I am still on the hunt for a helmet that will fit my kid's adult size noggin.
She putz's around the culdesac with her radio flyer scooter but doesn't really understand how to use it yet. I do think I want her to wear a helmet when she starts using a bike (don't have one yet) and she will definitely wear it when riding in the bike trailer.
So far all she's done is ride in the bike trailer, which I make her wear a helmet for. One of my friends is "holding out for next year" before she buys a helmet. Because a 2-year old's head is magically harder than a 3-year old's head and does not require a helmet?
The bike trailer makes me more nervous than riding a tricycle or something up and down the driveway. Other cars do not watch out for bikers!
I don't if they are in the backyard (patio--no bikes) or on a trike or plasma car. If we're outside the fence I do 99% of the time though I've forgotten a time or 2.
J doesn't ride any of the things you mentioned right now, but I'd planned on a helmet for a bike eventually, and for her trike whenever she's bit enough to ride it.
eta: are the scooters really more hazardous than.. idk, running?
DD scoots around NYC streets. She has wiped out a few times. I'm really glad she has had a helmet on all of those times.
I don't if she's in the backyard on the patio playing with her balance bike bc she has yet to figure out the strider and just walks with it between her legs for all of 30 seconds before moving on to the sandbox. I also don't put it on her when she is sitting strapped into her radio flyer trike that I push with the parent bar because she can't reach the pedals because at that point it's basically just a stroller.
She does have to wear it when she's on DH's bike in the child seat and we plan to take her in the culdesac with the strider soon and she'll wear it for that.
Post by DarcyLongfellow on Sept 27, 2014 20:22:55 GMT -5
I voted yes, always.
But I realized I lied. She always wears a helmet now, but back when she used a tricycle she was like a foot from the ground and I didn't have her wear one.
Now that she has a real bike she always wears a helmet. And she always wore one back when she used to sit in the seat on my bike.
Only on an open road, path at beach along the parking lot, etc. Our local beach is the only place I see us lugging a bike or scooter, and it gets a lot of traffic. You also have to cut through the parking lot and go along the entrance/road in a few places.
With regard to home? We live on a verrry quiet cul-de-sac. I doubt we'll enforce the helmet for his scooter (just received one as a random gift), and possibly not for the bike early on. When he starts really zipping around our cul-de-sac or old enough to be riding out there alone, he'll start wearing one.
We'll enforce wrist protection with skates and skateboards. My niece had a terrible wrist break last year while catching herself when falling off of a board. And my nephew broke his ankle on an electric scooter. So those are probably out of the question, too!
Two wheeled scooter, skateboard, bike trailer, and bikes yes. Three wheeled scooter, small tricycles and big wheel no. I have no real reasoning other than the small stuff is so low and they can't really go fast.
yesterday I saw a dad riding his bike with the trailer with 2 kids in it. Neither had helmets and they were driving down main street with traffic lined up behind him. It was crazy.
There may be a couple times riding in the house where he didn't but outside on wheels means helmet. No exceptions. We started with bike seat and tricycle and now scooter and bike (he went straight to a razor scooter). He has a huge head but we found a helmet at REI.
Kids are required to wear helmets on bikes here and I presume it means scooters too. I remind one kid that forgets his all the time (he is a menace and rides recklessly).
DS's thing now is asking all the unsafe things DH and I did as kids. No helmets, car seats til a year or two, etc.
Post by AlpineSlide on Sept 27, 2014 20:35:58 GMT -5
so far he has only be in our bike trailer 3 times and he did not wear a helmet. flame me if you must. I plan to buy a helmet next time I'm at a store that carries them. The place where we bought the bike trailer only had ones that were too big.
I am still on the hunt for a helmet that will fit my kid's adult size noggin.
She putz's around the culdesac with her radio flyer scooter but doesn't really understand how to use it yet. I do think I want her to wear a helmet when she starts using a bike (don't have one yet) and she will definitely wear it when riding in the bike trailer.
How big is her head? My kid inherited H's dome (and hopefully brain), and we had a tough time too. We skipped toddler and went right into youth helmets.
I am still on the hunt for a helmet that will fit my kid's adult size noggin.
She putz's around the culdesac with her radio flyer scooter but doesn't really understand how to use it yet. I do think I want her to wear a helmet when she starts using a bike (don't have one yet) and she will definitely wear it when riding in the bike trailer.
How big is her head? My kid inherited H's dome (and hopefully brain), and we had a tough time too. We skipped toddler and went right into youth helmets.
huge. She wears adult size headbands :\ The toddler helmets we've tried so far all just sit on top of her head. I think we are going to need a youth size one. Going to a bike shop tomorrow to get one hopefully.
