Bike Helmet Enforcement for Big Kids

[Kindra178]

Looking for answers from older tween and teen parents. Around here, parents really stop enforcing helmet use around 5th or 6th. My kids still wear them but they are in the minority.

Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

[georgiegirl]

My kids have to wear them for biking. (My oldest two are in 8th and 5th). I agree that as kids get older they stop wearing them and it drives me nuts. But we do have some parents in our neighborhood who are also very pro-bike helmet.

[jenstring95]

Bike riding doesn’t get any less dangerous as a person ages. Around here even most adults wear them. There are a lot of cycling groups that go out on the weekends, and you would never see any of them (adults) without helmets. My kids are triathletes, and they are required to wear them for all practices and races. (For many races it’s an automatic DQ if you don’t have a helmet; you’re not even allowed to ride around the parking lot without one before or after the event.) This is a battle worth fighting, IMO. It’s basic safety just like wearing a seat belt in the car.

ETA - Forgot to mention that my kids are 12 and 14.

[Kindra178]

Just to clarify, it hasn’t been a battle for me yet. I expect it will be!

What I see a ton of is that kids leave their homes with bike helmets on heads and then they are off a block away.


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

[mmsmom]

I just tell my kids it’s a non-negotiable. Most of their friends do not wear them. I have caught them a couple times not wearing them and make them walk their bikes home to get them. I acknowledge I realize their friends don’t wear them but head injuries are not something we gamble with.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My friend’s teen was ditching his helmet and she took his bike away after a gazillion warnings.


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

[twowhat?]

Definitely non-negotiable here. No helmet, no bike (or scooter). The teachers doing drop-off and pick-up are good about shaking their fingers at kids without helmets (and I heard one of the coaches even tell a boy that he'd get him a helmet from the office) but yes, I do see older teens and LOTS of adults who don't wear one. I tell my kids we can fix broken arms and legs, but broken skulls and brains sometimes can't be fixed. EVERYONE on a bike or scooter should be wearing a helmet, no matter the age. I have safety-conscious kids so no sign of them wanting to ditch a helmet. Fingers crossed. As PP said, it's like wearing a seatbelt.

[doberbrat]

Riding a bike w/o a helmet means a loss of bike use for 3 months here. And I've done it, so they know I am serious. This means they have to walk the places where we would usually take a bike and that gets old VERY fast.

As far as their friends, dd1 (14 in a few weeks!) knows she is not to ride with friends who dont have helmets. We have talked about tbi and the devastating effects on someone's life. I cant (and don't want to) enforce rules on other people's kids but I also do not want my daughter to have to witness close up a traumatic injury.

[niccig]

Not negotiable and that includes DH and I. I work part-time in a pediatric inpatient rehab hospital ward. DS knows I work with kids with head injuries often from skateboarding, biking, ATV accidents.

Last summer we went horseback riding and were told the helmet was optional. Before I even had a chance , DH told DS there was no option. We were the only people wearing helmets


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

[DualvansMommy]

Just to clarify, it hasn’t been a battle for me yet. I expect it will be!

What I see a ton of is that kids leave their homes with bike helmets on heads and then they are off a block away.


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

That’s tough and tricky. I would make it where it’s a loss of bike privileges for a certain time if they’re caught without helmets. Might be a motivation factor if they rely on it to get to friends homes.

I live in an area where it’s very scenic, tons of biking trials. So from March through November/Dec we always see small and large groups of bikers with helmets. All adults and some older teens who’s into competitive biking. So kids grow up seeing them as a matter of fact, and such it doesn’t occur to them not to use helmets.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[twowhat?]

Not negotiable and that includes DH and I. I work part-time in a pediatric inpatient rehab hospital ward. DS knows I work with kids with head injuries often from skateboarding, biking, ATV accidents.

Last summer we went horseback riding and were told the helmet was optional. Before I even had a chance , DH told DS there was no option. We were the only people wearing helmets


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

This is us too...the only adults wearing helmets on horseback!

