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?

Helmet for bike here not for scooter. However I don't let her scoot ahead in case of reversing cars unless we are in a pedestrian area like the park or beach prom so she never gets up that much speed.

Mine are 12 and 10 now but the rule has always been helmets for both bikes and scooters, it would be dangerous to whack their heads on kerbs whatever they're riding, and they can get pretty fast on scooters.

As the the rule is no helmet, no wheels, this means it also applies to roller skates and even heelys.

Helmets are desperately important when using bikes/scooters/skateboards etc. Having worked 20 years in A&E my three children aged 9, 7 and 5 wear helmets for these activities. Broken limbs can be fixed, broken brains are more of a challenge. Not sure how I'll enforce it as they become older but will try my best.

I have seen first hand the head injuries that can be sustained on a scooter. Someone on the school run. The noise was awful. They were in hospital for weeks

Helmets are very important, I had an accident on my bike at age 11, I had very bad concussion, if it wasn't for my helmet, I probably wouldn't be alive today. I see so many children riding to school without helmets, it's for their own safety and if myn refused to wear one, (they haven't yet) they simply wouldn't be allowed to ride their bike/scooter etc.

lmfc
My rule has always been if it has wheels, you need a helmet.

Do they have to wear helmets in the car? After all, motor racing drivers do.

Sorry to go against the grain, but the evidence for the effectiveness of bicycle helmets (and I suppose scooter helmets - although I don't think there is as much research) is pretty thin and contradictory. Look into sites like this for another view.

Not saying you should let your DC scooter/bike without a helmet on - it's your choice - just don't think it's the magic talisman it is sometimes promoted as.

FWIW. My DC both scootered without helmets - too old now. They cycle around the local park without helmets. They have helmets which they wear on the road.

DH cycles and wears a helmet if he's on his road bike on a long ride (I think more 'cos it's part of the MAMIL look!) but not when he pops to the shops in normal clothes on his normal bike.

The pavement versus road issue - apparently cycle helmets are most useful for those accidents that happen when people fall of their bikes whilst doing stunts, hence why they're so essential for mountain biking. Helmets are pretty useless in an actual road collision with a car.

So, I'd say, evidence wise, helmets for scooters, cycle tracks, not so much for cycling on the road. Lots of evidence to suggest that drivers take greater risks around cyclists wearing helmets and so the helmet, counter-intuitively, makes the journey more risky (I'm a long time road and mountain biker - I've read so much about this it makes my head hurt! - no pun intended ;-)

Yanbu

No helmet no scooter. I've seen far too many serious injuries.

I think some parents are just too complacent.

When my DD was nearly 3 she was a demon on a scooter, but she was showing off to someone and smacked into a lamp post at speed, ever since that they always wear helmets!

@bumsexatthebingo I'm sure I read that more kids are hit wearing helmets. The suggested reason being than drivers are subconsciously less careful.

You (and other pps mentioning this) are correct in relation to cycling, and having to defend personal choice against the same old tropes is very boring after a while (and I actually choose to wear one. I am just sick of holier than thou attitudes about those who don't).

This, for example, is a well-known research study about helmet usage:
Wearing a helmet puts cyclists at risk, suggests research
Bicyclists who wear protective helmets are more likely to be struck by passing vehicles, new research suggests.
Drivers pass closer when overtaking cyclists wearing helmets than when overtaking bare-headed cyclists, increasing the risk of a collision, the research has found. (1)

Chris Boardman (and he should know a thing or two) has openly said this about helmets: "... a topic that isn’t even in the top 10 things that will really keep people who want to cycle safe.”
And "... You don’t make cycling safe by obliging every rider to dress up as if for urban warfare. You do it by creating a road system that insulates them from fast-moving and unpredictable road traffic." (2)

I read a great article a while ago which compared the stats. It boils down to the fact that pedestrians and car drivers/passengers are by far the most at-risk group from injuries that could be lessened if they wore helmets for these activities. Yet nobody seems to be clamouring for that to become reality...

(1) www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/archive/overtaking110906.html
(2) www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/21/bike-helmet-cyclists-safe-urban-warfare-wheels

Having witnessed a child fall off a scooter at speed YANBU. My kids don't have a choice, no helmet no wheels. All the kids round here wear them so my two never ask not to.

My DS wears a helmet for both cycling and scooting. He's five. In fact I have a separate helmet for each activity. That's because his scooter helmet is more likely to be dropped/fall off the handlebars when he gets off his scooter so I'm slightly less anal about it. He doesn't go as fast on the scooter, the wheels are smaller so it's less likely to be a big spill. But if he does fall it's still going to be at speed so helmet on,

But his bike helmet is extremely well fitted and we are very careful not to drop it. I insist because car accidents aren't the only issue. Last year on a cycle path my son clipped a manhole colour/on a slope/at speed and came flying off his bike onto his head. His eyes rolled back, he went limp and blacked out for a few seconds. He threw up and we went to A&E. He wasn't actually concussed, not a mark on him; they said it was shock but on examining his helmet there was a dent and the polystyrene was cracked so the doctors said that the helmet had taken the full impact and done its job, hence no concussion. I wouldn't even consider him not wearing a well fitted (despite the inevitable- muuum it's too tight) helmet before but after that it's completely non negotiable for cycling. And he even makes his friends wear one if they borrow his bike.

To the PP about more accidents when being hit. I think this study was inconclusive and teaching a child to ride defensively and predictably on roads will be more effective in preventing collisions. As far as I remember in a car collision a helmet is less likely to help as head injuries aren't always the main concern and at if you are hit rather than fall at certain speeds they are less effective but the evidence isn't conclusive. You'll notice professional cyclists and road cyclists usually wear helmets though.

My dh is a mountain biker and on a number of occasions his helmet had saved his life. One time his helmet was dented, scraped and cracked, that would have been his head otherwise.

Our ds is 6 and we insist on a helmet for the bike and scooter. Its the norm for him now but I have no doubt when he gets older it will probably end in an arguement but our stance will be the same

Oh and we regularly get him properly fitted for a new one. Not just a nip into halfords job and grab the first character helmet we can find

I have many GCs.
Two of them, have parents (My DS and DiL) who insist on them wearing helmets.
They are both paramedics .
They have scooped up many children from the pavement with head injuries.
For me that is a good enough reason to insist on helmets.

Better to be a little anal and protect your children. Whoever told you that is a moron

As someone who has suffered a traumatic brain injury and post concussion, I am really OTT when it comes to helmets full stop. I make my DD wear hers with both her bike and scooter, and agree with you on those - children round here look like they go hell for leather on their scooters and it would only take one misjudged moment for them to go flying off out into the road or something.
Admittedly I didn't always used to be so bad before my TBI. At uni years ago, I remember wearing a helmet riding my bike and some little oiks laughing at me as I rode past. I wished I'd told them where to go and that i'd rather wear a helmet than suffer a head injury. They did put me off somewhat but now I'd never be without one and will always make my daughter wear hers.

Believe me, with first hand experience of how delicate the brain is and the neurological things that can really go wrong, I would certainly always advocate protecting your noggin!

Mine always wears helmet when on the bike but not when doing normal scooting. It tends to be slower and much less impact generally if falling off than on a bike. I don't think you are wrong -or anal- in your decision. It's your child and you are raising them as you see best. Not sure who is questioning your decision on this one. If it's your child I can understand their point of view if nobody else is wearing a helmet but tough, you're the parent so they have to comply with your instruction. If it's other parents then just ignore them. It's your child, your decision, your right to choose.

yanbu

pax. Ha aha I am a very random granny