AIBU to insist my kids wear helmets?

[Beastlyboysblog]

It has been recently suggested that I am perhaps a little anal with the safety of my children's heads by insisting that they wear a crash helmet when they are on their scooters. I see other kids day in day out on the school run without them & I guess that's up to their parents but in my mind the scooters are no different to bikes and they can just as easily fall off them and crack their heads. I personally don't want to see my kids' brains all over the road if there's an accident. Is that really anal and AIBU?

We have a blanket rule in our family that if anyone is doing anything with wheels they wear a helmet. Includes scooters, skateboards and roller skates.

Seems like everyone is pretty divided - if it helps my children are 3 and 5 and the 3 yo is like a demon on his scooter, picking up a fair bit of speed. My oh is also a technician for the ambulance service so sees his fair share of head injuries which he comes home and shares with me. I accept the point that some people's kids might not scoot very fast and do so only on the pavement but mine do scoot fast and pavements can be toppled off of (into the path of cars). As for this study that suggests drivers are less cautious if they see kids wearing helmets, I'm afraid I think that doesn't make sense to me. Whenever I see children with or without helmets on scooters / bikes or even just on foot I slow down just because they're unpredictable, regardless of their head gear.

We have a hill on our way home from school. It's not massively steep but my kids go much faster than if they were running and they're only 5 and 3. I can't count the number of times the younger one has fallen off and the helmet has saved his skin. He totally cracked open one of his helmets. There's no way I'd let on scooters without helmets. Totally non-negotiable.

And before anyone starts, there are no driveways exiting on the hill, you can see the full length of it if pedestrians are coming and if they are, my children are told to stop. I'm not going to stop them goino fast on the hill because they enjoy it and it's fu .

*fun.

dc's aunt is a dr. she bought the scooters and helmets together.

given that both have fallen off and banged their old helmets on the concrete then not unreasonable.

Janice - tbh i'd never dream of letting a three year old scoot 'fast' down a hill on the pavement full stop. It's asking for an accident.

The argument that drivers are more careful when they see somebody without a helmet is a load of shit. I'd love to see the study that supports that.

Do a bit of googling. The studies exist in relation to cyclists.

I would think there would probably be a difference in risk taking behaviour with/without helmets as well.
I think they are a good idea for young kids on bikes as helmets are very effective for gentler knocks. Older kids/teens riding on the road I'm not sure what protection they offer and studies have shown that drivers leave less distance for overtaking cyclists wearing helmets.
Wearing them for going on swings, down stairs etc is definitely a bit much.

acasualobserver cyclingtips.com/2013/02/cyclists-without-helmets-more-likely-to-take-risks/

That was on page one of my search. I am no more or less careful helmet or not and if I was going to accidentally hit a cyclist (I am very careful when I see cyclists-my brother rides and I'm all too aware some people aren't) I would hope they were wearing a helmet because my perception is that they are less likely to die.

But like I've said earlier in the thread, my mum was evangelical about helmet wearing when I was a child and it's stayed with me.

Children have been strangled whilst wearing helmets on play equipment - either the strap gets caught or the helmet itself gets caught in a small gap.

Take them off when you get to the playground and always constantly supervise any young child wearing a helmet.

Also make sure they fit properly - I see so many young kids wearing helmets that are far too big or perched on the back of their heads - worse than useless. I wouldn't bother on under 3's as they never fit right and more likely to do more harm than good.

Lots of local kids wear helmets on scooters, its a good habit to get them into.

I make dd wear a helmet for scooting. She's so clumsy she falls over her own feet so it's a necessity.
She does ask why some people don't wear them and is at a preachy age so I have to be careful how I explain it to her because it will be repeated verbatim at some point for max mother embarrassment

DS1 is 10 and all his mates cycle about near our house without helmets. He hates me for making him wear one (and a proper one, not a crappy £3 one from a toy shop) but I refuse to let him on his bike unless he's wearing it.

DS2 is 5 so doesn't even question it. It's difficult being 'that' parent because I'm friends with some parents whose DCs don't wear them and I get the feeling they think I'm judgy. I'm not; their DCs are their choice. But I refuse to back down on this one.

