Do your kids wear bike helmets? When?

[ShanaMama]

I am super super strict about bike helmets. I am about the only mom on my block who is. Friends have said "oh, they just don't listen. " (Same thing about seat belts. I always comment if I see someone I know with children not strapped in properly. )
DS (4) just learned how to ride a two wheeler. I realized that I had been lax about teaching him to always wear a helmet, so he was wearing one when he felt like it. He is a good rule follower when there are consequences lol. So I told him about my rule, gave him one reminder, and the next time he rode his bike without a helmet I took his bike away for the day. I went a little drastic on him because I wanted to drill it in asap, all because I was negligent in drilling it in from day one. But no matter, it worked. He will not get on his bike without his helmet. And that little show was a good reminder for my older kids, who I never even remind because they are thoroughly habituated. I've heard too many stories of helmets saving lives- even when the riders weren't riding in traffic. I just heard a bizzare story where a car jumped a curb and ran over a kid riding a bike on the sidewalk. He was badly hurt but was wearing a helmet.

I just don't understand the parents who claim their kids don't listen. If you don't teach and enforce rules then don't expect them to listen! I am "that mom" who will roll down my window and ask kids where their helmets are. I see so many teens riding in traffic without helmets. It really upsets me.

[ett]

Always. It's illegal in MA for kids under 18 to not wear one. My kids have worn them since I was pushing them on their trikes. All the kids around here wear helmets. In my town I only ever recall seeing 1 kid not wear one while riding their bike. It is that rare here for kids not to wear them.

[essnce629]

Yes, always. My boys are 7 and almost 13.

A classmate of mine was killed when we were in high school after falling off his skateboard and hitting his head on the curb. He was 15 and wasn't wearing a helmet. Something I'll never forget.

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[AnnieW625]

All of the time when they ride a bike. I don't require them if they ride their scooter about 500 ft. down the street to the park, and they didn't wear them until they started riding a regular bike with training wheels.

Last year I was driving through a busy intersection and a 12 yr. old kid cut in front of me and I hit him. He had his bike helmet on his handle bars and not on his head and he was very lucky he wasn't seriously injured . He was going the opposite way of traffic so it wasn't my fault I hit him. It was a very scary situation and my kids will be wearing a bike helmet until they 18, which is the state law here (has been since 1994.....and believe me I didn't want to wear a bike helmet my senior year in high school, but I did).

[Momit]

My son is almost 8 and wears one all the time - bike, scooter, rollerblades. He wears a helmet whether he rides on our court or up the street to a friend's house. There are plenty of kids who never wear one. So far he is fine with it but I'm sure at some point he will push back because most of his friends aren't wearing them.

[chlobo]

Always. It's illegal in MA for kids under 18 to not wear one. My kids have worn them since I was pushing them on their trikes. All the kids around here wear helmets. In my town I only ever recall seeing 1 kid not wear one while riding their bike. It is that rare here for kids not to wear them.

The age is actually 16. Though hopefully by then the kids would be smart enough to wear one.

[TwinFoxes]

They don't ride bikes a lot, but when they do they wear their helmets. They didn't when on trikes, because they never went fast. If they go skiing, they'll wear them, and they wear them ice skating. I've never seen anyone wearing a helmet while sledding, but we don't go on big hills, maybe that's why.

[Reader]

Always. A bicycle helmet likely saved my DH's life in a bicycle accident a few years ago. When he was younger, he didn't wear helmets, and I'm so grateful he decided to start wearing one before that crash.

[belovedgandp]

Yes on bike helmets. We live on our driveway and cul-de-sac, so anything they self-propel on wheels requires a helmet. Bike, scooter, roller skates. If I was pushing the tricycle when they were super little they didn't have one, but once they pedaled themselves they had helmets.

I do let the plasma cars go without helmets.

Our neighbors do not require helmets. The 9 YO boy will try to get on one of our scooters in the garage. I tell him not without a helmet. He's 50/50 for either putting on a helmet or going to his own garage for his own scooter to ride without one.

[daisysmom]

I didn't see your post about letting kids ride in random cars, but I am always in the minority in that I did drop off playdates and parties at 3-4 years, let my child wait in the car while I ran into the grocery since 5ish, have left my child at home for an hour or 2 during the day since 7-8, the list goes on.
But my 9 year old child has never gotten on a bike or scooter without a bike helmet. Ever. And since I have been an adult, neither have I.

Credit it to working on a very large insurance defense lawsuit when I was a new attorney where we were defending a ski resort (we were representing the insurance company). Since then, every time skiing or riding, even at the beach when no one wears helmets, we were helmets. Nothing like spending years learning all about head injuries to make me stick to that rule.