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AIBU?

To not make the kids wear helmets while scooting?

101 replies

DingbatsFur · 07/07/2013 12:43

My kids have mini micro scooters and scoot to and in some cases from school. All on pavements, one road to cross. At home the scoot in the driveway and up and down the pavement outside the house. They have fallen off a handful of times. The speed they reach is about what I can do at a jog.
Now I'm all for safety gear and should they ride bikes they will wear helmets & should the roller skate they will wear elbow, wrist & knee pads and when they ice skate they wear helmets.
Scooting no helmet however.
Little boy up the street one year older than my youngest appeared by our house yesterday wearing a helmet with his scooter and wanting to know why my two were helmetless as 'helmets make you safe'.
I hadn't considered we were being reckless?

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MsPickle · 07/07/2013 12:56

We make ds wear his helmet whether on scooter or bike. At the moment he's not super fast (though he thinks he is Wink) but we wanted it to be automatic if we could manage it-on wheels, helmet on.

And the other week he was going quite fast down a hill in the park, stacked it and went over the bars, wouldn't have been disastrous without a helmet but I was glad it was on and so was he.

Mind you, I get twitchy with kids with badly fitting/adjusted helmets, that's false security in my mind.

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thereinmadnesslies · 07/07/2013 12:58

My DC always wear helmets. No helmet, so scooter.

I met an old man once when we were out with the scooters who told me his brother fell off a scooter as a child and died Shock. I guess his experience was a freak one-off, but DS4 frequently goes over the handlebars on his scooter so I can see the possibility of serious accident.

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TwasBrillig · 07/07/2013 13:01

Within my set of friends I'd consider it odd if a child on a scooter didn't have a helmet and I'd probably mention it.

Just because they're slow now, they will probably quickly build up speed as they get used to it and it can then be harder to introduce helmets when they haven't had them before.

We've always put a helmet on if on wheels. Its amazing how fast a 3 year old on a balance bike can get!

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squeakytoy · 07/07/2013 13:02

I think the safest method is to teach kids how to ride safely, and how to roll when you fall. Its no good a child thinking a helmet is the only thing needed to keep them safe.. if they are on a scooter they have two hands which they should learn to put out to cushion the blow.

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ComposHat · 07/07/2013 13:08

I can't aee whqt harm it does to make them wear a helmet, if only to reinforce the importance of wearing a helmet on a bike too.

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LastTangoInDevonshire · 07/07/2013 13:12

No helmet = no scooter, bike or skateboard.

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Earthworms · 07/07/2013 13:18

Noooo

Don't put out your hand when you fall, or teach anyone yo do it. Broken wrists and collarbones.

Teach them to roll

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usualsuspect · 07/07/2013 13:21

My DS never wore a helmet when scootering.

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primallass · 07/07/2013 13:23

Hardly any kids wear helmets with scooters here. Mine certainly don't.

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DingbatsFur · 07/07/2013 13:25

Interesting, that has given me some food for thought! Of the local kids I have seen scoot only 2 have worn helmets (one was still in nursery, the other was this boy who lives up the road). I wonder if it's because they largely scoot in pedestrian urbany areas where high speeds are difficult to reach rather than say taking the scooter to the park. I've never seen my two go over the bars but it could happen, mostly they would roll off sideways.
Something to think about anyhow!

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usualsuspect · 07/07/2013 13:26

I don't think I've ever seen a child wearing a helmet with as scooter.

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primallass · 07/07/2013 13:26

Hardly any kids wear helmets with scooters here. Mine certainly don't.

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primallass · 07/07/2013 13:26

Oops, posted twice.

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BuffytheReasonableFeminist · 07/07/2013 13:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PeggyCarter · 07/07/2013 13:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ComposHat · 07/07/2013 15:10

What drives me potty is seeing kids in helmets (good) but with the straps so loose and the helmet perched so far on the back of their head that it is absolutely no use whatsoever.

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superbagpuss · 07/07/2013 15:16

not only do my DC wear helmets for any wheel activity I make sure they are motorbike helmet tight

as someone who has ridden push and motorbikes I want them to get into good habits now

Ott now but hopefully lifesaving in the future

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pointythings · 07/07/2013 15:19

No helmets on scooters around here and I'm not a massive fan of cycle helmets either - you don't see them a lot in Holland, where I'm from.

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monicalewinski · 07/07/2013 15:19

Mine have never worn helmets on scooters, and I can't recall kids in the areas we have lived wearing them on scooters either.

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Bluecarrot · 07/07/2013 15:42

My DD (10) wears one to scoot to school - she gets teased for it! She does still wear it though so Im quite proud of her.

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pointythings · 07/07/2013 15:55

They did some interesting research a few years ago which seemed to indicate that motorists were less careful around cyclists wearing helmets, presumably because they considered them 'already safe enough'. It makes you think.

Personally, since I am from Holland, you wouldn't see me dead on a bike in the UK. There just isn't the infrastructure of good cycle lanes separate from the main flow of traffic, with their own traffic lights and clear priorities, and motorists are just not trained to be around cyclists. I suspect that will never change. The problem is that helmets do less than people think to protect from injury, and not nearly enough to promote a culture of cycle safety in general.

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ThreeBeeOneGee · 07/07/2013 16:01

I make mine wear helmets when cycling because they will be sharing the road with cars. And lorries.

I don't make them wear helmets to scoot because they are not trying to negotiate traffic.

The only time they are in danger of being run over on a scooter is while crossing the road, at which time they have to get off the scooter and push it. Which makes them essentially a pedestrian. And I don't ask them to wear helmets when they're walking to school.

I understand that some people are putting their children in helmets in case they fall off the scooter on to their heads, but having seen a few children fall off a few scooters in the last ten years, it's nearly impossible to land on your head, let alone with any force. To start with we had grazed knees but now they have learned to fall on to the grass verge so we get grass stains instead.

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pinklady1107 · 07/07/2013 16:34

My dd fell off her scooter, breaking her nose, she was purple across her whole face with blood shot eyes and this took well over a month to go spent a night in and e and e and still over 3 years later she has a noticeable lump on her forehead.

My two wear helmets regardless.

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BlackeyedSusan · 07/07/2013 16:36

my sil is a gp. she bought the children scooters, helmets, knee and elbow pads for their birthdays. they always wear them. dd has banged her helmet on the concrrete, so it has saved at least one bumped head.

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BroomsticksAreForFlying · 07/07/2013 16:40

Helmets are the exception round here, except on the odd toddler wearing the whole kit. Mine scooter along the footpath, walk across the zebra crossing, and I believe a helmet for them is unnecessary. Helmets are worn on bikes, and round here for good reason. Motorists are too impatient and do stupid things.

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