J doesn't ride any of the things you mentioned right now, but I'd planned on a helmet for a bike eventually, and for her trike whenever she's big enough to ride it.
eta: are the scooters really more hazardous than.. idk, running?
Yes. My little daredevil can scoot super fast and has flipped over the handle bars crashing into the curb.
Same. Scooters are super popular here and ivs seen some pretty crazy spills.
How big is her head? My kid inherited H's dome (and hopefully brain), and we had a tough time too. We skipped toddler and went right into youth helmets.
huge. She wears adult size headbands :\ The toddler helmets we've tried so far all just sit on top of her head. I think we are going to need a youth size one. Going to a bike shop tomorrow to get one hopefully.
DS got at youth size at 12 months and got at women's small at almost 5. On the plus side when FIL gives me hats for Christmas I can immediately give them to him because they don't fit my big head. I'm bummed he barely got to wear cute kids helmets though.
How big is her head? My kid inherited H's dome (and hopefully brain), and we had a tough time too. We skipped toddler and went right into youth helmets.
huge. She wears adult size headbands :\ The toddler helmets we've tried so far all just sit on top of her head. I think we are going to need a youth size one. Going to a bike shop tomorrow to get one hopefully.
If our kids procreated, that would be one hell of a keppe...
We got a youth Nutcase and a youth Specialized (for my parent's house). The bike shop spent the better part of an hour trying to force toddler helmets on his head. I'd just come from his 2 year appointment and I was like, "dude, he has a dome. Size up, please." Lol. Poor kid.
I am still on the hunt for a helmet that will fit my kid's adult size noggin.
She putz's around the culdesac with her radio flyer scooter but doesn't really understand how to use it yet. I do think I want her to wear a helmet when she starts using a bike (don't have one yet) and she will definitely wear it when riding in the bike trailer.
How big is her head? My kid inherited H's dome (and hopefully brain), and we had a tough time too. We skipped toddler and went right into youth helmets.
My sister sent DS a scooter and helmet last week. We had to wedge the helmet on for a photo to text her as a "thank you". LOL
Alright. We'll be stepping up our game thanks to this thread. I'm sure there's more force with wheels beneath you, even if you take a spill when running faster.
Post by matildasun on Sept 27, 2014 21:24:54 GMT -5
I even made my kids wear them on the push trike, because I wanted to get them in the habit early. They don't complain about them at all now, and the other day someone wanted to borrow her scooter and A made him take her helmet too(this gave me great anxiety about head lice). I was the queen of flipping over my handle bars as a kid, had many a bloody lip, and am missing half of a front tooth, because of it. My mother gasped in amazement when A flipped over her scooter handle bars, landed face forward and got up without a scratch, because of her helmet.
Post by aspentosh on Sept 27, 2014 21:36:06 GMT -5
In the bike trailer, always.
Right now, on her Strider bike, never. Mainly because she barely goes the speed of waddling on that thing so it's not worth the annoyance to her. I am trying to get her to enjoy the bike and go walking speed... then I will require a helmet.
Post by water*drop on Sept 27, 2014 21:36:42 GMT -5
Yes, always. We figured it was easiest to be strict about it right from the beginning so she'd be used to it. Now she runs to get her helmet as soon as DH mentions the bike trailer, and she even reminded MIL that she needed her helmet when MIL suggested playing with her tricycle.
I saw a middle school girl take a pretty bad spill on her head one morning last year riding her Razor scooter to school without a helmet. She hit an irregularity in the sidewalk and went flying. Luckily, her mom was there, but she hit her head pretty hard. So yeah, my kid wears a helmet whenever she's riding anything. She has the mini-kick scooter that is practically issued to children here, and isn't so great at it. Also, I can't get the helmet to fit right! It's a nutcase helmet, and no matter what I do, it's too big. I'm pretty sure it's the right size, because she has a pretty big dome and I got it last year. Do I keep messing with the straps or keep turning the wheel?
I bet if you bring it to your local bike shop, they'll help you get a good fit. Ours was super helpful and happy we came in to learn! Worth a shot.
Post by biogirl21 on Sept 27, 2014 21:37:50 GMT -5
J has never riden anything that would require a helmet, but I hope when the time comes I am diligent about getting him to wear one. It's scary to think of how much time we spent as kids on the bike without helmets. We were very lucky nothing every happened.
MH is militant about helmet use, hopefully he instilla that same belief in our children.