should i cycle infront of or behind my 6 year old?

[mustang1]

Tough one but this is how I do it (and dont consider this to be advise, just saying what i do) and always on quiet roads:

I'm never directly in front. I will be behind and slightly to the right as much as possible. I will tell my kid to stay away from car doors, don't cycle right next to the sidewalk, and ensure drivers can see you.

That's quite important; if you are in a position where your kid is obscured by you so drivers can't see him, it might make things awkward if the driver didn't expect to see a second cyclist.

Usually I will let my kid ride slightly left of the centre of the lane, while I go slightly to the right.

Each junction is different. Depends on parked cars, amount of traffic etc, but usually I'm slightly in front but still on the right, in a protective kind of position, but also depends where the driver is approaching from because I want the driver to see my kid, the second cyclist.

 

[Yazzoo]

My son is 7 and I feel is now too old to ride on the pavements at all so is always on the road. I ride behind him but occasionally will nip up beside/in front of him for any right turns or tricky junctions. There's a mini roundabout near us where the normal laws of the road don't seem to apply rather the most decisive person has right of way. I worry when cycling along a line of parked cars that he might not be seen by any passengers about to fling open their doors etc so I always encourage him to come out further into the road and he wears a yellow hi-vis vest thingy on the road. Passers by can probably hear me from a long way back shouting at him about distance from the curb, parked cars, keeping an eye out for moron pedestrians just stepping out in the road etc etc