[mm123]

Here, it really is non-negotiable. It’s actually a law that any cyclist under the age of 18 must wear a helmet. Even though it’s not the law, most adults I see wear them as well.

[MontrealMum]

Non-negotiable in this family.

DH is an avid cyclist and has many adult friends who still compete. One is alive and functional today after a spectacular crash due solely to his helmet.

I see helmets like car seats. I don’t really care what other families are or are not doing.


Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87652)

[AnnieW625]

It is the law and has been in California since 1995 so it is non negotiable for us. I hated the law when I was 17 and had to ride my bike my senior year in high school, but as I have gotten older I have come to realize how important it is and people of all ages here wear helmets. I told my Dd that if I find out she isn’t wearing her helmet that she loses her phone and pretty much any other privilege. Thankfully it hasn’t been an issue and the helmets are kind of cool looking.

A few years ago I was turning left at a green light (as the first car at the light) and a 13 year old or so kid on the wrong side of the street entered the intersection and ran the red light and I hit him with my car going about 5 mph. Thankfully he was okay but he wasn’t wearing a helmet, it was on his handle bars. His parents were not happy with him. The accident was not my fault because he was riding his bike on the wrong side of the street. I hope he wears a helmet now even though he has to be close to 18 years old now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[StantonHyde]

My kids don’t even question it. I’m a triathlete, DH rides centuries, and he’s an ER MD. Everyone here wears helmets. The only people I see without them are young adults riding fixies around town. And my kids comment on how stupid it is. They are teens

[carolinamama]

As my kids have gotten older, they seem to value their helmets even more. They seem to understand why a helmet is so important at this point rather than just a rule we have if that makes sense. Last year, a neighborhood teen had a spectacular crash on his skateboard without his helmet, landing him in the picu with a head bleed. He's lucky to be alive and functional. DS1 witnessed it and it left a lasting impression.

DS2 is my blatant boundary pusher. He tried a few times to go without when he was younger, emulating his friends. We did take away his bike and scooter a few times. It worked until he bought into the rational behind the helmet.

[trales]

I think it really depends on where you live. We live in ski country, every kid wears helmets for skiing, ice skating, sledding and biking. We also live in the world of down hill mountain biking. I drive by the middle school every morning at the time kids are going there, they all have helmets on. If they get there and don't have a helmet, parents get called and they get detention. I even see helmets at the skate park.

My 7th grader has bike helmet, downhill ski helmet, ice hockey helmet for sticks and puck time at the local pond and ski jumping helmet.

[lizzywednesday]

Looking for answers from older tween and teen parents. Around here, parents really stop enforcing helmet use around 5th or 6th. My kids still wear them but they are in the minority.

Thoughts?

I've been a bike helmet advocate since I was 11, which predates the helmet law in my community.

I wore it when nobody else did, and got made fun of plenty, but I liked having a chance at keeping my skull intact in the event of a fall or other accident more than I cared about what other kids thought about me.

While DD is not exactly an "older tween," we have a family policy of everyone, including adults, wearing bike helmets to ride bikes, scooters, or roller skate. You only get one brain and helmets are cheap; might as well protect your head.

[jacksmomtobe]

It is also non-negotiable in our house. I think if you set that tone young it is less of an issue. Ds (15) sees kids riding without helmets and thinks they are stupid. If your kid is a limits tester then I think letting them know there are serious repercussion to getting caught and if your area is like ours, the chances of him/her getting caught are pretty high. This topic has been on my mind as I notice lots of high schoolers and ms in our area biking to school. The route to the hs & 2ms which are in the same area has lots of traffic and is treacherous in areas when people are commuting to work. I’ve noticed the more experienced riders always have helmets on.

[nfceagles]

Don’t bring him to London. Nobody wears helmets here while riding through traffic and weaving in and around double decker busses. [emoji33]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk