I often see families out cycling around where I live. Good exercise, togetherness and they learn some road-sense before they get let out on their own.
BUT
The kid on the bike has a helmet, the kid on the trike on the pavement has a helmet and the toddler in the baby-seat behind his Dad has a helmet. And NEITHER PARENT IS WEARING A HELMET.
OK so they are marginally less likely to fall off and die. But what are they teaching their kids?
"My Mummy and Daddy love me so they make me wear this helmet"?
No, it's more like.
"Grown ups don't wear helmets. So when I get let out on my own the first thing I will do is take mine off cos I'm all grown up now".
I know other people's parenting isn't really my business, and I make no claim to be a perfect parent by ant means. But the sight of helmet-less parents out with helmetted kids makes me really cross.
Am I over-reacting?
My kids wear cycle helmets - I don't. Their heads are far more vulnerable to little knocks than mine is.
A couple of years ago we spent a day canoeing in France- they wore their life vests, being a very confident swimmer I took mine off. Mr W wore his though..we were in very shallow waters on an easy river. Mr W isn't very confident in the water, and chose to keep his on.
If one of them had ended up in the water- I would have been able to get to them far faster without a vest to slow me down.
Yes, of course in a perfect world we would all lead by example all of the time. However, we need also to equip kids with the reasoning skills to make judgement calls themselves. Ours know why they wear helmets- and choose to keep them on when they're out with their friends.
But extend the logic.......
I drink coffee- I don't allow the kids to
thats one of the more obvious examples- there are dozens more.
Good topic Foxy :thumbup:
Perks of being an adult I suppose, we're allowed to risk our health rather than being perceived as looking silly.
Let's face it we tend to be far more protective over the little 'uns than we are over ourselves. If we weren't pubs would go bankrupt, speeding fine offices would close and ski holiday tour firms would cease to exist.
Bungie jump anyone?
interesting topic seeing as earlier today i nearly ran over some kid on his bike (i saw him he didnt bother looking) he had mum alongside him instead of telling her lovely child to stop and look all mum did was swear at me for being on the road some parents need teaching let alone their kids
I have 3 kids only one of which has a bike now because theiving bastards knicked the other two because we didn't put the things on 24 hour surveillance with guard dogs tied to them but, hey anyway. My one son rides his bike all over the place with his mates and living where we live there are lots of other kids about.
Well at 4 years old and younger he had a helmet at 6 he did at 8 he did but didn't wear it if he could get away with it (mostimes). At eleven he doesn't wear one ever and he rides streets paths stunt ramps etc. He wouldn't wear one if he was payed to, regardless of us parents telling him too or not.
If he did his life within his peer group would be almost untenable. In fact it would be made unbearable. Come to think of it I never see any kids around here over the age of say 6 with helmets on. Good or bad it is the way it is.
I don't ride a pushbike i have always hated them so never did. If I did ride one however, I would choose not to. I only ever wore helmets on M/bikes because it was the law. inevitably the day will come of course when cycle helmets are law, the people who have nothing better to do with their time will see to it that it does i'm sure.
Just as one day all pavements will have to be made of contiguous rubberised cotton wool and handrails along the side made of hypoallergenic materials washed down with disinfectant after each use. The use of gloves and face masks when presented with the remotest possibility of interaction face to face with another person will likewise become mandatory.
Hey I guess i'm a bad parent along with the other load of bad parents around here not putting helmets on kids but theres at least one good one out there in our neighbourhood somewhere who will put all us bad ones right.
I know this is sort of off on a tangent to the op's topic but i needed the rant anyway I thank you for the opportunity to do so.
This is a massive issue with cyclists and has been for years.
The helmet issue started not out of concern of cycling injuries but big business promotion of a new styled fashion. Prior to this helmets were for racers.
The benefits of helmets are minimal to the population as a whole. If you really wanted to save peoples brains than why do we not wear helmets when driving our cars? When we are walking to the bus stop or in our houses? Just how many brains a year are we saving?
Helmets and cycle safety is a subject that the Transport Lobby wants in order to victimise vulnerable road users and to remove them from the road.
Our real problem with helmets is our own supressed fears about how dangerous driving a car really is.
Still with oil prices going up no one will be able to afford to run a car or buy a plastic helmet!!?? Joy!
Shay
I don't know what we as parents are teaching our kids but it seems to be a bloody sight more than the educational system is.
but i guess the point is if your going out with your kids on a bike your safty is just as important as theirs after all your the ones looking after them!!
