Do you think that kids riding scooters to school should wear a helmet?

[SooPanda]

Help me out here, please, I’m in a debate with a friend.
I probably shouldn’t have said anything, but I mentioned to her that I’d noticed her little boy rides his scooter without a helmet.

He rides it from her house to school every day, there and back. They cross one main road and several small side roads. He’s a sensible boy, 8 years old, mum is always with him but he scoots ahead of course like all kids do.

I’ve always made my young son wear a helmet, and apparently she thinks that I’m basically a weirdo for it, not in those words but that was the gist.
She thinks I’m being over the top about safety and that kids scooters are not dangerous, if they fall they’ll just skin their knee.

It’s to do with how fast they can go and what damage can be done if they come off at top speed. If I’ve forgotten the helmet then I’m holding on to the handle bars!

My DD, 3, has to wear a helmet even though she doesn't go at half the speed you see the older children going at. I compromise on elbow / knee pads and she only HAS to wear them when going on the skate park ramps.

Not always.

my son was on his scooter going very slow, went to apply the back brake and put his foot down on the pavement instead which caused him to kind of flip over the whole thing. Split eyebrow and 3 stitches later, he’s always got a helmet on. No helmet, no scooter for us now.

Bike, yes, because you're higher up and going faster. Scooter, never, it's total overkill. Three years, zero injuries other than scraped knees.

It's not the children that are the issue, it is the large number of unfit road users. Saddened to read that your friend does not understand road safety or the impact of crashes.

We’re a no helmet - no scooter house. The worst scooter injury any of my lot have ever had was when a random cat ran in front of my DS1 and he fell off. Even though he wasn’t going particularly fast he broke his arm.

The primary school here will only allow scooters into the scooter storage if the child arrive with a helmet on as well.

I think other people are always weird if you won't compromise the safety of your own child to make them feel better about their own decisions for theirs. The amount of judgement around e.g. using the proper car seat til the appropriate age is bonkers and I think it's the same with helmets.

And I'm by no means risk averse e.g. happy for dc to go on trampolines, rock climb etc but we don't make anything more dangerous than it has to be for the sake of less hassle / looking cool.

If you get squashed by a car a helmet will not save you - and they are usually fitted incorrectly anyway.

The only time I hit my head was when I slipped over on ice. Should all pedestrians wear helmets too?

There will always be the case where someone said a helmet saved their life/them from serious injury but most people will be absolutely fine without. If you think the risk without is too much, wear a helmet, but don't worry about other people.

I do wear one when cycling, but that's more to stop people having a go at me for not wearing one, than because I think it would help in any way if a car hit me.

You can explain it to them, but you cant understand it for them... if someone thinks they know better, you wont change their mind.

Let her think youre OTT, let her think youre being over cautious. It doesnt matter. You probably prefer to be over cautious and look back one day and be thankful your child never suffered life changing injuries as opposed to the alternative.

Let her kid fall. It’ll be her fault & she can feel guilt for the rest of her life.
(apologies to the DS for any problems he may experience as a result of his DM’s ignorance).

My son was on his scooter and fell over and hit his tooth and got a loose tooth . It was his milk tooth but it taught us all a lesson for sure

Also, a much better solution is to walk or cycle to school.

Scooters are a pain in the proverbial and then the kids will graduate to e-scooters and all the local parents will moan about that. Well actions have consequences. Don't encourage scooters in the first place.

Everybody, kids and adults, get far more head injuries in the home than on scooters or bikes - yet people would think it weird to wear one round the house.
It's generally overkill safety nonsense, a lot of kids helmets aren't worn or fastened properly, and are cheapo copies that don't meet specs anyway. Bicycle helmets that do meet specs are only safe up to 14 mph.
Also, most fall injuries from scooters or bikes aren't head injuries anyway.

When DD was 4, her bike hit a dodgy paving stone, she flew over the handlebars and her head came within an inch of hitting the edge of the wall. Luckily she had her helmet on.

Risk assessment works on the looking at the possibility of an accident happening vs the consequences of the accident if it did happen. Head injuries can be catestrophic and its nothing to do with skill, just luck. So an accident may be unlikely, the vast majority will be fine without... but for a few, its the difference between health and long term injury.

No helmets, no biking or scooting in our house. Don’t know why you would take the risk when it’s so easily mitigated. It also makes it become an ingrained habit for when they graduate onto faster bikes and activities.

The rule in our house is no helmet no scooter.

However we can only protect our own kids and I never say anything to our neighbour who thinks helmets are health and safety gone mad and doesn’t put them on his kids. You can’t fix stupid.

This is very true. I have seen this same friend not use the correct car seat.

It’s strange because she worries a lot about illnesses and germs, but doesn’t seem concerned about safety in this way.

Which is fine until the kids catch on and start making fun of others for wearing one. Hasn’t happened yet 🤞🏻

Always a helmet, my son was scooting really slowly and somehow managed to flip himself over, his chin was really scraped but his helmet was wrecked! I still shudder now thinking about the damage to his head if hadn’t been wearing his helmet

Isn’t “you’re more likely to get hurt at home” a strange argument for not observing safety outside of the home though. I know most accidents happen at home yet I still look both ways crossing the road, for example.

My two are young adults now but they never wore helmets when on their scooters.

We did enforce it when they were older and out on their bikes on the roads, etc. but I'm pretty sure they took them off and dangled them off their handlebars them instead they got to the end of the street.

My daughters school friend died after falling from a stationary bike and bumping his head on the kerb. Never underestimate the damage that can happen when not wearing safety equipment.

I'm the same as you OP, no helmet no scooter. I've seen too many head injuries over the years and would do what I can to prevent one when I can.

How odd. Not sure there’s a link there for everyone. Most kids here scoot to school, I’ve probably only seen an few electric scooters round here in years. Most secondary kids walk or bike round here.

Oh that’s awful😢