Your thoughts on Heelys needed for BBC breakfast - are they a danger?

[JustineMumsnet]

Hello,
What's your view of Heelys? They've recently been labelled the most dangerous toy by a consumer group - read about it here - and I'm going on BBC breakfast tomorrow to give the Mumsnet view. Are they dangerous, should they come with a health warning, a public menace or is a risk of injury just part of growing up? Be very grateful for your thoughts...
Thanks

Aren't a lot of things children do dangerous by definition? Climbing trees, trampolining, even running around the playground all come with some risk, IMO. Best give them all a nice Playstation so they don't ever get up off their bottoms

Oh
Another nothing article from a crap Sunday paper.
What a surprise.

they're only the same as skateboards and roller blades aren't they? i imagine they'll be a five minute fad, still they're a pita in the supermarket!

Funnily enough I was only thinking about this last week.

Personally I'd never buy them for dd (she's too young now anyway). I can't stand the way children walk when they have them on - almost on tip-toe, back not straight. Theylook really heavy and inflexible. If you go to a lot of trouble getting correctly fitted shoes/trainers, why then reverse all that good work by putting these on your child's feet?

Also don't see the point of them - not like you can go much faster than a good walking pace and I would have thought that less energy used.

I don't think that being "a public menace" and "risk of injury just part of growing up" are mutually exclusive

I suspect they're no more dangerous than roller skates/blades - possibly less so as my impression is that you don't get up so much speed or cover as much distance on them. I can't help thinking that the weird position you have your foot in will cause ligament/tendon problems though

I think they are great. They come with a dvd telling you to always wear safety equipment and to be careful.
DD (9) has had 2 big falls, 2 grazed knees and a few small bruises. Nothing I wouldnt have got on a pair of roller boots in the 80s.

Also, instead of sitting on the playstation all winter we have gone on nighty walks to all the surrounding villages so she can heely, excercise we would have never have had otherwise.

I certainly wouldn't want my children to wear them all day every day, but I think they're fine as an alternative to skates. I would be a bit worried about crossing roads, but I will be getting dd some for her birthday I think.

If used properly they are probably fine, if pricey, as a gimmick. However I have yet to see a child using them wearing any safety equipment or taking the wheels off to walk across a road or on uneven ground. As others ahve said we have to allow kids to take risks or we'll cultivate an overcautious or increasingly litigious generation.

I agree that at least it is some form of excercise - the only problem that I can see with them is if kids go whizzing around shops etc & crash into others - i.e. places where roller skates / skateboards etc are not allowed

(I'd love some for whizzing to work !!)

I just realised my post sounded rather callous about dd- I will be getting her some but will be supervising her where roads are involved, I should have said

We haven't got any (yet) but it would not have occured to me that they were any more dangerous than roller skates (Which i suppose is the nearest comparitive toy).

God, I lived in roller skates when I was 7/8 - no such thing as elbow knee pads or helmets in 1978. And I lived at the top of a steep hill. Let's just say, I got good - fast

But surely with roller skates you've got a more even surface to skate on. I mean, with these things, all your weight has to be on the heel to "wheely" so you're pushed into a bit of an unnatural position. Also, with roller skates, your legs have to move in order to go along, and it's pretty good exercise. With these you just seem to shuffle and then stand still and wheel along.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not losing sleep over it, but I really do hope that they're a temporary phase that has disappeared by the time dd really starts to pester.

Has it been in the papers then? Haven't seen anything.

i think they are fine if you take the right precautions when wearing them. no worse than rollerskates IMO.

i want a pair

kids today cant win, they want them exercising, a craze comes in which gets kids out and about in the fresh air and actually moving, and still people complain.

with skating you are still forced into an unatual position, and once you have skated off you can glide with hardly any movement at all. it takes practise and a bit of weaving to perfect it.

never mind the danger to the kids - they are bloody annoying and a danger to other people when used in inappropriate places

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I'd love to see Justine earnestly bringing up your very valid point cod

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Agree with icod.

So many things we/children do that are dangerous, ice skating, roller blading, horse riding, skiing, climbing trees, climbing anything...

Despite the risk, we STILL do them. Thank god. Because we are not insanely over protective or anxious.

Heelys are no worse.

I've never noticed kids have them on until i see them gliding across the aisles at sainsbury's....

seconds cod
really annoying things
especially when at the Mall trybing to do some shopping
grrrrr