Why do you not make your kid wear a helmet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Thank you for your honesty - op

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people around here have helmets for their kids while on a bike or scooter etc. I have friends in other states who don't. Why would anyone not teach their kids the importance of a helmet?

Because we don’t love our kids as much as you do! Also you’re far more intelligent.

[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?

Most kids ride a scooter slower than they walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1. My cousin is proof of this. He fell off his bike when he was 15 with no helmet and has spent the rest of his life living with his mom so she can take care of him. He will probably move to a home when she dies.

My kids know it’s not optional, even in the driveway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Right. It’s hard enough to get my complicated kid outside. Luckily, he seems to prefer walking.

[Anonymous]

Some of the responses on here are ridiculous. Honestly, it takes a couple of seconds to snap on a helmet and snap it back off. It's a very small action to take for avoiding something that could be grave. Do we all wear helmets walking around? No. But there is a big difference between walking around and being on something that has wheels and goes fast and can lose control at a moments notice.

To the parent who doesn't make the 4 year old wear a helmet on a scooter in the driveway. It's not just about the fact that your driveway is small and they are going relatively slow. It's about building good habits from the start and reinforcing them. Every. Single. Time.

This will also apply when the kid starts driving. Why wear a seatbelt when I am just popping up the street, it's not very far? I will only be going 35 miles an hour, it's no big deal.

My kids have always worn helmets when on anything with wheels - tricycle, bike, scooter. etc. Not negotiable. You don't wear it, you don't ride.

My son is a teenager and goes on bike rides with friends (especially during the pandemic). He is the only one who wears a helmet. I asked him once why he doesn't try to get out of wearing it since his friends don't. He said: because I am not stupid and I value my life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I've had a random old person say something like that to me about my parents when I was fifteen. That was when my pool of venom already began to fill so I told her she'd be dead before them anyway. It felt so good.

[Anonymous]

When it rains I make my kids wear life preservers because you never know if it might flood. So that makes me the best parent in the world!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I've had a random old person say something like that to me about my parents when I was fifteen. That was when my pool of venom already began to fill so I told her she'd be dead before them anyway. It felt so good.

I think old people just become cranky because they can’t do anything but “sit on the front porch” anymore. They hate seeing people have fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I've had a random old person say something like that to me about my parents when I was fifteen. That was when my pool of venom already began to fill so I told her she'd be dead before them anyway. It felt so good.

I think old people just become cranky because they can’t do anything but “sit on the front porch” anymore. They hate seeing people have fun.

I guess you have that to look forward to.

[Anonymous]

My 8yo wears one on her bike and now her hoverboard. She doesn’t wear one on a scooter but doesn’t go very fast on it.

[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.

Because my friend was in basically a similar scenario above and cracked her helmet. Twenty years ago we were training for a ride and had all but stopped - on the bike but going like 1-2 mph to grab something. Way slower than a kid on a scooter. Some guys came around the corner fast and she fell over trying to manuever out of the way. It cracked her helmet, so I shudder to think what would have happened otherwise. I've always worn a helmet and insisted my kids did too - though it is much harder at late teens.

NP. I do make my 3 yo wear a helmet on her scooter at all times, but honestly, there is a difference between a low speed fall from a bike or a scooter. The bike is much taller!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the responses on here are ridiculous. Honestly, it takes a couple of seconds to snap on a helmet and snap it back off. It's a very small action to take for avoiding something that could be grave. Do we all wear helmets walking around? No. But there is a big difference between walking around and being on something that has wheels and goes fast and can lose control at a moments notice.

To the parent who doesn't make the 4 year old wear a helmet on a scooter in the driveway. It's not just about the fact that your driveway is small and they are going relatively slow. It's about building good habits from the start and reinforcing them. Every. Single. Time.

This will also apply when the kid starts driving. Why wear a seatbelt when I am just popping up the street, it's not very far? I will only be going 35 miles an hour, it's no big deal.

My kids have always worn helmets when on anything with wheels - tricycle, bike, scooter. etc. Not negotiable. You don't wear it, you don't ride.

My son is a teenager and goes on bike rides with friends (especially during the pandemic). He is the only one who wears a helmet. I asked him once why he doesn't try to get out of wearing it since his friends don't. He said: because I am not stupid and I value my life.

+1

[Anonymous]

Are that many kids really slow on the scooter? I’ve always seen kids move very quickly on them.

[Anonymous]

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.

Our pedestrian warned us that scooter is worse than cycle and even a pebble can cause a crash. Helmets are a must.

BUT, if you have had kids young and do not have fertility issues, you can always have another kid. For us AMA moms, we will probably have only 1 or 2 kids in our lives and we are super vigilant about their health and safety. Why else we would be strict about wearing helmets, wearing seatbelts, getting vaccines, not playing with guns, not vaping etc?