Via Brittney, Nathan Moore asks:

So, I return to my query … why does one little human being require so much space? I have several friends with one toddler who have purchased the minivan/SUV. Is it a safety issue … more structure between a child and a crash impact? Are they anticipating the need to fully stock a bake sale every weekend? Are they always going to be in charge of driving the entire soccer team to away games? Do their kids just have that much crap? Or, is this an important stamp of motherhood that I have overlooked? I like my little stickshift Civic and Catherine’s carseat fits just fine in the back.

We didn't change cars after the first kid. We did OK with a Honda Civic and a Mercury Sable. Putting Katie in the car seat in the back seat of a two door Civic was somewhat less than fun, though. One part of the increasing popularity of SUVs and mini-vans is undoubtedly due to the increasing requirements to use car seats and booster seats, and the advice to put kids in the back seat for maximum safety. Tennessee, for instance, requires booster seats for children as old as eight and up to a height of 4'9".

Then my mom (who can no longer drive) moved in with us. Then we had a second child. We knew something had to give.

We shopped mini-vans before Natalie was born. On the way home from the hospital with Natalie in the back seat we drove through the Honda dealership to stare at Odysseys. We signed the papers two weeks later.

It's not just the three adults and two kids in car seats, which totally fill the passenger space of anything with two rows of seats. There's the double stroller and diaper bag hogging the trunk space. Where do you put all the groceries and the cases of diapers you need to bring home from the store? And if we need to take the dog with us, or the cat in the cat carrier, we're sunk with only two rows of seats.

With kids or even one kid you suddenly need to bring home furniture, cribs, walkers, and all the rest. And our mini-van at least has excellent crash test results.

So, yeah, there are good reasons to buy a mini-van or SUV with three rows of seats once you have kids. You can get by without one with one kid, though if it's time to replace a car and you're planning on having more kids, now's a good time to do it. Once you have two or three kids that third row of seats becomes less and less optional. Once your kid is old enough to have friends who will be in the car you've got another reason for the extra row of seats.