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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to not make my 5 and 3 year old wear a cycle helmet?

472 replies

blindasabatenburg · 02/06/2013 11:39

Am I failing to protect them sufficiently? Nobody wore helmets when we were kids and I don't recall anyonr suffering a serious head injury, though we all came off from time to time.

They could just as easily fall from a climbing frame at the park, but nobody would insist on a helmet for the park!!!

OP posts:
PatPig · 02/06/2013 12:38

In Holland very few people wear helmets. However hospital admission stats among those that do wear helmets are much higher than of those that don't.

This is because cycling is a healthy, low-risk activity akin to walking or swimming, and in Holland, helmets are worn by lycra types seeking to emulate Lance Armstrong, and hence taking more risks, which is a much greater risk factor for injury than wearing or not wearing a helmet.

Orangediamond78 · 02/06/2013 12:40

I would make them wear helmets. I know two people who's lives have been saved by cycle helmets (I hit by a car, one fell off and landed on head while going fast)

Montybojangles · 02/06/2013 12:42

Boomba I believe that helmet wearing in holland is vary rare, and the research showed that while only around 0.5% of cyclists wore them, of people admitted with injury after cycling accidents something like 14% of them had been wearing a helmet, meaning you were more likely to Jane an accident I'd wearing one. But I believe this may have been due to the prominence of serious sports cyclists beaning main wearers of helmets (off roading/racing etc).
Those figures are my recollection, and may not be exact, but are pretty close.

Montybojangles · 02/06/2013 12:43

Jane =have
I'd = if
Stupid iPad.

treas · 02/06/2013 12:43

YAsoBU - mind you I'm speaking as someone who had a friend's father become a vegetable because he came off his bicycle without a helmet on his way to work.

His attending doctors told the family that a helmet would have saved him this was in the 70s.

VinegarDrinker · 02/06/2013 12:48

We make DS (2) wear one on our bikes. No negotiation.

He doesn't wear one in the trailer. It's designed as a roll cage and not designed for use with helmets so it throws their neck out of alignment.

He also doesn't wear one when he us scooting/on his balance bike in the park. He doesn't move fast enough to cause himself a head injury. When he is old enough to cycle on the roads we'll be enforcing helmet wearing until he's old enough to decide for himself (and his skull has completed its development).

If you have a rule that helmets are required for anything on wheels, where do you draw the line? A baby on a smart trike? Wheelybug? Ride on toy in the back yard? There has to be common sense employed.

Rainbowinthesky · 02/06/2013 12:49

He actually turned into a vegetable? Really? Or do you mean suffered severe brain injury?

pigletmania · 02/06/2013 12:49

It's not cotton wooling them, it can save a lif that's howvserious it is. The speeds that children can go on bikes is quit a lot, if they hav an accident and hurt ter head it can be serious.

VixZenFenchell · 02/06/2013 12:51

Holland also have proper separation of cyclists and cars and pedestrians. Which the UK doesn't.

No skin off my nose whether your kids wear helmets or not, OP.

You asked if you were being unreasonable - in my opinion yes. Actual evidence is conflicting. Population statistics don't translate to individual cases so very little of what is out there would help anyway.

There's no evidence that it's safer to wear a parachute when jumping out of an aeroplane either. Haven't seen anyone advocate jumping without one though.

pigletmania · 02/06/2013 12:53

Oh rainbw the poter is using it to describe how badly th person was injured, to the state that he lost all of his functions and mental capacity. I was not awar that we were not to use that term Hmm

insanityscratching · 02/06/2013 12:54

But why wouldn't you? They're not expensive, it takes seconds to put on when they are small and they soon learn how to put them on themselves. Dd wears one every time she gets on a bike or scooter because it's automatic now as it was insisted on when she was small.

PatPig · 02/06/2013 12:54

VixZenFenchell, I would imagine the 5 and 3 year olds here would be as well separated from cars as Dutch cyclists are.

If we were talking about 15 and 13 year old that might be a more relevant argument...

VixZenFenchell · 02/06/2013 12:56

www.bmj.com/content/327/7429/1459

Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials
BMJ 2003; 327 doi: dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7429.1459 (Published 18 December 2003)
Cite this as: BMJ 2003;327:1459

Well worth a read for people who insist on evidence based everything. Plus it's a good laugh :)

UnderwaterBasketWeaving · 02/06/2013 12:57

Imagine a watermelon being dropped from head height onto concrete.

