Making Etiquette Easy: Shot Gunning the Front Seat

Image from RC-Trucks

For those of you who have kids - primarily teenagers for that matter- you know all about calling dibs on the front seat of the car. With family in town over the holidays, it seemed everyone was calling shot gun (even the adults!). It's in all of our natures to be a little self-serving when it comes to preferential seating, especially if it's going to be a long journey. And, there are some of us who get car sick in the back seat, but that's another story.

Here are a few guidelines to automotive seating graces:

• Hold Back: As hard as it may be for the go-getters in us, let others get into the car before you. Even if this means letting everyone else have choice seating, your patience will be noted.
• Age Matters: In the seating hierarchy, all grandparents or elderly should be offered the best seats in the car. This usually means the passenger seat or bucket seats immediately behind it, closest to the doors.
• Back of the Bus: All children should be seated in the back. Not only is this for their safety, but it certainly makes their appreciation for moving up a row something to celebrate years down the road.
• Take Turns: If you've got an unruly crowd, the best thing to do is to rotate. If it's your own family, you can make a chart. If there are multiple guests, invite the one who wasn't sitting up front on the way there to sit up front on the way back.

Making Etiquette Easy,

Susan K. Medina