speeds) to be in the front seat w/o airbags or the back seat since she sits right by the door either way. But on the highway, I don’t want her in the front seat because she’d have no airbag protection (and even when she’s a bit bigger where the sensor would allow the airbag to work…it’s stilll probably more dangerous). Of course, I know of a couple wrecks where the backseat was a terrible place to be. As Bookworm said, can’t live in a spirit of fear. Just need to do the safest possible options we can and have peace with that, I suppose. Thanks, all:) Gina
P.S. But Misty’s post got me thinking…at lower speeds (45 or less)….is it more dangerous up front w/the windshield/dash? Maybe I need to research more, w/o getting too stressed about it…
If anyone is curious, here’s actually state laws: http://dmvanswers.com/questions/341/What-is-the-law-about-children-in-front-seat. Very lax, IMHO.
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