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?

Spider. Lo maisie you picked up only on walking down stairs and showering, which implies that your dc wear helmets for crossing the road and playing on swings.

I picked up on just these as I felt the other examples were sensible. And no, my DC don't wear helmets for crossing the road and playing on swings as I have no DC.

My precious, funny, wonderful DS3 - coming up to his eighth birthday. Got a new bike for Xmas.....24 years ago - cycling helmets were just coming 'into fashion' but they were, at that time very costly and I couldn't afford one.

We lived on a quiet housing estate - lots of children playing out that day. Matt saw the local pop delivery company lorry coming down the street. The lorry stopped and they began to do their delivery. He made the error of riding his bike to the back of the lorry to have a nosey what pop he had. The driver got back in the lorry without seeing him, put the vehicle into reverse and crushed my lad to death. I ended up underneath the lorry trying to 'make him live.' The sight that met my eyes that afternoon lives with me to this day.

Ever since we have a rule - no helmet no 'wheel activity.' I have an 8 year old grandson who knows all about his Uncle and he always tells me how he is not allowed to go on anything with wheels without his helmet on cause Uncle Matt would be proud of him for being safe.

I would hate anyone to live for the last 24 years without one of their precious children.

My lb came off his scooter going very fast down a hill, hit his head really hard and the run from where I was (I couldn't keep up with him as I'd underestimated the incline of the hill!) to him was the longest of my life. He was ultimately ok but it could have been loads worse! I do prefer him to wear his helmet but occasionally if he's scooting round a flat park I'll let him take it off.

So sorry shabbs

Oh Shabbs .

Shabbs that must have been incredibly difficult and all these examples of kids getting hurt because they didn't have helmets on just reinforces my opinion that I'm going to keep insisting my children wear helmets no matter what anyone thinks or says. At the end of the day they only get one head each don't they? Thanks for sharing your story shabbs X

A plea to parents who insist on a helmet:

1. Make sure it's the right size and fits the child's head tightly. (Tightly enough to leave a mark when removed.)
2. Make sure the chin strap is done up. If this isn't done the helmet is completely useless. Then make sure the chin strap is tight. If the helmet is loose it can be more dangerous in an accident than not having one.
3. Stop thinking of a helmet as a magic hat that will ward off evil. Worn correctly, it may offer protection in a low speed impact - that's all.
4. If your children want to cycle in the road, they must have training. A helmet is not a substitute for training any more than water wings are a substitute for learning to swim. Good cycle training is far more likely to save their lives than a helmet.

Thank you xx

At the inquest the coroner said that 'in his opinion' a cycling helmet may have saved his life......the crush injuries were all at the back of his head. He always carried a donor card (he secretly was hoping for a willy transplant because he said his was too small and his big brothers was massive!!!) from the age of about 4. He carried it everywhere and was proud of it. The day of the accident I asked the nurse to look in his jeans pocket and she found his card. He gave two people the sight in one eye by donating his corneas - that is something that he would think was wonderful.

My kids aren't allowed on skateboards, scooters, skates or bikes without helmets. They go stupidly fast on all of them and are far less stable than when on their feet. If others want to risk serious brain injury from their kids heads bouncing off the edge of a kerb whilst not wearing a helmet that's their issue but mine will always wear them.

What I'm trying to say NavyandWhite is that helmets are useless, possibly worse than useless, if not used correctly.

YANBU.

DD doesn't have a scooter it has worn a helmet with her balance bike since she first starting using it. There was very little risk at first of course as she basically just walked with it but I wanted to set down the rule of wearing a helmet for when she got faster. If she had a scooter it would be the same rules. Head first into pavement at any speed without a helmet is never going to just be a minor bump and could be very serious indeed. Helmets are a must.

