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?

I think if you aren't going down the 'immediately' route, then the next best time is 'on the roads'.

The problem is, if they have got used to not wearing a helmet, if you wait until roads they may be more reluctant to start.

Schools often dictate that if you cycle to school you must have a helmet.

My 4 year old wore one when learning on a balance bike. When we transitioned to a pedal bike he lost his balance on the first day riding to school. He was almost stationary when he fell, but toppled backwards and the helmet connected with the tarmac with serious force. If he hadn't been wearing it, I think he'd have fractured his skull.

We got helmets at the same time as balance bike, have a 4 year old who is cycling with help/parent handle still and a three year old on the old balance bike, but getting faster. Always have an adult with each in public. When going in circles on grass in private garden, no helmet. Anywhere else, on pavement, on path in park etc we wear a helmet. Mainly because I think it's a good habit, and safer, even when young/slow but also I can't control other people. We don't go near roads and in the last couple of weeks we've already had dogs knock the smaller one over off lead in a grass park, had an adult cyclist nearly run us over, and actually had a adult on thier phone plough right into us. Each time we were on a designated cycle path and on our own side.

I was recently doing a (very) slow u-turn on my bike but managed to lose balance and simply fell sideways with the side of my head absolutely smacking off the concrete.

I was wearing a helmet and there is no doubt I wouldn’t be typing this message now if I wasnt. The force on the side of my head was unreal. New helmet needed of course.

you cannot predict whEn accidents are going to happen. Even if you become emboldened wearing one - and suspect you need to really dig in to the stats to get true picture of who exactly is emboldened as I bet it isn’t every user group - you are always at risk.

TLDR; accidents happen and head injuries occur at low speeds. It is highly irresponsible not to make sure your child is safe.

Your post is completely contradictory. You’ve clearly drawn your own conclusions so why are you asking. I have a blanket rule with my kids (as my parents did me). My dad always used to say “the price you pay for your hat is the price you pay for your head” and I’ve always lived by that.

Well there's plenty of people who have hit their head falling off a bike with a helmet on who will tell you that concussion can be life changing. Why are you so against it?

From day one on scooters and bikes - you can teach your daughter about protecting her head, fair enough - but you can’t eliminate the risk of an accident being caused by someone or something else. I saw two competent skateboarders collide and crash out today. Both had a momentary lapse of concentration, both heads hit the floor. No-one’s fault but it happened.

Ours started wearing helmets as 1 yo sitting in a child bikeseat on my bike to nursery.
And done since with their own scooters/bikes.

Having a sibling & their spouse who work in the Ambulance service/A&E we followed their lead - if it has wheels you need a helmet, from day one with no exceptions. Now in the teen years we all hear "no one wears a helmet" - the answer is still well you don't ride your bike then!

No helmet, no scooting or cycling here too. Age 2-10.

What you need to do is pick your child up, hold them upside down, drop them on their head and see if it does any damage. If not, ditch the helmet. Because thats the reality of what your strange ideas actually mean. It’s actually irrelevant how fast they are going, its the sheer force of being dropped on your head that causes the damage.

Mine always wore a helmet, from when my 1 year old got on their balance bike.

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.

ive seen this research and it’s not very good evidence: it’s very anecdotal and based on adults riding in the road

Wear a helmet it could save a brain injury or death. My DH colleague sadly lost his 8yr son who literally fell off at slow speed hit his head on the kerb awkward angle ended up with a bleed on the brain, air lifted do special children’s hospital, icu and died 3d later. Yes maybe a freak accident just riding around outside their house no foul play but a helmet would have saved his life.

I know a girl that has a permanent brain injury through falling off her bike and hitting her head, she wasn't wearing a helmet

I was out riding through a wood once. A tree had fallen down which I rode round only to still make contact with a branch. The branch ripped my helmet off my head and took a huge chunk out of the helmet. The helmet saved me a serious head injury

I made helmets mandatory before even sitting on a bike or scooter....so from age 2. I believe these habits are things that need to feel like associations...like putting on shoes before leaving the house, or checking the doors before you go to bed. If you train the association,it will never occur to them to get on a bike or scooter without a helmet....t will just feel wrong.

As soon as they get on a bike outside.

I found it easiest to start with a helmet, as an intrinsic aspect of using wheels, than to try and introduce it later.

We also wore caps outdoors which are great for both sun and rain, and because it was just something associated with going out, there was no row about it.

There are enough power struggles in parenting, and anything that can be made a default win saves energy for more important things.

Op I'm not sure if you're genuine but if you are, here's my two pennies worth for you to mutter into your coffee about.

I work in neuro rehab in a children's hospital. Head injuries can happen anywhere, anytime. If there's ever a chance you can reduce the risk, you should. Believe me you will wish you had if the worst should happen.

I don't make mine wear helmets on scooters. I think I will from now on after reading this thread.

If it's got wheels you wear a helmet. After losing my best friend when aged 7 to a catastrophic head injury (which wouldn't have happened if he had a helmet on) then if you wish to ride a bike/scooter anything then you wear a helmet.

Just put her in helmet.

For the love of God. You would never forgive yourself if your small kid had an avoidable head injury
You ain't going to be able to rationalise it.

The second they can ride anything. DS has always worn a helmet, a full face one. He's 3. He wore a helmet while riding in a seat on my bike when he was 1. He was about 18 months when he got his first balance bike. And he has worn a full BMX helmet on anything with wheels the whole time.

I cannot imagine letting a 7 year old ride a bike without a helmet, absolutely irresponsible. They don't need to be daredevils to fall off their bikes. Both my nieces have smashed their faces in falling off a bike and a scooter (hence DS wearing a full face helmet as opposed to just covering his head) neither are daredevils. They hit a rock with their front wheel and went face first onto the floor. It's literally pure luck your daughter hasn't ended up in A&E.

No helmet. No bike. It doesn't take much to fall and hit your head causing life changing injuries. Not worth the risk

From Day 1 of them getting on a bike/scooter/skateboard etc.