To think it's ok for DS to cycle around park without helmet?

[zozzle]

What's the worst that can happen? He might fall off and bash his head on .... some soft grass! Still unlikely as he's confident on his bike and rarely falls off.

There are no cars in the park (strange that!) but still I get surprised/shocked comments from other mums.

Yes, when he's older cycling on roads, of course I shall insist he wears a helmet. But do we really need belt and braces in a grassy park?

He's 8 yrs old btw.

WTF is a helmet sceptic?

We made the dses wear helmets from the word 'go', so it became a habit.

YAB a bit U.

8 year olds go fast.

DS1 had a horrible blow to the head when ridding his scooter when he was 12. Luckily he was fine, but we spent a very worrying evening in A&E. I wasn't watching him and he had taken his helmet off.

Helmets are good.

Oh, and when he was 4 he bashed in his helmet falling off his bike. He was quite upset about the helmet. DH and I were quite happy.

I would have agreed with op, until a friend of a friend's child died of a head injury received falling off a bike in the park.

Isnt hitting the grass at cycle speed pretty much like hitting concrete anyway? Sure I read that somewhere. Dont understand anyone who doesnt make their child wear a helmet.

I'd make him wear a helmet - as others have said, if he gets into the habit of wearing a helmet now, it'll be easier getting him to wear one later when he's cycling on roads, or on skateboard ramps in parks. Slightly OT, but our local park has a skateboarding area. The skateboard area is always full of kids going down the ramps on bikes and scooters. I've never seen one on a skateboard.

Also, DH works in a hospital and has seen lots of nasty head injuries from falls where people weren't wearing helmets.

A helmet sceptic? Are you taking the piss?

what i don't get is why do parents spend so long reasearching car seats and will replace them in an accident, but are willing to allow a child go at sped on 2 wheels without a helmet.

ds has fallen off his bike countless times but in the 8 years i have been driving i have had 1 minor accident

Helmet is obligatory for DS (4) when on his bike. But he never wears one on his mini micro scooter, and most of his friends don't either. I guess scooters are lower to the ground but do others insist on helmets?

Chap I knew toppled sideways while cycling slowly through traffic.
Hit his head on a kerb stone.
His daughter was 9 when he died.

Concrete is harder than heads.
End of.

A helmet is more likely to be useful riding around a park at slow speed than it is on the road. A helmet is not magic, it does very little at high impact crashes, with a car, it'll do nothing other than in a very peculiar set of circumstances. It works well at very low speed crashes that go directly on the head - it's why it's more useful for children than adults where it does much less benefit because they simply don't have that sort of accident. Pensioners sometimes do.

So yes, I would have them wear a helmet even in the park.

Where we lived in the US you could get ticketed for not wearing a helmet on your bike/scooter/roller blades/ skate board so mine having lived there for 2 years now all wear theirs all the time. But then again they have also seen DHs helmet that he was wearing when he came off his racing bike, cracked in 2 right down the middle, we saved it as it works well when they complain about friends not wearing them show helmet and say that could be your head they soon put one on .

Its a head it is important put a helmet on it please.

In our family the rule is and always has been:
" no helmet no bike" and it applies to adults too!

YANBU

Holy shit. Some of you have GOT to be trolling. Either that or you're all really overprotective.

He might fall and hit his head on a stone on grass? If an 8yo boy was to hit his head on a stone small enough to be hidden in grass and have huge problems with that, he's not like any other young boy I have ever met. EVER.
If the stone is obvious, I'm sure he has more than enough brain capacity to cycle round it.

That's how I fractured my skull, cycling around the perfectly safe park without a helmet.

Why would you not put a helmet on your child when they are on a bike?

DS is only 2 but I already have the "no helmet, no bike" rule.

sandrasue, so we are trolling for wanting to keep our kids safe.

you know grass is not perfectly flat, there are dips ect and in the weather we have been having under that soft looking grass there is hard mud

Sandrasue - when you've seen the funeral pictures of somebody younger than you it changes your perspective on such things.

Fromheretomaternity - the height-above-ground isn't the only issue in an accident - speed is a big, big factor too. If your ds is flying along on his scooter and falls off, the speed will worsen the effects of the fall - like saying that a car will do more damage if it hits something at 60mph than at 30mph.

I am amazed that some people think helmets are optional. The whole "we didn't wear them and we survived" mentality.

We did indeed survive, but many didn't. :( When I was growing up, the boy next-door was killed when he fell off his bike. The doctors told his parents that he would have survived had he been wearing a helmet. I still remember the sound of his mother howling when she first heard the news.

If you want to take this risk with your children, it's your decision, but I think you're an idiot if you do.

it's abt setting the precedent...helmets protect heads
like buckling your seat belt if you simply do it every time then you never question and never forget when was extremely important to have had done it...

It's grass ffs. If the child is cycling slowly on grass it's no different to falling over on grass while running. Plus he's 8. I'm sure more children have survived falling off bikes on grass than those who've died due to "hard mud" as you put it.

Completely mental.

Btw, I'm not saying never use helmets, just that it seems almost pointless in this case.

inb4 "you're a crazy person and a bad mother" etc etc