Injured child, should I complain?

[HappyHen17]

Background is that I am a mother following a traumatic baby loss and several baby losses before so am extra protective, but....
Had a call from reception class that our 4 year old had a head wound and needed hospital treatment to glue it together. Turns out they had been on a bike without a helmet as no helmets are provided, I've emailed to check but it seems to be agreed by others that it is the case.
AIBU to expect a helmet per bicycle to be the rule
YABU overprotective, let them live
YANBU helmets are essential if providing bikes

Hope he's ok and recovers quickly. I would imagine the school has already had a lot of discussion about how this happened and how it can be avoided in the future. Definitely check in with them that lessons have been learned but don't complain unless you think there's real evidence of wrong doing or they're not interested in learning from it.

A badly fitted helmet especially if the strap is done up to become a choking/strangulation hazard is possibly worse than none.

In a restricted area, with lots of other children, how far and fast is a child going to go? Surely falling from nearly stationary is the same as tripping over or falling off a chair etc?

I'm not in anyway a casual parent (most parents want their children kept safe and well, that's not unusual) but I honestly couldn't get irate about this unless there's a lot of missing info (ie they were on a proper bike travelling at speed). Accidents happen and not everything can be mitigated against and in the situation I'm imagining (which could be incorrect) the risks associated with badly fitted helmets, that may themselves be stored at various temperatures, chucked on the floor, v old etc are at least equal to the risk of not wearing one. Maybe they are provided but he got on the bike without picking one up?

My DC's have had all sorts of incidents at school and in an ideal world they wouldn't have happened but schools are busy places with a lot of young people in a small space and while reasonable care should be taken, there is no guarantee stuff won't happen. DD's friend tripped in PE and has had to have operations and all sorts on a broken wrist.

I wouldn't have thought helmets were essential in a school playground/nursey bike space. they are not going to come in contact with cars etc, In my experience,kids fall off things, and are equally as likely to fall off a chair or a slide , trip over a scooter or indeed their own feet

Unfortunate accident i'd say. As long as they did the right thing after i'd put it down to experience

I doubt many children come to harm falling off a trike or balance bike, though the OPs post shows it can happen. I didn’t worry about that when mine were small BUT I did insist they wore a helmet to get them into the habit of wearing one for when they graduated to bigger bikes. Schools should insist on helmets or it’s giving the message that they are optional

No. It isn’t the law.

You “need” your seat belt on because a) other cars on the road might not be traveling at 2 mph and b) it’s impractical to have a speed limit on the seat belt law. Not because a risk assessment would suggest a seat belt was particularly useful.

Since there is no law that requires wearing a helmet while using balance bikes in a playground, you can apply a sensible risk assessment instead of blindly following a rule that may have no benefit.

I can’t believe anyone thinks it’s ok for a school not to enforce helmets when on bikes. Absolutely complain. They’ve been totally negligent

You “need” your seat belt on because a) other cars on the road might not be traveling at 2 mph and b) it’s impractical to have a speed limit on the seat belt law. Not because a risk assessment would suggest a seat belt was particularly useful.

When my DF was in an eye hospital, the bloke in the bed opposed was in danger of losing his sight after an accident on his own driveway, no other cars involved, no seatbelt.
The nature of accidents is that they happen when we're not expecting them, but there are common causes and effects which can be mitigated by appropriate equipment/procedures. Seat belts and bike helmets are these sorts of item.

Really complain????
Are you going to be one of those parents ......

One of those parents who gives a shit about basic safety?

Why were they on bikes?

and if cycle training or safety - surely they should have dropped a note beforehand?

I know of a child who fell in a playground while running around and cracked his head on the concrete, requiring surgery. If he’d been wearing a helmet, he probably wouldn’t have needed surgery.

By your reasoning, since a helmet could mitigate this risk and, given how often it happened at my kids; school, it’s common for kids to fall in playgrounds and hit their heads (surgery is pretty rare but likely not as rare as nearly losing an eye while in your car on your driveway), it is appropriate to require all kids to wear helmets when playing in playgrounds.

Not in the UK it isnt

My daughter fell over at a similar age, split her head, had to have it glued - it’s just one of those things.

