When children are moved from a rear-facing restraint to a forward-facing restraint, it is a demotion. It is not anything to celebrate. We would all, in fact, be safer rear-facing in the backseat. Keep children rear-facing as long as possible.

When children are then moved from a forward-facing restraint to a belt-positioning booster, it is a bigger demotion. Notice the lack of 'restraint' in the device they will be using in a vehicle. Belt-positioning boosters do not restrain children. They boost children so the adult seatbelt system fits them better.

When children are moved from a belt-positioning booster and allowed to ride in a vehicle using the adult seatbelt, this is the biggest demotion in safety terms. Remember for whom these adult seatbelts were originally designed - 200lb 6ft tall men.

And then at the magic age of 15 (formerly 13), it is safe for children to ride in the front seat! With only two or three years to their high school graduation... we finally 'graduate' them into the adulthood of vehicle passenger-ism.

---Not-so-random thoughts from an oft-absent moderator--

THANK YOU!!!

There are a lot of things in parenting that ppl call "graduating"... That stupid word makes it sound like if you "graduate" to the next stage faster it's some kind of achievement (ppl feed their kids solids too early, wean them off breast too eary and practice CIO to get a 1 month old baby to sleep through the night, all so their baby can "graduate" ASAP)... It's not the same as graduating from high school 2 years early. IT'S JUST NOT!

I have a "friend" who can be a bit of an idiot as far as her parenting goes. She has a really heafty little girl (and the baby isn't big for healthy reasons BTW, this woman could seriously go on Maury Povice and talk about how she feeds her now 35 lb 1 yr old a Big Mack, supersized fry and coke out of a bottle 3 nights a week)... And when her DD was 4 months old the baby was 22 lbs, she tried to move her DD forward facing then... I freaked, showed her every scary clip on the net I could find and she agreed to wait. Then when the baby was 7 months old she was 28 lbs and b/c she was so big she "graduated" her to front facing. Like b/c her baby weighed so much she was somehow superior and she could "graduate" her to the next car seat stage. She said "Well, she's as big as a 1 year old blah blah blah... ha ha ha..." The thing is, the baby was not even sitting on her own, just b/c she hit some weight "milestone" did not make her ready to face forward. I could just not convinve her otherwise. But... this chick also moved her DS from a 5 pt harness to the cheepest booster on the market on the day of his 3rd birthday... Not b/c he was 40 lbs (b/c he wasn't).. Simply b/c he was 3

You can immagine the ridicule I suffered from that woman when I still had my twins rear facing when they were 19-20 months.

Badterry, you need to find smarter friends

Well said, OP.

I can't get smarter friends... Their blatant stupidity feeds my superiority complex