[Closed] Do you make your kids wear a helmet when riding a Scooter?

I can see this ending well...

not for normal scootering.

Yes at the skate park, and pads and wrist guards.

Would the school be lliable?

Don't you love how litigious our society has become? Best off banning it to be on the safe side.

Before this goes predictably well, I never wore a helmet riding as a youth and never crashed.

About 6 months ago I tripped over laptop cable and softened the blow using just my head against door frame. I thought I was going to die for the next 20 seconds.

What does that say? Bugger all, but if I had kids, I'd probably be so ridiculously protective I wouldn't allow them a bike until they were 15, like my parents did 😀

I don't insist on mine wearing a helmet, if they want to then fine, if not, also fine. I'd rather they were active and putting barriers to that by insisting on a helmet seems daft to me.

My 5yr old isn't allowed on the scooter or bike without one. We brought him a cool ##ss pot and he loves it. He does have a tendency to try silly tricks tho. The paramedic that is my Dad made me wear one as a kid it's just gone down to the next generation.

I let mine choose, (bikes and scooters) the girls always wear their helmets but sometimes the boy doesn't want to, I'm OK with that. I should really insist on a helmet and knee pads when he's walking around though, he's a liability on his feet 😕 The chances of him doing himself in are oh so very small and I'd prefer him to be active plus I don't always wear a helmet so I've got to dose my hypocrisy...

I was a bit lax with mine until my boy went over the front of his mini micro and his head missed the pointy corner of a brick wall by about 10mm. Always make them wear them now. Well, nearly always.

I can see this ending well...

6 pages?

I wouldn't stop them taking scooters to school if they didn't want to take helmets.
Personally I wouldn't hold the school responsible if they suffered a head injury whilst scootering at school.

Was just curious to guage parent opinion of helmets and scooters.
Is scootering more or less likely to result in a head injury than riding a bike?

I'm not too bothered...he's only two and a few months though so hasn't quite got the hang of it yet so falls are the norm. He asks to put his helmet on if we're taking the "dooter" out though, so we stick it on as he likes it. I do regularly meet another dad in the park who's lad wears a helmet trundling around on a four wheeled plastic tractor. That kinda keeps me grounded about my level of concern. 🙂

Yes I insist and after a bit of resistance and some talking they are now fine with it. Not all their mates wear them, actually one of them has a rather big scar that runs from just above his eyebrow and straight up his forehead and into the hairline. Was riding his scooter to school and lost control on a downhill gradient. Crashed into a metal fence and scored himself on a big metal bolt.

Why wouldn't you make the case for it? Seriously?

Why would a school be liable for your child's or another child's accident or mis behaviour?

Better they learn some rules of the road and risk of collision when a scuffed knee is the penalty for failure, than get behind the wheel of a car to experience that risk, with increased severity of risk. That by the way is researched and evidenced (experience small managed risks means you learn to make big judgements about serious risks later) and HSE policy (children should experience risks, and schools are well placed to afford that opportunity).

The short answer as a parent is 'it depends'. Ours belting around the street and parks, no. At the skate park, it depends....personally, I thnk scooter speeds are relatively low, and due to small wheels falls are much more 'limb first' than cartwheels etc that you get on faster bikes with bigger wheels.

yes, but he's happy to do so.
scooters are more dangerous than balance bikes and he's had a couple of OTBs because of the small wheels and rubbish pavements we have round here.
he's only 2 and I don't want him hurting himself even if it is a small risk.

rather big scar that runs from just above his eyebrow and straight up his forehead and into the hairline

The chicks/dudes will dig that shit, scars are Krazy sexy!

Why wouldn't you make the case for it? Seriously?

Let 'em make the choice, normally they'll choose to wear a helmet if you've explained the reasons and not rammed it down their throats.

Why wouldn't you make the case for it? Seriously?

I presume that as one of the biggest risks to kids now is being run over, you drive them everywhere to separate from the traffic? No?

The reason why is there is a benefit to the activity of walking and scooting - and there can be benefit to not insisting on pads and helmets and paraphanilia as well. It doesn't set the standard that everything in life is to be feared. It allows us to get out more quickly. It allows kids to take on thier own play and activity, without parent always being in charge, at an early age. It allows them to learn that every surface is not perfectly flat, or soft safety surfacing, or designed to hold speed back etc etc. So yes, I could (and do) make the case for not.

Edit: And again, ROSPA and HSE would support the decision too or not too - with reasons risk benefit.
Go and read 'Growing up in a risk averse world' by Tim Gill, or read his blog. A must for parents IMO.

Then you presume wrong. They walk everywhere but get supervision and instruction on road safety.The key difference in wearing critical safety equipment like a helmet when they are young is that it mitigates against some of the consequences of an error. An error that their youth and inexperience makes more likely. A skinned knee can be a useful learning experience. A brain injury is not.

