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?

Does this apply to cars too? After all, head injuries are the most common life-changing injury in car accidents. I’m sure so many injuries could be prevented if all car passengers and drivers wore helmets, as all race drivers do.

From day one. Non negotiable.

Your child could die if they come off a scooter or bike without one, what answers were you expecting?!

Your argument assumes that your DD will be the cause of her own accident. There's no accounting for poor ground, other kids on bikes, ice, loose dogs etc causing an accident.

I have a video of ds 1 which I wish I could share with you. He was 5, riding his two wheeled pedal bike confidently on a flat surface. Not fast at all, quite leisurely.

He got momentarily distracted and the handlebars wobbled slightly. He overcorrected and pulled the handlebars the other way too much and far too quickly causing the front wheel to suddenly turn about 90 degrees on itself.

The resulting motion and twist meant he didn't so much fall 'off' his bike as be whipped in a half circle and flung from his bike, AT the ground. Head first. His helmet bounced off the ground with a resounding bang like I've never heard before. It was a horrifically hard thump with real speed and force behind it, far more than just what gravity would have caused had he simply fallen off.

Imagine picking a 5 year old up 3 foot off the floor then swinging their head at speed at concrete. That's what it was like.

He had concussion. Even WITH the helmet. Had it not been for his helmet I strongly believe he'd have done himself serious, serious damage and this was reinforced by every Dr we saw at A&E.

The video I happened to be taking at the time makes me feel sick to watch. It's been shown to our younger dc, and some of their friends, as a reminder of how important it is to wear a helmet.

Just a 5 year old pootling along at the park at a leisurely pace. Imagine the damage if that happened to a 10 year old going far faster. Just one wheel inversion and spin, game over.

When I was 13, my best friend died of a fractured skull.

Get her to wear a helmet.

No helmet, no bike/scooter. Ours have always worn helmets, ds is a keen cyclist and his helmet has saved his life when he was knocked off his bike.

My son was riding his bike on the pavement. Skidded and flew into the road where he hit a moving car with his head.
He was incredibly lucky. The suspected fractured eye socket turned out not to be a fracture after all. His eye and face were so swollen that he couldn't open it or see. He had lots of stitches and was bruised for weeks. He has a scar now.

No helmet thst day. Because he was five minutes from home on the pavement.

When my very sensible, careful daughter was about 7, she was cycling down our road (in front of me) when she got distracted by something and ended up going head first into a metal post. Her helmet was cracked but she was essentially fine. So IMO children should always wear a helmet when cycling, even in relatively 'safe' situations.

My DC has worn one since 18 months when they first got on a balance bike. I've worked with children under 7 with brain injuries that could have been prevented by wearing a helmet and from accidents you'd never dream would happen or didn't appear that severe at the outset. We have a no helmet no bike rule and still work at him learning to be safe with how he rides his bike that isn't abandoned because he has a helmet on.

Since they start using bikes and scooters. Doesn't matter how slow and steady they are, only takes a dip in the pavement and a tip over the handlebars.
Since 2/3 in our family, when we started putting them in seats on the back of our bikes.

“Thank you very much for your thoughts, but I will very politely ignore you.”

So what’s the point in asking?

I didn't put DCs in helmets when on the balance bikes and scooters sitting lower than they would be standing and going slower than walking pace. As soon as they got moving on the scooter they were in helmets.

you're also more likely to have an accident if you're wearing one, because you think you're safer.

You only develop this attitude when you have the option of not wearing a helmet then put one on a bit later thinking it’s making you safer. If your default has always been to wear a helmet then you will ride/ski/scooter as you always would have without a second thought towards taking additional risks because of a helmet.

Having treated children with preventable brain injuries following accidents on paediatric intensive care, mine have never been allowed to ride their bikes/scooters or ski if there is no helmet on their head. From seeing their friends, pretty much all parents have the same rules

Thanks to those who actually have something sensible to contribute, like people working in kids hospital departments and a few others. Interesting to hear.

You’ve lost the plot here OP. Let a helmet on her - no helmet = no bike

By the way … I’m a doctor with A and E experience too

I hope you're getting the message here that your child should have a helmet on.

How do you know she won't fall and hit her head on a kerb or something. Why on earth would you risk it.

Maybe my kids are just more daredevil but they would be the same regardless of helmet. We've been in A&E with an accident that would have occurred helmet or not. His face was pretty bad and he has a scar but the helmet prevented worse damage. This was when he was 3 and on a balance bike so hardly going too speeds.

Same. They need them from the get go. I have four children and if they didn't have helmets on riding bikes I could have had several serious head injury visits to A&E over the years.

Mine are aged 17 down to 7.

Seems to me that pretty much everyone here has something sensible to contribute ...

Depends where you are riding?

The kerb is the most dangerous thing. So riding on the road or pavement you are next to it and it can cause severe head injuries.

If off road like bridleway etc maybe it's not so bad?

Surely it's also a good starting point, no helmet no riding. They get used to it very quickly

Before helmets were mandatory for motorcyclists,I worked in the trauma wards of a large city hospital. We had a succession of healthy young men who had catastrophic life changing head injuries that they acquired in circumstances that they were entirely unable to forsee and were caused either by 3rd parties or just a complete accident. The effects of a human head hitting something harder than itself cannot be imagined until it happens. Please buy your daughter a helmet, I beg you. My own son, on his first bike, riding on the pavement in a traffic free street, ran into the bonnet of a parked car, I was less than 5 paces away from him. His helmet was smashed but he was fine, I can't bear to think what would have happened if I had decided that day that he didn't need a helmet yet

Why on earth wouldn’t you insist on a helmet? Unbelievable that you’d risk your child’s life in this way. So irresponsible. Bet you’re back moaning on here that you can’t get your child to wear their helmet but will take no responsibility that you’ve failed to teach them that it’s absolutely a non negotiable.

I mean do you think that people who work in A&E are seeing the full picture? My daughter broke her leg badly falling off a sofa. I know a child who broke their leg stepping off a curb. Do people in A&E think that children should also not be allowed on sofas or on curbs? Its a flippant question, but of course if you work in A&E you are going to see bad things. But is that 1% of children who have fallen off their bikes who have these terrible injuries or 50% of children who have fallen off their bikes? As someone in A&E how would you know that?

It is often pointed out that Holland has one of the lowest rates of head injury in the world. It is remarked upon as everyone rides a bike but almost no one wears a helmet. This is down to bikes and cars being physically separated on different lanes and fewer people actually driving.

Given that children don't tend to ride on roads, then surely children should also fall into this low rate of head injury that they have in Holland...

I’d rather not take the chance with my child’s head when it comes to bikes and scooters.

helmet everytime, yes they make break other bones but at least their head is protected.