10yo scooting without helmet

Always made my two wear a helmet for anything with wheels, and still do. Mine have different helmets for scooter / skateboard and bike because of the likelihood of different impact areas (you’re more likely to come off your scooter or skateboard backwards and need a helmet that goes further down).
Mine are 15 and 13 now and still wear their helmets. DD got into a nasty accident requiring surgery after falling off her skateboard. Thankfully not involving her head but if she’d have fallen off in a different way it could have been a different story. I don’t like her using it at all anymore.

But I quoted the poster that said about them being hit by another vehicle

Why does everybody keep going back to this comparison?

The likelihood of a child coming off a scooter is a lot higher than a child being driven into by a car. I appreciate that not everybody has a background in statistics/probability but it's not really that difficult to understand.

We all see risk differently and have different thresholds for when a risk needs to be mitigated.

Control the hazards that are within your control.

You can prevent a head injury in a reasonably foreseeable situation where the risks are apparent. You cannot prevent everything.

What if a bike or car hits tgem while walking? Or do they need a helmet for that also?

Cycling UK has a lot of info reviewing the evidence re safety issues of helmets - it’s for bikes rather than scooters but still might be worth a read as the issues will be similar. It’s not a clear-cut issue (which is why there’s no law that cyclists need to wear a helmet).

Helmets here for scooters and bikes. They can get up a reasonable pace on their scooters and it's not much hassle putting on helmets. Having once seen the consequence of somebody coming off their bike without a helmet my stance is non negotiable.

I think near us it's about 30% that wear helmets on scooters but really I am not all that interested in what other parents do.

If you believe it is safer for your dc then take on the battle.

You’re the parent after all.

Nope, not on little scooters. I’d be battling every time.
Similar dilemma to the front v rear facing car seats for infants over 1.

I honestly don’t think I’ve seen any child on a regular scooter with a helmet on. My 5 year old scoots to school by my side without a helmet and so do a lot of the other children his age. Wouldn’t be letting him go down steep hills or anything like that on it though.

You are entitled to have different boundaries for your kids but parents who decide to allow their kids to scoot without a helmet are not neglectful under any definition. They just have just made a different (but perfectly reasonable) decision to you.

Apart from anything, neglect is illegal and this clearly isn't,

I stand by it, to be honest. It is a safety measure that I believe is necessary for that particular activity. I understand not everyone will agree.

Thank you - he's fine, just a lot of blood but some sticky strips sorted him out.

I'm taking issue with your use of the word neglectful, which I think is inappropriate.

A look online tells me that the largest cause of head injuries in children is falls (often playground falls) and I never see kids on play equipment wearing helmets (although sometimes my Son forgets to take his bike helmet off when he cycles to the playground and I'm always quite pleased!). We don't tend to think of these parents as neglectful.

I’m sorry about your kid. No I don’t think so, we cannot make them wear helmets everywhere, but as OP points out there is no harm to come from getting them to wear helmets on a scooter which is certainly a higher risk activity than just walking around.

My kid incurred a head injury tripping and hitting his head of a coffee table - was in neglectful of us not to make him wear head protection in our living room?

I'd let her depending on how fast she was going.

Bikes are different, partly because most kids will be going faster even at a young age, but also because they will be going MUCH faster in a couple of years and you need to entrench the habit of helmet wearing when cycling. Most kids wont continue to scoot as they get older therefore it will always be a low speed activity.

Obviously it's safer to wear the helmet but my DS (4yo) regularly falls over when running (almost always because he is not looking where he is going 🙄) and theres obviously a chance he might incur a head injury, however, no-one i know makes their kid wear a helmet when running around.

There’s not a chance I’d let my child scoot with no helmet. This is because through my professional life I have seen many children with head injuries as a result of this. In my opinion it is neglectful.

I didn't wear a helmet when scootering as a child. In fact, my sister and I didn't even have helmets until I came head first off my bike, aged 7, and broke my nose on the pavement.
I'm a primary school teacher now, and started my career in 2007 teaching Reception. We had scooters and bikes for them to ride in the playground, and it never occurred to us they should have helmets. In fact, I'd say it was only in the last 3-4 years that helmets have become a "thing" in schools.

I personally wouldn't insist on my 10yo wearing a helmet to scooter. But I do follow a family online of an 8yo girl who came off a golfcart at very low speed, hit her head just wrong, and now to all intents and purposes, is basically in a vegetative state. Can't move, breath, talk or communicate in any way. I think she must be about 12 now.

I used to until earlier last year when my DS (10) came off his bike and very severely broke his arm. Two surgeries and several metal pins later and a LOT of feedback off Dr's, I realised how it could have easily been his skull if he'd fallen differently. He happily wears one now!

I’ve not made mine wear helmets since they were 7 or 8 years old. Horse riding is the exception.
If it was scooting or riding a bike on difficult terrain or on ramps etc I’d feel differently.
We all do our own risk assessments and for me it’s fine without. They’re all well balanced and not riding up the M6. What you’re comfortable with is what you should enforce.

Same here, it was always enforced for both scooters and bikes.

Scooters go fast on very small wheels - this makes them more prone to stop, skid, flip on uneven pavements. Scooters are not very stable.

Having been to the wholly avoidable death of a young man on a skateboard, I am a MASSIVE advocate for helmets. Even a cheap one would have saved his life according to the hospital and the coroner.

Helmets should be non-negotiable on anything whether it is powered or not. Skates, skateboards, bikes, scooters - all falls with a bit of speed are capable of inflicting brain injuries.

My son is a speed magnet on his scooter so a helmet is a non negotiable same with the bike although he is slower on that.

While I am a huge advocate for helmets, and wear them myself, they are not a nirvana.
I see so many children wearing over-sized, badly fitted, old, wonky-strapped helmets that also do not protect as much as we think. I spend £100+ on my helmets and look after them - a £10 Halfords special thrown in the shed daily really does not have the same benefit. Children's attitude to risk, physical literacy, self awareness etc is more important in my view.

Add in how low the chances of really serious head injury is on a low speed scooter. A collision with a car - a small bit of polystyrene does nothing to stop 2 tons. A small off - well you can do the same running! So when exactly will this helmet be the thing needed to stop or reduce an injury?

And, as OP has found, insisting on helmets (or worse, luminous gear or pads etc) can actually stop children from being active.

Pause and think a moment: car drivers and passengers are more likely to have a head injury in an incident, so why don't we all wear helmets in the car?

Helmet wearing is cultural as much as safety in the UK. Go to Nederlands or similar and see how few children and adults wear helmets there....

OP, at the end of the day it is risk / benefit judgement time. I personally would rather my kids active than sedentry.

(BTW, all mine grew up wearing helmets. But there is a balance.)