Don't worry about scootering as they don't go to skateparks or try anything too "stunty". The speed my kids scooter about, then any fall would be no worse than if they trip while running.

There is a strict "no hat no ride" policy with bikes. They go faster, they are amongst traffic, I consider it a greater risk. They can make their own minds up when they are older.

And OP - like everything else, the school would only be liable for any injuries to a child if they had been negligent. Unless the HSE or the law says all kids must wear a helmet on a scooter, can't see that claim being successful.

Though our school doesn't let them use scooters in a normal play time, presumably too many kids in too small a space.

As a kid, I never wore a helmet. 40+ years later, I've still got the scars from an incident involving a Transit.

Nope. They wear helmets if they are at the skate park on scooters/boards/in the woods dirt jumping on bikes otherwise we don't bother. I'm not going to accept that riding bikes around or scootering is any more dangerous than walking or being in the car, activities I also don't require my children to wear crash helmets for.

Normally I insist on helmets being worn during any activity involving wheels

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Makes sense. One of the major causes of traumatic brain injury.

My son is four he wears a helmet on his bike but not always on the scooter.

As per morecashthandash

They run faster than they scoot - on bikes we make them wear helmets (same as us)

Mine see helmets like fancy dress for scooting. Plus daddy wears one on his bike so they want to.

But if they didn't I would force it for the same reason they don't wear helmets when running about, jumping on the bed, in the car, on a climbing frame etc

Mine has to,he thinks it's hilarious to crash into random street furniture. That's m'boy. 😀

IMO kids tend to face plant, where a helmet doesn't really help.

Kids also need to learn that things hurt when you do it wrong, I'm not sure that arm and leg pads are appropriate.

How the hell we all coped and didn't die horribly in the 70's and 80's is beyond me.

My kids don't but they tend to not go as fast on their scooters as they do on a bike.

How the hell we all coped and didn't die horribly in the 70's and 80's is beyond me.

The dead don't post on forums, the dead can't post on forums. The dead don't know they're dead.

My boys have always been happy to wear helmets as I never made a big deal of them, it's just what you do. We live in a hilly area and rip at high speed on bikes and scooters, so potential for a big stack. They also love their jumps & stunts. My eldest stopped on his balance bike at the bottom of a small hill by smashing his head in to a metal bin, making a hole in it. That would have been bad news for a 2 yr olds head without a helmet. I don't understand the argument that it is better to not wear one than do no exercise. Why would a small child not get out and play because he has to wear a helmet like all the dudes in mountain bike videos.

Nope, really lucky around here to have excellent cycling, scootering, skating infrastructure for kids to get about or to school the shops which is very well used by thousands of people everyday. Hardly anyone wears a helmet and haven't for the 20 years I've lived here.

None of my kids own helmets.

my kid has been wearing a helmet since he was 1. he's 2.5 now and I don't believe that he associates its use with risk aversion, rather it's just a cool hat like daddy wears when he's on his bike.
he's not risk averse, we've taught him this in other ways that he understands.

Mandatory for my two when they're on bikes (they're 4 and 5), as above they go faster on bikes and take bigger risks. They've always worn one on bikes, as do the wife and I, so it's natural for them. They're getting better now but they used to be like the helmet police - telling random strangers that the policeman will tell them off for not wearing a helmet 🙂

Scooting, it's up to them. The eldest likes to scoot to school and doesn't want to wear a helmet.

A child I know lost control of her scooter on a sloping drive and had a nasty crash needing surgery to her face. She was wearing a helmet. I have no direct evidence if the helmet was fitted correctly (so many aren't) or if it took any of the collision, but the feeling at the time from the witnesses was that it was a good job she was wearing it. Our two happily wear helmets for scooting because there's no reason not to and it just might help in the event of a crash.

My two boys do because they always have, it's just the norm in our house.

My neighbours kids don't, not sure they own them to be honest.
They were riding their scooters to school the other day on black ice! 😯
You just know if they came off and proper spanged themselves they would look to sue someone too.

The other thing that drives me made is ill fitting and badly adjusted helmets.
Cheap and Nasty kids helmets seem particularly bad for this.

I make mine wear helmets for scootering.

A few years ago my neighbours kid smashed his head open on the drive while on his scooter, I can still picture it happening and hear the noise his head made as it hit the ground. He wasn't doing anything daft, the scooter went from under him and he landed flat on his back (and head) while still holding onto the scooter.

My two (6 and 8) always do,the youngest is a lunatic and will eventually be into extreme sports!!
They always see me riding with a helmet so its become part of what they do.
Plus next door neighbours little girl had a wipe out, crashed her scooter at full pelt down the hill, and spent night in hospital being monitored for concussion, she was fine.
I also have a wife who as a paedeatric nurse sees all the kids with broken body parts from various incidents so she is a bit over protective.