Thing 2 is pissed.
For the past few years, she's been anxiously waiting the day she can finally sit in the front seat of the car, and for the past few years we've told her she had to wait until she was 12.
She turned 12 almost five months ago and we've done a pretty good job of stalling the issue, but just found out from her doctor (and other assorted websites that I googled, of course) that the recommended age is actually 13.
Since she has several friends her age who have been allowed to sit in the front seat for the past year (at least) she's having a hard time coming to grips with this, even after the doctor explained that the recommendation has everything to do with bone development and nothing to do with height or weight (i.e., it really doesn't matter how tall you are or how much you weigh at age 11 or 12, your bones simply are not developed strongly enough yet to safely sustain the exploding air bag).
And then I said something that she's heard a million times and that, like or not, she knows she can't argue with, "...and besides, you know that every family has their own rules, and you play by ours, not theirs."
Cue eye rolling and disappointed mouth tilt.
It's okay, I'm used to it. And so are they.
We're rule followers in our family.
And by "rule followers" I don't mean we won't take Advil six months after the expiration date (we will) or won't let our younger than 13 year old daughter watch PG-13 movies (we usually do...and then usually regret it); I'm talking about the types of rules that blur the line between a rule and just common safety sense. And unfortunately for the Things, not everyone they know has to play by the same ones.
Going for a bike ride? Wear your helmet (even if you're just riding to the corner and back).
Swimming out in the depths of the lake where I can not see you if you suddenly start to sink to the bottom? Life jacket is ON (either clipped like a vest or worn like a diaper) no matter how many adults are out there with you or how strong of a swimmer you think you are.
Want to ride your bike or walk around the neighborhood by yourself? Not on my watch, sister (unless you are actually with your sister).
Wearing seat belts (always), obeying traffic rules, not texting or fiddling with our phones when driving, crossing a busy street at the crosswalk, not jumping on trampolines without safety nets — we play it safe. Maybe too safe, I'll give you that, but I won't judge your rules if you won't judge mine.
And maybe the term "rule follower" isn't even accurate here, especially since there's a fair share of rules we do break (like the almost 18 year old still ordering off the kid's menu (hooligans!) and filling our trash cans with yard waste (delinquents!) and taking four Advil at a time for a headache (hard core felons!)). No, those are probably the wrong two words. Maybe the two I'm going for are "neurotic mother." Whatever you want to call it, it's how we roll in our house.
And for the most part, our girls get it, agree with it and are fine with it.
Until you tell the one who thought she was gonna get to sit in the front seat that she has to wait another seven months.
Sucks to be her.
My 9 year old is already begging to sit in the front - Ummm..NO!! Looks like she has a few {more} years to go than she thought. It's sad to see tho, how many people actually DO let their 12 and unders sit in the front!!
ReplyDeleteBlame it on me. ;)
DeleteI'm right there with you! I had always thought it was height/weight based, and my 12 year old daughter is still too small. That said, I've seen some pretty young kids riding shotgun; when we lived in another state, kids were jumping in the front as soon as they were out of boosters.
ReplyDeleteI see it all the time. Especially in the drop off lane at school. Really sucks to be my seventh grade kid getting out of the back when sixth graders are getting out of the front! It's scary, though. But like I said, everyone has their own rules I guess.
DeleteYou can wear a life jacket like a diaper?
ReplyDeleteI call 4 Advil a good start.
Yes! Just stick your legs through the arm holes (the jacked is upside down) with the front of the jacket in the front and buckle! It's a great way to sit and float....like a little seat! You couldn't wear it like that to tube or ski, of course, but we all wear them like that all the time to just float and talk! Try it!
DeleteIt helps that my 12 year-old is small (we still use the height and weight excuse). But, she has, surprisingly, shown little interest in sitting in the front seat. My 8 year-old, however? He's counting down the days until he can ride in the passenger seat and tell me what I'm doing wrong. Maybe it's the second child thing?
ReplyDeleteMaybe. My 12 year old cannot wait, especially because the older one drives her around a lot and it makes her feel even younger to be constricted to the backseat. Not cool. Not cool.
DeleteI totally agree with most of these but I do have to say that my 11 year old sits in the front because the passenger side airbag turns off depending on weight so there is no airbag when she is in the front! Also.....I broke both my legs on a trampoline (my bone went through the trampoline and put a hole in the trampoline) I did not fall off and a net wouldn't have helped and a kid was in the hospital the same time I was that got paralyzed on one that had a net so be careful cause the nets don't make them too much safer! I do agree that a lot of kids in our neighborhood ride or walk around our neighborhood by themselves and that doesn't happen at our house. Sadly, I don't like the kids being out of my eyesight at all even when they're all together but I'm trying to relax a little although it's not easy!
ReplyDeleteOkay, that visual of the hole in the trampoline made me woozy. And yeah, we don't have one and never would have but my daughter has jumped on one once at a friend's house and believe me, was sent with a list a mile long of what was acceptable to do on it!
DeleteSeems to me that our 'family rules' are right on par with yours. So either we are both wrong or both right.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to think it's the latter.
And I had no idea about the age being 13. I had always heard 12. And since my oldest is 10, we aren't there yet.
So thanks for bringing that to my attention.
We'd always heard (and told her) 12, too. But apparently, the recommendation to stay in the back is "aged 12 and under" which, unfortunately, is a fancy way of saying "you have to be 13 to ride in the front seat, sister."
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