http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle26595944/
This is something that should be legislated, not urged. Parents cannot fly separately from minor children, no matter whether they have preselected seats or not. Moreover, this is quite often the airline's fault - AC separated me from my 3-year old, despite having paid for preferred (non-exit row) seats, and we had to rely on the goodwill of strangers to be able to fly YYZ-YVR together.
Separating parents from their children is unacceptable, and just puts other passengers that have (also) paid for their seat in the situation of having to trade for an inferior seat or be regarded as jerks. Just make seat selection mandatory if that's what it takes, and then frigging honor it.