does your child wear a cycle helmet

[Matildathebrave]

my 8 year old boy is always out on his bike, he only cycles around our cul-de-sac with his friends but none of them wear a helmet.

I don't feel happy with this and have brought him one to wear but refuses as no one else wears one.

What should I do?

Make him.

My children are not allowed on their bikes unless they get their helmet on first. Always been the case. I don't care what other people do.

make him wear one. my friend was knocked off her bike by a motorist (completely the motorists fault) and her helmet smashed on the ground and cracked. It could have been her skull.

he's 8, it's your responsibility.

you can get really cool ones worn by cool mountain bikers/bmx riders.......

My 8y DD has a cycle helmet. The rule here is that no helmet means no bike, regardless of where she is cycling or how far she is going. DH and myself also have helmets and follow the same rules.

In the first school I worked at a child was playing on his bike near home, swerved, fell off his bike, hit his head and died that evening. He went home from school to play with hs mates, and never made it back to school again :( He wasn't wearing a helmet. The emergency services said a helmet could have prevented his fatal injuries :(

I come from a cycling family, my mum's life was saved by a helmet when I was 10. She was knocked off her bike by a driver who jumped a red light. Her helmet cracked in half like an egg and she got up and walked away.

I would never, ever get on a bike or let anyone I love get on a bike without one.

Spend whatever you have to on a cool one if necessary, it's cheaper than a funeral.

My 2 year old wears one on her tricycle. She likes to, because Daddy wears one when he rides his bike.

8 is probably a bit old to share this view, but head injuries aren't cool. All the professionals wear helmets. You can even get full face ones, so he might think of it as a motorbike helmet - see here

All his mates will want one of those!

my ds wears a helmet on his scooter and bike. no helmet, no play.

mine do and always have, despite what their friends do or not do

My dd's wear a helmet with their scooters. Dd2 fell off hers in the school playground before the helmet. Knocked herself out and ended up in a&e which would not have happened if she had been wearing a helmet!!

No helmet No bike . In our house there is no negotiation. Due to my own stupidity I forgot mine one day, DS ran into me, I smashed my head open, bleed horrendously and suffered from a good few days disorientation and pain, over a year later it's still tender and there's still a dent in the back of my skull. Some lessons you learn the hard way, I'd rather he didn't. He actually comes into the house and gets spare helmets for his friends too now.

... and... DH says show him these videos of Danny MacAskill who is, and I quote "insanely cool and hardcore"

He is wearing a helmet.

(I mean Danny MacAskill, not DH, right now!)

I thought it was law in the UK. DD has gone off today for a cycle awareness day. The school has the same rule as us, no helmet no bike.
It really saddens me to see children of three or four cycling along without them.

I cycled loads as a teenager and never wore a helmet. I got hit by a slow car on a tiny lane round the corner from and got a great big gash in my head. Luckily I was fine but we all wear helmets here now. We found some fun ones for the DCs and they look loads better than they used to IMO.

No cycling without helmet in this house ... helmets and bicycles are the same as seatbelts and cars as far as I am concerned. They are proven life savers.

Make him - tell him about my ds.

We are a big cycling family. Nearly 2 years ago when he was 6, he was cycling down a wide gravel track in a forest. He is an excellent cyclist. For some reason the wheel wobbled and he fell off.

When the ambulance and air ambulance arrived over an hour later, he still could not speak and his puils were not equally reactive. He was air lifted to a specialist head-trauma unit. He spent days in a drug induced coma with us sobbing at his bed-side as no one could tell us whether there was any permanent brain damage.

Thankfully, ds sustained no brain damage and is fine. Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet. The neurosurgeon was quite clear that he would be dead if he had not been. The dent in the side of the helemt was impressive. We were told that if the same damage had been inflicted to his skull he would not have survived until the ambulance arrived.

Not as bad as the previous post but DS came off his bike and the doctor said without a helmet he would have been in a bigger mess. We binned the helmet and bought another one. Helmets are like car seats, after an accident they need replacing.

No helmet. No bike.

Which means leading by example. I wear one too, and was very grateful as I had a nasty fall last year. Never thought that I should replace it though. Will do.

Make him wear one. You are the parent.

You know, the surface of the road just outside your house in your cul-de-sac is exactly as hard as it is a mile from home ...

Get him a cool BMX style one - he'll wear it with pleasure.

Buy him a shiny black plain Bell brand BMX style helmet. Then get him a load of vinyl stickers on Ebay that he can decorate it with. Helmets can look cool. DS has a lot of Star wars stickers on his.