*but has

I have a 'no helmet, no wheels policy'. As a theatre nurse I have seen too many children having to be put under GA to have their faces and heads patched up because they weren't wearing a helmet so it's a must for me. Just not worth the risk. My 4 year old is way faster on his scooter than his balance bike at the moment and clumsy too and just the other week was scooting along a farm road near our home and went flying over the handles when he hit an uneven bit of surface. He would have really cracked his head off the ground if he hadn't been wearing his helmet. When it's something so simple to put on them, why would you not?

A helmet costs very little ( nothing if the already have on for cycling). I'm not sure why you wouldn't use one for scooting too. We always wear helmets for cycling and skiing so kids just accept them as normal.

acasual makes a really important point: it's false security to put a helmet on your DC but not fit it properly. I see so many children scooting or cycling with helmets practically falling off their heads.

Helmets are only really effective for low speed side impacts and similar, you know, the sort of accident that kids often have on both bikes and scooters.

Might sound odd but the faster you go, the less help a helmet is going to be in an accident. The polystyrene just doesn't absorb enough energy. (Energy being proportional to the speed squared.)

DS is 4 and has a balance bike but no scooter any more. DD is 2 and has his old scooter but cannot go very fast because we hold onto her scooter strap, though she can of course topple over on the pavement.

We make him wear a helmet for cycling but we should probably make her wear one for scooting. She wears one for riding in the baby seat on my bike though.

However, and I absolutely take everyone's point about fitting them correctly and I do know how to fit them, but DS has sensory issues and it is a toss up whether he will accept the helmet as tight as it really needs to be on any given day, or whether instead he will a) have a tantrum and hit and kick me/DH or b) refuse to put it on and also refuse to walk pushing his bike, instead just stopping in the road miles from school/home.

If we are out and about (or on the way to school) and the alternatives are: stand in the street for hours, or put it on loose and let him ride at only just over walking pace on the pavement, I usually choose actually going somewhere. If he won't put it on at all, we just stand on the pavement unless he'll push the bike.

We also try to get him to get used to wearing it by going a short distance to the park (again, not much over walking distance, on the pavement) because we previously got into an impasse where he would not put it on at all without violence, and said he was never going to ride his bike if he had to wear a helmet. Again, we wanted him to actually get used to the idea of wearing it so that we can work up to wearing it properly fitted.

We are not going to let him ride on roads without a properly fitted helmet. But do bear in mind that children who are wearing them but badly fitted may find them unbearable when they are tight. For us, getting used to wearing it is in the long term worth it. Not wearing it at all makes him think he never has to wear it.

My dc is still a baby but if she won't wear a helmet then she won't get to scoot!

This does remind me of a story... My nephew had to wear one of those helmets that changes the shape of the skull. He was a baby when he wore it for 23 hours a day. My sister heard someone mutter 'health and safety gone mad'

Well yes obviously. A bit patronising to think we just stick them in their heads without checking they fit correct.

Some parents clearly do just that. I see lots children wearing poorly fitting, loose or unfastened helmets. That is my experience. My plea was to their parents - they are clearly not your children because you obviously know better. However, there is really is no need to feel patronised.

Mine fly around at high speed on both scooters and bikes so no helmet means no scooter / bike. Both of mine at some point have taken a tumble at speed and banged their heads and also had cars almost hit them on school run.
There must be some very slow scootering children around according to this thread. Mine belt along. Cars near schools are lethal. I've also had my DC hit by people opening doors of cars with out looking. They can hit a kerb or hole and go over. My DS has also gone over handle bars.
I do get irritated by the obnoxious child in our class who gloats at the others that he isn't a baby so doesn't need a helmet age 5.
All the other mums avoid him and insist on helmets

There are some shocking responses on here. I agree that helmets are cheap enough and easy enough that there is no excuse for not having one.

And to the clever clogs who asked how you would shower with a helmet on, it's really not difficult (maybe it is for the hard of thinking).

We wet hair and apply shampoo at the sink, then it's helmets on and into the shower to rinse off. A decent helmet has enough ventilation slots to let plenty of water through.

It takes seconds to do, so I can't see why anybody wouldn't. There was a story in the paper last year where a woman fell over in the shower and died. So tragic and so easily prevented.