What age did you let your Dc stop wearing helmets?

[AndAnotherOneJoinsTheQueue]

Whilst scooting to school?
Or cycling?

Kneepads/arm/elbow when in skateboards?

DD's friends all scoot to school without helmets and yesterday saw a classmate on a bike without one.

@Pixiedust1234 i mentioned cycling, scooting and skateboarding. You didn't specify your reply was just for cycling so I assumed you meant it covered the three. I wasn't meaning to be argumentative!

Please focus on wearing helmets. I was one of the first officers on the scene for this:

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-18595477

At the inquest, it was determined that wearing a helmet would almost certainly have saved the poor boys life.

He wasn't really landsurfing either - he was using the board as a skateboard, going down a very small slope while he and his university friends filmed the beginning of their six month trip around Europe together. He was not being reckless or whizzing around at a high speed - it could easily have been a child on a scooter.

I think these days it's considered irresponsible for even an adult to not wear a helmet

Never. No helmet, no bike. DS is 15 now and it's never been up for debate (although we did have a slightly mortifying moment when he was about 6 or 7 when a visiting child said 'My mum doesn't make me wear a helmet' and DS replied 'Maybe she doesn't love you as much as my mum loves me' 😳).

DH wears his helmet when he cycles. I'd kill him myself if he didn't. No way is DS allowed out on his scooter, roller skates or bike without one. I still make him wear knee pads, wrist guards etc when roller skating but not when on the scooter.

I looked up the statistics just yesterday and it's something like half of cyclists in an accident without a helmet suffer significant head injuries vs just 20% or so of those wearing a helmet

My goodness how do the Dutch and Danes manage to survive?

(and before you say because they have off-road cycle tracks away from cars, far more lives would be saved by drivers driving sensibly and safely and in any event if you get squashed by a car a helmet won't save you).

I do wear one by the way but only to stop people moaning at me, not because I think for a minute it would make any difference if a car or lorry hit me. And if I just fell off my bike it's the same as falling over and hitting my head while running or walking (which has happened when I slipped over on ice), and I don't (yet) see anyone agitating for pedestrians to wear helmets (though I am sure it's coming).

Mine both still wear them and I hope once adults they do too. It's just ingrained behaviour now - they don't think about it, if they go on their bike then their helmet is on.

I wear a helmet if on my bike

On his bike it's non-negotiable.
On his scooter he's only worn one at the skatepark.

I always wear a bike helmet, my 23 yo doesn't, but there's not much I can do about that. He knows my views.

I never "let" them. They went through a phase of not wearing them in secondary school (or putting them on before they left home and taking them off when out of sight. Yes, we realised). They've subsequently started again, as they've bought into the need for safety themselves.

If you have primary school children, I would be insisting. Don't see how you can really insist with a teen.

Same. This summer was a trial for all sorts of reasons, so I was delighted when DS2 said he was going out on his bike with his mates.
Then we had the great helmet debate. That teens would actually forgo seeing their friends rather than wear a helmet baffles us adults, but such are their developing brains.
I stuck to my guns (inwardly praying that he would just put the darn thing on and GO). He wore the helmet. Fortunately his mates had them too.

Mine don't wear helmets to scoot but they do for cycling.

My FIL now has epilepsy, he was hit as a young adult by a car, he was on his bike without a helmet, he was in hospital for a long time, he had seizures regularly when DH was young including on one occasion when DH at six had to run to the neighbours to get them to call an ambulance. DS will always wear a helmet or he will not ride his bike

Ditto for scooting

The same age I’ll stop making their wear a seatbelt in a car.

ie. Never.

I’d be livid if my DH didn’t wear a helmet as well as DCs. I never cycle without one. Scooters can also be dangerous. What you’re teaching kids if you allow them to not wear a helmet is that looks are more important than safety.

Exactly.

I drive along a road adjacent to a cycle path many children use for school, every morning. I can't tell you the number of kids I see with helmets hanging off the handle bars, presumably with parents smug safe in the knowledge that their DC always wear them.

Basically once they're going out without you, they won't be wearing them.

I guess I’ll be the odd one out then and admit none of my 3 have ever worn them. None of their school mates do when cycling to school, and none of their friends do after school.

Daughters now in their 20s would never stop wearing helmets, but also would probably be dead now if DD1 hadn't worn one in the past. - over handlebars helmet first

We all wear helmets whenever we cycle, adults and children alike. Or like 99% of the time. I won't say there haven't been a handful of times when a helmet has been forgotten or lost but generally it's automatic. I don't see teenagers round here without helmets either.

Having said that, I've fallen off my bike a few times, e.g. slipping on ice and I've banged my hips, my arms, my knees. Never my head. Of course it could happen, but I don't really think there's more risk in it than running. Certainly you're much more likely to suffer a head injury in a car. And a helmet will do fuck all if someone drives into you, which thankfully has never happened to me.

So I do think people overhype the importance of helmets, but I don't find them uncomfortable or a hassle so might as well.

It's sensible for adults to wear them anyway, so it'd be good if you encourage them to wear them when cycling for life.

18 when they are an adult and can choose themselves to take the risk of death.

Scooter mine never did. Bike they still do as year 12, cycling to school every day. Has been knocked off his bike twice. I wouldn't let him cycle without a helmet.
Other child is at uni and cycles everywhere. Always wears a helmet.
I work on ITU. They would definitely face my wrath if they didn't wear them.

They should always be wearing one?

Does concrete stop being hard when you reach a certain age?

do cars stop being potentially lethal once you reach a certain age?

Teach your kids to never ride without a helmet. Once they are adults they can make their own choices. For now, it is your job to keep them safe.