No worries about sounding like lecturing, water safety is very important.
As far as I know, there’s nothing against bow riders here.
The boat is rated for 4 people or 650lbs, 800lbs inc. gear. Me, the wife and 3 kids easily fit under the weight rating, but yes we’re over the people limit. We’ve only had 3 kids out once and now that they’ll all be bigger this year we won’t be doing it again.
This is one of the things that I do now but they don’t flat and can only be secured at the back so I really have to watch/hold them when moving