But also it's important to enjoy life without being constantly worried about everything - and if kids are going to do less cycling/scootering as a result of being forced to wear a helmet that's probably worse overall than letting them take the risk (if the alternative is staying in watching tv etc)

Of course YANBU!

My nephew went into a crack on the pavement and went over the handlebar of his scooter. His helmet had a huge chip on the front of it.

My DCs are never allowed on bikes, rollerblades, skateboards, etc, unless they wear helmets because (a) helmets are a cheap, effective way to prevent head injuries, (b) they move faster and fall in a less controlled way off wheels, so seem more likely to hurt their heads and (c) the WardrobeMalfunction family appear to have skulls like eggshells.

A friend of the DCs fell off her bike recently (cycling between our house and 6 doors down the street) and had no helmet. She threw her hands up to protect her head and suffered grim fractures of her radius and ulna as well as two fingers. I shudder to think how much worse that could have been

I didn't bother with helmets for scooters until dd1 came off hers and landed on her face. It was quite nasty (hurt her front teeth, her nose and her forehead, and took off a lot of skin) and she still has a scar. She wasn't even going fast, just got to a slight step up in the pavement, the scooter stopped and she didn't.

Next time, I'd prefer the helmet to get the brunt of it, so I make her wear it and also check that it's in the right position (only a two finger gap between her eyebrows and the start of the helmet, no more).

My 6 year old scooted off down the (flat) drive on the way to school, fell off her scooter and landed on her head. Less than an hour later she started vomiting and we ended up at the hospital. Outcome thankfully all fine. I used to make her wear a helmet and had stopped as she got a bit older and "safer". Helmets all the way from here.

This was in the news last month. The mum has also set up a Facebook page called 'Georgia on my mind' and posts updates about her daughter's condition- definitely a reason to make children wear helmets!
m.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/14672628.Teenager_fighting_for_her_life_after_skateboard_crash_leaves_her_in_a_coma/

I've said this on another thread before - my neighbour is a paediatrician and has told me she now sees more head injuries from scooter accidents than bikes. No helmet no wheels in this house. It's very different to running as you can fly over the handlebars of a scooter if it catches something and hit the ground with more force. Its obviously difficult with older children and I remember arguing with my parents about this as an older child/teenager. The more parents insist the more it normalises helmet wearing and the less groaning and moaning we'll get from our older kids! I wish it was a legal requirement.

Helmets for both.

DS1 is 3 and knows why: because a little boy in my class at primary school never came home from hospital after a bike accident.

My kids scoot around the park at serious speed. Helmets are not optional.

I've read plenty of studies that cyclists without helmets are less likely to have accidents on the road because drivers give them a wider berth.

My ow children also grew up with the rule "no helmet, no wheels" as older teens one wears a helmet and one doesn't

When they were small and wanted to know why their friends could ride without helmets and they couldn't I used to tell them that if they and their friend had similar falls, one of them might end up with their brains splattered all over the pavement and one might not because they had a helmet on

tissuesosoft -That is exactly what I thought of when I saw this thread

I cannot get that video out of my head when she said " I dont know what quality of life shes going to have if she makes it through the next few days" It was heartbreaking to watch as a mother to think what if that was my child. Her daughter hit a stone while on a skateboard and fell off without wearing a helmet causing two types of bleeding on the brain and was left fighting for her life in an induced coma.

I always ensure helmets are worn when riding anything with wheels and always have there is no question. It's definatly not the same as running or walking, you have much less control especially at faster speeds a rogue stone, rubbish may not be too much of an issue on foot and more avoidable. The way the scooter makes you fall that position can be totally different from running or walking. I am happy in the knowledge that I have provided them with one and they are happy to wear it with no questions asked I hope this continues to be the case once they are older, I hope they understand the importance of keeping it on and not be fashion conscience.

I do hope you all realise that once a helmet has been involved in a 'crash' or even dropped from a height, it should be replaced? If there is a small hairline crack in the expanded polystyrene inside the helmet, it could be rendered useless (the plastic cover is just for decoration, its the polystyrene that absorbs the impact), and you wont be able to see it?

BTW, more people die falling down the stairs than in cycling accidents.