Do toddlers wear bike helmets on a tricycle? - Page 2

[CherryBomb]

We always wear helmets unless we're on the grass.

[lovingmommyhood]

My 3 y.o. wears his bike helmet any time he is on his bike (with training wheels).

My 21 month old rides on one of those trikes with a parent handle, foot rests and a seat belt. I will admit that I don't put a helmet on him when he's on it. :

I know I should but I don't. The main reason is because I haven't bought one yet. I know that's a bad excuse!! I guess I excuse it because I'm always at arms reach and it has a belt but I know that doesn't prevent all accidents.

[roxyrox]

Originally Posted by NiteNicole

Mine doesn't and I doubt she'll wear a bike helmet either.

I've never seen one on any of the kids around here.

:

I think helmets are only necessary if you are riding on the road which my ds won't be doing for a long while yet!

[GuildJenn]

Mine does, mostly because like a lot of posters in this thread I would like him to think wheels = helmet.

[ThreeBeans]

Originally Posted by roxyrox

:

I think helmets are only necessary if you are riding on the road which my ds won't be doing for a long while yet!

The research definitely does not bear out that particular point of view.

[Jwebbal]

Yep, I mean, I have had friends tell me scooter riders don't need helmets either and like I said earlier a kid died because of a serious head injury while riding in front of his house on his scooter without a helmet.

[veganf]

At home on the grass, no. On the sidewalk, yes.
At preschool, our boys often like to bring their own, but they don't use them there because they want to avoid spreading lice.
However at the preschool where I taught, all the kids wore helmets on the little bike path outside and we never had any lice problems so I guess we were lucky.

[BunnySlippers]

when I was a child I had a serious concussion and facial injuries from riding my bike on the sidewalk. My shoe lace got caught up in the peddles. the bike stopped suddenly and I went head over heels over head over heels, under bike lol. It wasn't a tricycle, but it was a self inflicted injury and not on the road.

[mrs_oli]

I'm one of the posters that voted for helmets and just wanted to add:

I think part of the problem with bikes/tricycles/scooters is that the person doesn't just fall off of it. They tend to be holding on and take the bike with them. So they aren't bracing themsleves like if they had been running, suddenly tripped and put their arms out to break the fall. KWIM? When my boys fall while on their tricycle, 99% of the time, the tricycle tips over with them on it. Makes for a not so nice landing...yikes!!

We live in a cul de sac and I'm the only Mom that enforces the helmet rule. But my kids are so used to it that they never complain.

And I liked how a previous poster said "If it has wheels, wear a helmet!" I think I'll steal that and use it with my boys...lol

[PassionateWriter]

Originally Posted by veganf

At home on the grass, no. On the sidewalk, yes.
At preschool, our boys often like to bring their own, but they don't use them there because they want to avoid spreading lice.
However at the preschool where I taught, all the kids wore helmets on the little bike path outside and we never had any lice problems so I guess we were lucky.

When my sons were in preschool, they had their own helmets. We had to purchase a helmet for them and they would have their name on it. i find it negligent for a preschool not to consider the safety issues.

btw, although im not a fan of Wally World, they sell toddler helmets for $7!!

[ferretfan]

2.5 yo dd just got a trike this winter, and we just bought her a helmet yesterday ready for her first outing on it (it's finally warming up here). she's not overly impressed with the helmet and i imagine i'll need to bribe her with a jellybean to make her wear it the first time or two, but wear it she will

[BlueStateMama]

Always. For us, it's safety + (like PP) instilling the habit so that it becomes automatic for them to grab their helmet when they get on any bike/scooter, etc. Skinned knees don't phase me, head injuries (ie the thought of my child losing their life, motor skills, speech, personality, etc.) are terrifying.

Plus they like the helmets. We let them pick them out - DD (3) chose hot pink bunnies and DS (4) race car design.

[kalimay]

No, not on a tricycle. My older DD wears one on her bike, every time. We did not have a hard time getting her used to that at all.

[mamalisa]

I don't make her, but she insists. Ds is 7 and always wears a helmet and she so desperately wants to be like her big brother that she just HAS to wear a helmet. Works for me!

[elizaMM]

Originally Posted by Jwebbal

my kid loves to ride his bike at the park, but then also runs around on the play equipment and park in between rides. He doesn't ask me to take his helmet off (now he can do it himself, but still doesn't) usually, and he runs around with it on.

Just an uber, uber safety tip: helmets should be removed before playing on play equipment to avoid the strap or the helmet getting caught on something and causing strangulation or the like :-( .

[ChetMC]

Our Kids Didn't

Our kids haven't worn helmets yet...

It didn't make any sense to me. They mostly rode the trikes in short spurts... get on, ride across the bricked area in the yard and then get off. It wasn't worth the overhead of putting on the helmet. They could run faster than peddle the trike, and were the same distance from the ground or closer than walking or running.

We do have a push bar, and sometimes use that to go on excursions with the trike... but at that point it is basically a stroller, and our kids didn't wear helmets in the stroller.

DH cycles and wears a helmet. We'll introduce helmets when the kids start truly biking. Although, as an aside, I find the helmet culture in North America interesting. We've spent a fair amount of time in Holland. The Dutch would never put on a helmet to bike around town, and they seem to be doing okay.

[riversong]

Originally Posted by elizaMM

Just an uber, uber safety tip: helmets should be removed before playing on play equipment to avoid the strap or the helmet getting caught on something and causing strangulation or the like :-( .

Yeah, I was going to write this also. I wouldn't have even known this if my friend hadn't told me. It seems safer to wear a helmet on the playground, but it's actually more dangerous.

Dd always wore a helmet on her trike and now she wears one on her balance bike.

[the_lissa]

Not in our yard, but anywhere else- yes.

[Sandrine]

We do the "wheels=helmet" for the girls. Plus they love wearing them. :

[mtiger]

Originally Posted by Jwebbal

You would be surprised at the level of injuries a child can get from just riding a bike or scooter. They don't have to go anywhere, they just have to hit a hard surface in the wrong way. My partner had a kid come into the ER where she works, he wasn't wearing a helmet on his scooter, he hit his head on the curb and died. No kidding.

There's a 7th grader in my daughter's school who did the same. He was in a coma for 3 weeks, has undergone 7 surgeries, and will require 24/7 nursing care when he goes home from the hospital. The way he hit his head? He'd probably have been okay if he'd had a helmet on. Seems to be a silly risk to take.