or is this just an accessory too far?

[FrankiesKnuckle]

I bumped into a friend yesterday, we had a quick coffee and catch up.
I have a 3yr old. She has a just turned 1year old.
Said 1 year old is cruising.
Started cruising around the (very child friendly, independent coffee shop).
She whips out a hat, to put on 1 year old 'in case he falls over'.
It's an actual thing. A "Thudguard"
An actual padded hat resplendent with chin strap.
Really?! We can't let toddlers well, toddle now?
What next? An actual fucking bubble?

Didn't they have these on the apprentice once?

I actually just had to Google that

So you don't want one of these then OP?

link

Sounds awful how are they meant to learn that it hurts if the hit certain areas?

next there will be whole body cotton wool suits

Blimey. I used to work with a man who had a thin skull or something and he used to wear one all the time! so unattractive and weird

I would never put my child in one unless there was a true reason like seizures!

Isn't that why we have hard skulls?

I do watch the apprentice but I've not seen it before. I'm just aghast it's come to this. We can't let children learn anymore!

Wow...

What next - a Mr Blobby type outfit in a variety of colours?

That does seem a little OTT. I can't imagine a baby toddling supervised can come to too much harm. Ime they usually fall onto their arse at that age. I'd feel a bit of a dick whipping one of those out and putting it on my DC.

I've seen something similar for children/adults with severe epilepsy incase they fall and bang their head. That I can understand.

Why doesn't she just wrap the poor little sod in bubble wrap and have done with it?

Soubriquet

Really?!!

I've worked with children and adults with learning disabilities, 'crash hats' were used for poor mobility or epilepsy and sometimes even self harm.

But this. A baby learning!

I can't really see the harm tbh.

It depends on what kind of child you have I suppose too. Ds2 was fine, fairly steady on his feet from the off - the odd mini bump, nothing drastic.

Ds1 was a different matter - we'd been to A&E with him about four times by the time he was two with very nasty head bangs. Very doddery on his feet from standing up at about 11 months - he seemed to have no protective instinct and would crack his head on bloody anything and everything. Always managed to catch the table or a corner as he went down or run into a door, it was constant stress.

If it looked like our next one was like ds1, I may consider it

If I see a child wearing this I assume they have epilepsy or a severe balance issue.

Unattractive and weird to wear one for a genuine medical reason . I know people with severe epilepsy who need to wear one to protect themselves from badly damaging themselves should they fall when having a fit. Nothing unattractive or weird about that.

Unnecessary for a cruising toddler though, a bit too overprotective on the parents behalf, but there is obviously a marker for it.

I would laugh at anyone who bought this and I'm still in a PFB stage with my DC!

YABU and judgmental. There might be a good reason and it's her choice if she wants to protect her baby's head.
Hurting yourself doesn't teach you balance. I find the idea that kids need to hurt themselves to learn ridiculous.

why ridiculous how else would they learn?

I dont see it as ridiculous at all, the reason I know to remember to shut cupboard doors is because it FUCKING HURTS when you stand up and smack your head on one. The reason I know to watch where I am going is because it hurts, and you look like a twat, when you walk into a lamp post.

If I was constantly protected from the natural consequences of bump and bangs as a child I would not have developed an instinct to look where I am going and watch what I am doing! I am not traumatized or damaged by banging my head on the corner of a table as a child I can assure you.

My friend's child was prescribed one of these to cure his flat head, was it one of those? (Doesn't sound like it).

Oh dear

These days there are so many safety gadgets available (that I didn't use back in the day) that I suspect parents feel they might be seen as negligent if they don't have them.
Marketing plays to the 'would you ever be able to forgive yourself' if something rare but preventable with a costly gadget (rather than vigilance or common sense) happened?
Fair enough if there's a medical condition, but otherwise, no!

The company do little knee pads too. But I didn't see wrist guards which surely would be needed as the tot learns to put their hands out when they fall

To be fair, I have also had one of the clumsiest children ever. Even if nothing was there, she would trip over it! But it was nothing getting her to wear her glasses didn't fix. I'd be more concerned that wearing such protective gear for little ones doing every day activities could mean vision/ear problems causing the problem might be dismissed by assuming excessive falls could be normal and to be guarded against.

I know someone who used one of these. Her first two were average kids. Her last was tiny and premmie, walked at 8 months and used to climb the curtains. I trust her judgement after three that it was very hard to keep him safe while looking after three and it was better than him falling and hurting himself.