Why do you not make your kid wear a helmet?

[Anonymous]

Helmets are not required in MD for scooters/bikes with wheel diameter under 14".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my kids wear a helmet for any bike/scooter, etc and have since they could toddle over to one. I want them to have a muscle memory for life - when they are out on their own without me to remind them, I don't even want them to consider it optional.

My kids are adults. I've been through the teen and college years. It's cute that you think it will become muscle memory for them. Not wearing a helmet is probably the least stupid things my kids did as teens. Thankfully, they survived. They wore helmets when I was around to force the issue. That's about as good as you're going to get. They did always wear seatbelts...so that's something.

[Anonymous]

I see kids, mostly boys, biking without helmets all the time now. It seems to be a trend, and I assume that many parents aren’t aware that they left the house without one, or they’re ditching the helmet in a bush somewhere to be picked up on the way back. This is in generally safety conscious Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see kids, mostly boys, biking without helmets all the time now. It seems to be a trend, and I assume that many parents aren’t aware that they left the house without one, or they’re ditching the helmet in a bush somewhere to be picked up on the way back. This is in generally safety conscious Arlington.

Because they were not required to wear them when they were 4. Idiot parents.

[Anonymous]

I try to. As soon as she bikes around the corner she ditches it. I known this because y other child who bikes with her tells me!

Her biking is the only exercise she gets, and the only outdoor time she has. She has behavioral issues, we are dealing with them as best we can with therapy and meds.

We figure the tradeoff is worth it. No it's not ideal. But her behavior is a million times better after being outside exercising an hour or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my 4yo ride her scooter in our driveway without a helmet. Why? She is not going anywhere far or fast and also will scoot a bit and then do something else and then scoot a bit more. If we are leaving our actual property, she wears a helmet.

Can she not crack her head on your driveway?

Do you make your children wear a helmet when they run around? They could fall and crack their heads. The same 4yo fell off the couch and bumped her head on the coffee table this morning. Should she wear a helmet while watching Peppa Pig?

They don't "run around" on wheels, so good try, but no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my 4yo ride her scooter in our driveway without a helmet. Why? She is not going anywhere far or fast and also will scoot a bit and then do something else and then scoot a bit more. If we are leaving our actual property, she wears a helmet.

Can she not crack her head on your driveway?

Do your kids wear helmets walking on your driveway?

If you don't understand the difference between walking and riding a wheeled scooter, you lack the intellect to be a parent.

Go ask a handful of pediatric orthopedists and neurologists whether your kids should wear a helmet when A. walking in your driveway or B. riding a scooter on your driveway. We'll wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they are so ugly and look awful. My kid is not speeding down hills losing control. It's fine.

"Ugly" and "look awful?" Wow. Your vanity is pathetic and endangers your child.

Now I'm sure you'll clap back with "well, hahahaha, they've been doing it for yeeeeears and it's just fiiiiine," because you don't understand that that means nothing and that could change in an instant.

Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my 4yo ride her scooter in our driveway without a helmet. Why? She is not going anywhere far or fast and also will scoot a bit and then do something else and then scoot a bit more. If we are leaving our actual property, she wears a helmet.

Can she not crack her head on your driveway?

Do you make your children wear a helmet when they run around? They could fall and crack their heads. The same 4yo fell off the couch and bumped her head on the coffee table this morning. Should she wear a helmet while watching Peppa Pig?

Falling off a couch is not the same as falling off a scooter on a concrete or asphalt driveway. For one, unless you have concrete floors in your house, the floor surface is not as hard, she was probably not going very fast whilst playing on a couch and you are just teaching bad habits. Any time you are riding on a bike/scooter/etc, a helmet is the safest way to go. Why find out the hard way what happens when a kid smashes their head on concrete?

[Anonymous]

My son wanted to know why he had to wear one and his cousin didn’t once a few years back. They were probably 10 and 12. Told my 10 year old it was because I love him more than my sister loves his cousin.
My sister can take a joke, luckily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my 4yo ride her scooter in our driveway without a helmet. Why? She is not going anywhere far or fast and also will scoot a bit and then do something else and then scoot a bit more. If we are leaving our actual property, she wears a helmet.

Can she not crack her head on your driveway?

Driveway is magical.

[Anonymous]

The stupids who can’t imagine why you’d need a helmet biking when you don’t need one running are literally proving Darwin’s theory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my 4yo ride her scooter in our driveway without a helmet. Why? She is not going anywhere far or fast and also will scoot a bit and then do something else and then scoot a bit more. If we are leaving our actual property, she wears a helmet.

Can she not crack her head on your driveway?

Do you make your children wear a helmet when they run around? They could fall and crack their heads. The same 4yo fell off the couch and bumped her head on the coffee table this morning. Should she wear a helmet while watching Peppa Pig?

I'd course some kids get head injuries from regular falls but it is more common on a bike, scooter, trampoline, etc.

Right. I guess we have difference levels of risk tolerance. If my kid, who knows how to ride a scooter, rides around in our 15’ driveway, I’m not going to make her put in a helmet. If she jumps on her small trampoline in the house, I don’t make her wear a helmet. If we are going anywhere with the scooter, she brings a helmet and wears it if she uses the scooter. I don’t think this makes me a bad parent unless your standards for good parenting is to never let any kid do anything that might be dangerous.

The risk tolerance argument is stupid because risks are taken for some kind of reward. There is no upside to not wearing a helmet, unless you classify “parent gets to be lazy” as a reward.

[Anonymous]

We live right by a bike trail in VA and our neighborhood is a bit of a cut through for 2 sections of it. I am amazed by the people on bikes without helmets who go flying through intersections and ignore stop signs.
Since the days of driving my kids to preschool my kids would ask why those people aren’t wearing helmets. I one time said - because they are not smart.
Now whenever they see people riding without helmets they yell out - you should really wear a helmet. I did have to teach them to say it wasn’t “safe” instead of saying it isn’t smart.

It is muscle memory for them already at 5 and 7. We never have to ask them to put on helmets. They go to get a scooter or bike they put the helmet on.

I also think it helps that their dad is an avid biker and always always wears a helmet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son wanted to know why he had to wear one and his cousin didn’t once a few years back. They were probably 10 and 12. Told my 10 year old it was because I love him more than my sister loves his cousin.
My sister can take a joke, luckily.

We used to have neighbors who did not make their kids wear helmets. They would ride back and forth in front of our house. My elderly mother was living with us and she would sit out on the front porch and holler "Your parents must not love you very much!" at the kids. It worked.