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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bike helmet

35 replies

PumpkinKlNG · 08/07/2021 20:08

My son got a new bike today and I was talking with my mum about it and said I will get him a helmet, she started laughing and said that he doesn’t need a helmet and he will look ridiculous! He’s 7?! 7 year olds still use helmets surely?

OP posts:
Thelazydog · 08/07/2021 20:11

Around our town, almost everybody wears a helmet, and I'm incredibly glad, coz it means I don't have a battle on my hands.

When I was at school, a kid got his head smashed in in a bike accident, and is still re-learning how to walk, talk and eat solids, almost 20 years later. He has fulltime carers. It's not something I'd say was worth it for the sake of looking cool.

Plus, you can get some pretty cool helmets. They don't have to be those fluorescent yellow mixing bowl shaped ones.

Get him a helmet!

JillsFlapjacks · 08/07/2021 20:13

Your mum clearly isn't aware of the sorts of catastrophic head injuries that can happen when cyclists aren't wearing a helmet. No helmet = no bike here.

luxxlisbon · 08/07/2021 20:14

It is completely stupid to allow a 7 year old on a bike without a helmet.

CatCup · 08/07/2021 20:14

@luxxlisbon

It is completely stupid to allow a 7 year old on a bike without a helmet.
Agree.
iklboo · 08/07/2021 20:18

Your mum is ridiculous. Even if she may be from an era of no seat belts, car seats and six kids in the footwell of the car she must realise things change? She does know most if not all of his friends will be wearing them too?

NonShallot · 08/07/2021 20:28

Where I live (UK but not England) it is the law for anyone under 13 to wear a helmet when cycling. Parents are fined if they don't wear one. Personally I think it should be law for anyone on a bike to wear a helmet, regardless of age.

Blackhawkdown2020 · 08/07/2021 20:30

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

Wowjustwow99 · 08/07/2021 20:30

Rule in our house is no helmet, no bike !
This is for the children and the adults.
I've had adult friends come off bikes at very low speeds and the helmet has saved there life.

Original poster
PumpkinKlNG · 08/07/2021 20:33

I said to her adults are suppose to wear them but she just gave me a funny look! We’ve just been to the park and there was several kids on bikes and scooters without helmets (actually none of them was wearing one) so maybe she’s just not use to seeing anyone wear them I don’t know.

OP posts:
Wigglegiggle0520 · 08/07/2021 20:34

@JillsFlapjacks

Your mum clearly isn't aware of the sorts of catastrophic head injuries that can happen when cyclists aren't wearing a helmet. No helmet = no bike here.
This
Budgetating · 08/07/2021 20:35

No helmet, no bike.
Same as no safety gear, no rollerblades/skateboard.
Your mum is being ridiculous. And I would be questioning letting her look after him - would she be happy letting him go off on his bike without a helmet? Will she be making snide comments so it turns into a huge issue?

idontlikealdi · 08/07/2021 20:35

Non negotiable for us at any age.

CMOTDibbler · 08/07/2021 20:39

Would she like a look at my sons bike helmet? It did its job and absorbed a huge amount of energy when a car stopped suddenly in front of him and he hit it as he couldn't stop in time. 5cm of it at the front is crushed, and it is fractured all the way round. He was concussed for a week, but didn't have any long lasting consequences apart from a broken tooth. Looking at that helmet makes me feel sick as to what could have happened to him.

Terminallysleepdeprived · 08/07/2021 20:44

Rule here for bike, scooter and skates is no helmet no play.

A kid I was at school with was killed when he fell off his bike and smashed his head on the curb...we were about 8

Rocketearth · 08/07/2021 20:46

No helmet = no bike / scooter / skateboard on this house.

Anyone can suffer anything from minor to catastrophic injuries in a bike/scooter accident and a helmet is essential to absorbing the impact of such an event.

However, I think helmets are like trampolines - it’s all right until it’s not.

Original poster
PumpkinKlNG · 08/07/2021 20:48

Wow these stories :( definitely going to get him one, I don’t care if he looks “ridiculous” which he won’t, I’m more concerned about his safety, I was surprised by her comments as she’s normally overly cautious although looking back we didn’t have helmets growing up.

OP posts:
girlmom21 · 08/07/2021 20:51

100% get him a helmet and don't let her make you doubt yourself. His safety is absolutely paramount.

Missingtheedge · 08/07/2021 20:52

Back in the late 80s when I was at secondary school a woman came to visit an assembly to promote wearing helmets. Her young son had been hit and killed by a car reversing out of a driveway as he rode along the footpath on his bike, and the hospital said if he’d been wearing a helmet he may have survived. I’ve never forgotten her as the look of utter sadness and devastation was etched on her face despite her upbeat presentation to us teenagers.

For the sake of making your kids wear a helmet, don’t be the next parent to find out in the worst way possible what the consequences could be of not bothering with one.

Keepithidden · 08/07/2021 20:52

Read up on the "helmet debate", a quick Google will yield results. Then make an informed decision yourself. There's a lot of misinformation about helmets unfortunately, from both sides of the debate I should add!

Thisisthewaywego · 08/07/2021 20:55

Like others have said, no helmet means no bike or scooter. I’d much rather take the risk of it being ineffectual than not.

Confrontayshunme · 08/07/2021 20:56

Bontrager has a great slogan for their WaveCel technology: "You Only Have One Brain". I thought it was a bit naff till my DH broke his hip in a low speed cycle crash that the doctors thought must have been a motorbike. He literally tipped over going around a roundabout at 10mph. His Wavecel helmet distributed the force of impact so his hip was the only thing that was broken. My DD also had a very minor fall on her bike coming out of school at age 7, and her helmet cracked from the force. We use free or secondhand bikes but buy gold standard helmets, and now I don't regret it at all. Even one concussion is too many, and I wish parents were as hyperfocused on brain health as they are on water bottles and suncream.

Toddlerteaplease · 08/07/2021 21:24

Better a cracked helmet than a cracked skull.

Backhills · 08/07/2021 21:28

@iklboo

Your mum is ridiculous. Even if she may be from an era of no seat belts, car seats and six kids in the footwell of the car she must realise things change? She does know most if not all of his friends will be wearing them too?
I think this is very class dependent actually.

I live opposite a ptimary schopl and very few of the children arriving by bike wear helmets. I've never seen a child with a helmet on a scooter.

They should, but I don't think it's given that will, depending on the area.

TooBored1 · 09/07/2021 07:31

I personally don't always wear a helmet but my children ALWAYS do, bike and scooter.

The studies show that kids have different types of accidents to adults, so the helmet is more effective.

Please do watch a couple YouTube videos on how to fit it properly though - a badly worn helmet us almost more dangerous than no helmet.

Ifailed · 09/07/2021 07:37

Please do watch a couple YouTube videos on how to fit it properly though - a badly worn helmet us almost more dangerous than no helmet

I agree with this! Far too many of the kids I see riding around the local park on scooters, balance bikes and regular bikes have the helmet too far back on their head, if they fell they'd have no protection at the front, the most common place to impact.