She broke her arm at school, falling of the monkey bars - I didn’t complain, it’s just one of those things

You can’t legislate against your child being injured, these things happen. If the worst they do in childhood is need a big if glue, you’re not doing too badly

On the road yes I’d expect helmets but not in the playground. I would be more worried about badly fitted helmets and the dangers they pose. If you insist on helmets your child should have their own properly fitted one, it would also need to be looked after so it isn’t dropped and damaged.

The bikes and scooters at our school don't have helmets. The kids can't go fast due to space, and learn to ride safely in the same way the learn to climb safely.

Helmets are optional in the UK; there is no law compelling cyclists to wear them. Anyone posting otherwise is just making things up.

All the posters supplying anecdotes about schools and nurseries having big buckets of helmets: you do realise that bike helmets are only designed to work for one single impact? As soon as that helmet's been hit/ dropped on the ground/ whacked into something it will no longer have the level of protection promised by the manufacturers, and really should be binned. <NB: This damage will not be visible - you can't tell by looking at a helmet if it's been dropped or not>.

Which is why responsible organisations with proper risk assessment procedures in place will not insist on people wearing helmets from a shared bucket situation - they're more likely to store the helmets correctly in boxes and take the time to fit them each time they're worn.

There is also evidence that helmets which are not properly fitted to the wearer's head (never mind the ones that aren't even done up - something which I see regularly on young children) can also result in various injuries which otherwise wouldn't occur.

Children of that age could injure themselves (incl their heads) in lots of different ways. The only way to avoid that entirely would be to make them wear a helmet all day long, from when they get up until when they go to bed.

You are still more likely (statistically) to suffer a head injury as a driver or passenger in a car than you are as a cyclist. But how often do you see people wearing helmets for car journeys?!

There's also no law saying we have to avoid running with scissors, take paracetamol eight at a time, let toddlers near fire, or all sorts of other things that are basic common sense and potentially dangerous. Regardless of the law, I'd complain if a reception teacher let my child do these things and they then got injured. And SS wouldn't hesitate to investigate a parent who let a child do such stupid things and get hurt, either.

And if a shared set of helmets was pointless, why would they have them at climbing walls and other outdoor activities?
Bonkers logic.

@NumberTheory yes of course the real danger here is nits. Do you represent the interests of head reconstruction surgeons looking for a steady supply of customers? I'm joking, BTW, but you have posted a lot and I can't work out why anyone would be so invested in denigrating safety helmets.

Reception trikes? So barely 50cm off the floor? No they don't need helmets. Unfortunate accident. Your DC will learn how to navigate risk from it.

Do some fundraising to buy the school some helmets?

Kids can go pretty fast on a balance bike! I never let my kids ride in one without a helmet and I think YANBU to be annoyed at the school.

At climbing walls etc. they charge each family money to attend. They use this to hire staff to hand out and collect in helmets, to ensure they're not flung in the bucket. The staff also help children fit their helmets. Or at least I hope they do, otherwise the helmets may be useless or a risk to the children.

Schools can't afford to pay a member of staff to stop children dropping helmets on the floor or not doing up the buckle, if bikes and scooters are to be part of the continuous provision (toys that can be played with as and when). So they have to do a risk assessment based on the staff, equipment and space that do have.

OP, definitely raise it and ask about the risk assessment, but be prepared that they might say helmets aren't possible as they'd be less safe than no helmets.

Could you quote where you think I’ve denigrated safety helmets?

I’ve simply pointed out that, while accidents happen in all sorts of ways, riding balance bikes and tricycles in a playground is not particularly risky and may be less risky than, for instance, running around the same playground.

I have a bike helmet, my kids have them. I’m not against bike helmets. But I am against inappropriate risk aversion that places unreasonable burdens on schools AND seems highly unlikely to make children any safer than they are when they play without bikes.

God yes, raise it with the school. And if this is the case, that they're not using helmets, warn your fellow parents. And if necessary I'd send in a helmet for my own child while the school sorts it out. If they don't sort it quickly go to the governors. Not at all okay.

Complain

Totally agree and I’d be fuming. However I did post before as my son kept going on a bike at the childminders out on the pavement without a helmet and it upset me but loads of people said I was over reacting!! If you let a child on a bike, a helmet should be provided. If it’s your own child then it’s your choice but why risk it?! Makes no sense to me!

Your child was injured and this could have been prevented with a helmet. Imagine if it had been worse due to lack of a helmet?!