I know a skull is engineered differently, but I can't get that image out of my mind.

We all wear helmets (and other ppe for various activities)

ivykaty44 · 02/06/2013 12:59

Op do you wear a seat belt? Just curious as no one wore seat belts when we were kids and I know it is law and helmets aren't but would you leave it off it wasn't the law?

and I think cycle helmets is your own choice tbh, it is up to you whether you wear one or not. I now choose to wear a helmet, my dd2 chooses to wear a helmet (and believe me when I say I never ever forced her to wear one) but after she came off her bike and mashed her helmet up she told me that I was free not to wear a helmet but she would not be riding with me.... this was last summer when she was 13. I now always wear a helmet regardless of who I am riding with.

Eilidhbelle · 02/06/2013 13:00

PatPig, I really don't get your point here - so people should pay more for a bike, teach their kids how to ride it safely then NOT make them wear a helmet? Would it not make more sense to do all three?

bulby · 02/06/2013 13:03

Dh suffered a ripped ear when he fell off his bike a few months ago. Come and see the state of his helmet if you wish because if he hadn't been wearing it that would have been his head.

There is evidence that motorists take less care around people who wear helmets and I assume that like many things we may take more risks if we have a helmet on. All I know is that dh is here today because he had one on.
Oh and patpig, your arguments are not going to convince anyone that they shouldn't wear a cycle helmet although you are making a good case for 'walking helmets' though. If you are going to quote statistics please make sure that you understand them.

ivykaty44 · 02/06/2013 13:03

Oh and this really really annoys me

forevergreek · 02/06/2013 13:07

Pat pig - when I lived in holland everyone wore helmets! And it's much safer as cycling only areas. When a friend came to visit in the uk and saw kids without she thought everyone was mad!

blondefriend · 02/06/2013 13:09

My children (2&4) always wear helmets when on their scooters/bikes. I don't really think they will suffer brain injury if they fall off on the pavement at the moment but it's a habit I want them to be well and truly into by the time they cycle on road or off road (woods etc) or faster. There's no harm to wearing it.

We lost a 12 year old (by we I mean my school) a few years back. His helmet was hanging on his handlebars when he was hit by the car. I would hate for that to ever, ever happen to another family. Whether or not they wear a helmet is up to you but would you ever live with the consequences?

wonderingsoul · 02/06/2013 13:10

your choice but you know what if my child falls off at least i know their helmet cushioned the blow.

my children have the all around helmet, that covers their back head aswell as side ( think stunt helmets)

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stinky-Bitz-BMX-Skate-Stunt-54-58cm-Lid-Logo-Helmet-in-BLACK-/290862709095?pt=UK_Sports_Leisure_Cycling_BikePumps_SR&hash=item43b8c4b967

NorthernLurker · 02/06/2013 13:11

Well Op if you've done your research and you're convinced that your dc are better off without a helmet then go for it. Lets hope you never find out you were wrong.

McNewPants2013 · 02/06/2013 13:11

m.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/qld-introduce-bike-helmet-exemptions-religious/1840002/

Ignoring the article the picture shows a boy holding his helmet after an accident, I shudder the thought if he wasn't wearing it.

VixZenFenchell · 02/06/2013 13:13

PatPig - the 3&5 year olds in question are riding in a society that is not as cycle friendly as Holland's. Unless the OP is Dutch which she hasn't indicated. If they're on the pavement or on the path in parks they are not in a dedicated cycle lane separated from both cars and pedestrians.

They are moving faster on 2 wheels than on 2 legs and a fall from a bike whether collision induced or simple loss of control induced can seriously endanger a child's skull.

It's a simple, relatively cheap intervention. How would anyone feel if their child suffered a serious head injury and know that they might have been able to reduce the severity by the use of a helmet but chose not to?

MrsMelons · 02/06/2013 13:13

Non negotiable in our house, DH also cycles and always wears a helmet, he cycles to work and has been knocked off a couple of times, he is a careful cyclist but of course there are some drivers who are not that aware of bikes and he has actually been knocked off by a lunatic cyclist. He fell on his head once and his helmet stopped him having any sort of injury.

Of course there are more pedestrian injuries as more people walk. I just can't see why you wouldn't want your child to wear a helmet but at the end of the day it is your decision and if you are comfortable with it then you don't need to ask anyones opinion.