At what point should a child start to wear a bike helmet?

[StillStandingOnAMushroom]

Okay, so I know this is a contentious topic and I know there are a lot of strong feelings out there. Let me first tell you what I don't want. If you think your child should always wear a helmet from the moment they first get on a tricycle/ balance bike/3-wheeled scooter, then I know your point of view and I respect it, but it's not going to help me. Thank you very much for your thoughts, but I will very politely ignore you. So please mutter into your coffee about how irresponsible we are and leave it at that.

So our daughter is 7. She has never been one to push the physical boundaries, she's always been pretty slow and steady. We've never put a bike helmet on her, not because I don't believe in helmets - when we go mountain biking she will wear a helmet. When she goes horse riding she wears a riding hat. I think there are absolutely circumstances when a hat/helmet should be worn. But after researching helmet wearing for bikes it turns out that yes you're safer wearing a helmet if you have an accident but you're also more likely to have an accident if you're wearing one, because you think you're safer. When snowboarding, I fell so many more times when wearing a helmet because I was going faster and taking more risks. My head was safer because of the helmet, but my arms, legs, body not so much.

I want her to learn that she needs to take care of her head and her body before she gets too confident and starts doing all the crazy stuff. I think this is a really important part of teaching her safety. Kids under 12 don't really feature in head injury statistics with or without helmets. But. There is also a line where they start doing crazier stuff and going faster. At what point do you say okay they're now going fast enough that they need to start wearing a helmet?

*tried out her new bike slowly (sounds better!)

As soon as they are on a bike???

Why wait??

Immediately. From day 1.

Or, in your case, right now. Before you take any further unnecessary risks.

There is nothing like the feeling of a helmet deforming and reforming whilst breaking a car windscreen.

That would have been my head and I wouldn't be here writing this.

People die falling backwards from standing, please do get her to wear a helmet.

Maybe your next piece of "research" reading should be about traumatic brain injuries.

From the next time she gets on a bike.

I've always done it for bikes but would say definitely on any roads. For scooting on a pavement we don't bother but honestly my kids scoot at around the same speed as jogging or running - not speed demons or into any kind of stunts! And nobody wears a helmet to run in.

I'd drive a lot more carefully if my kids weren't wearing seatbelts but they're still buckled up no matter how short or slow the journey...

Not on a tricycle (unless they are older than about 3). But yes, when they start riding a bike with stabilizers.

Oh god 🤦‍♀️

I've seen some absolutely dreadful head injuries from kids as young as 2 or 3 on scooters.

Honestly, what are you thinking?

Seriously. Wise up.

As soon as they are on a bike. Whether that's riding it, in a seat on the back, or in a trailer. It's just not worth the risk.

My kids are teens and all wear helmets to cycle to school. They get made fun of by the "cool" teens, but since we instilled safety first from a young age it doesn't bother them and they think those who don't wear helmets are idiots.

Anything with wheels = helmet

I read an article about a young girl that fell of her bike hit her head and ended up disabled for the rest of her life.

Just put it on.

Straight away, yes because of risks but also because of habit formation. We have absolutely no issue getting DS to wear a helmet because it's always been mandatory to cycle or scoot and he sees that we wear them.
Your choice and your risk not to use one up to now but you've made the boundary blurred.

It’s never occurred to me for mine not to wear helmets.

when I was 10, my friend and I were riding our bikes and she took a turn too late, going headfirst into a wall. Her helmet had a huge crack in it. She was absolutely fine (although very upset and shaken up). Without the helmet it would have been a very different story.

I have a 4 year old. She doesn't wear a helmet when riding around our garden, but anywhere outside the garden she wears one.

We’re in the no helmet = no cycling camp. For safety, and to make it second nature.

Seriously?!? This is ridiculous! As soon as they start, it’s helmet or nothing. It’s part of the bike / scooter - you don’t get on without it.

Apply your logic to horses as you say your daughter rides. If she was just walking / trotting and bumbling around, she wouldn’t need a helmet as she wasn’t taking risks or experimenting? How is that different?

I mean don’t get me wrong - I’m a massive hypocrite as I had ponies growing up and we would be vaulting onto their backs in the field and doing all sorts without helmets but I would never let my child! 🤣 I think they all wear helmets on the ground on the yard the whole time now. Sensible as one of my worst injuries was being kicked in the head.

Remember to check helmet dates. They should be replaced 5 years after manufacture. There is a sticker in the helmet with that info.

day 1
mine have worn them from tricycles , scooters to bikes

its their heads. They don't fix so easy!

Well there isn't really a line that divides safe from dangerous is there? Obviously a downhill mountain biker is more likely to be seriously injured if they come off than a small child riding in the park but there are no absolutes either way. It's very difficult to quantify risk and if you try to differentiate between cycling activities that are worth wearing a helmet for and others that aren't then I think it increases the chances of a child not putting their helmet on in a high risk situation. Plus of course freak accidents do happen even in generally low risk situations. If it's a habit to always wear a helmet then hopefully there won't be an occasion when it is needed but not there.
As adults we are hopefully a bit better at assessing risks but I think for young children safety rules need to be absolute as they just can't make those kind of judgements safely. A bit like an adult can generally spot when it is safe to cross a road withoit waiting for the green man but most of us would teach our children that you should always wait and would model that behaviour if crossing with a child.
I would make helmet wearing a normal part of riding from now if I were you. In my experience, children who see wearing a helmet as the norm from a young age are less likely to forget or to succumb to peer pressure not to wear one when they are older.

Both of mine have worn helmets from the first time they got on a bike. Since that’s not the answer you want I’d say next time she goes on her bike would be the best time.

I’ve seen too many caved in heads on PICU. (And have never, ever stood over a bed wishing that the poor child hadn’t been wearing a helmet). DD’s 6 year old friend recently required brain surgery after a fall from his scooter - not flying down ramps at the skate park, but scooting down the street to his gran’s.

I haven’t looked into the data you’ve seen around being more likely to have an accident wearing a helmet, so may be wrong, but surely that’s because a higher proportion of people on bikes have the sense to wear one than not? Especially those using them in a higher risk way e.g mountain biking or on the road. They don’t take greater risks because they wear a helmet, but are more likely to wear a helmet because they are at greater risk? Either way, I’d rather take a slightly higher chance of a broken arm than the usually life changing consequences of a traumatic brain injury.

I would say from now. Because you're wondering about it. So for you that means the line where you think she needs to is about now.

My 7yo is on a 20” wheel bike and starting to cycle on roads with me. He wears a helmet.

From whenever they first ride a bike / scooter. It's not about speed necessarily - kids have died falling from bikes / scooters and hitting their heads on kerbs etc. plus it teaches good habits if they've always done it.

As soon as they started on a bike or scooter. No helmet no riding. It's a non negotiable.