I also agree that it depends on where you live. We live in a fairly large city, right by a very busy street. Unfortunately, our yard is not fenced. So, ds (5y.o.) is not allowed outside without dh or me, unless he's helping dd take out garbage & recycling (I can watch from the kitchen window). Dd is allowed to play outside with the neighborhood kids, but has strict limits on how far she can go. She also has to wear her watch at all times while outside, and check in every 30 min. She is not allowed to go into the house of any of the neighborhood kids, unless she asks me first & I've met the parents. She's only broken the rules a few times. Mostly, it's been being a few minutes late to check in with us. Once, I caught her riding her bike in the street (not the really busy one, the one right in front of our house). She got grounded to the house for a few days for that. She's allowed to be in the alley, on the sidewalk, and in the parking lot between the alley & the busy street (no one uses the parking lot). There was no reason for her to be in the street & she knows that being in the street (either of the streets by our house) is strictly forbidden. If we lived in a very small town, I probably wouldn't be as strict . While I was in Jr. High, we lived in the outskirts of a town. I would walk 2.5 miles down the dusty dirt road to go roller skating. When the rink closed at 10pm, I'd walk the 2.5 miles home. There we no cars on that road at night. The most dangerous thing I could run into would be a cow. During those 2 years, I went to school in a tiny town that was pretty much 4 streets, a gas station, a store, and a few restaurant/bars. All the kids who lived there were free to wander around whenever they wanted. There really was no way to get in trouble in that town. In high school, after moving back to the city we'd lived in until jr.high (the city I still live in), I got mugged at gun point walking home from my boyfriend's house. It was a whole 2 blocks away. So, it really all depends on where you live. If you live in a quiet, small town, you can allow a little more freedom than if you live in a big city where the Jr. High kids are running around holding people up at gun point or your neighbors are registered sex offenders.
A friend mine (one of the smartest people I will ever meet) once defined how we raise our kids this way: absolute freedom in a controlled environment. And I loved that phrase! When we are at our house the kids know everything they get to do - from swimming to legos, to computer time, to playing darts . . .They can make a huge art mess, rides bikes around the cul de sac (and I don't even have to be outside to watch - OMG!!! - yes that is facetious!) and if we aren't getting ready to go somewhere, call a friend over or go over to a friends to play. Right now we still haven't made many friends in the neighborhood, so we have to drive to friends, but the kids know I am OK with that. I think free range is more than the idea of letting your kids run loose in the neighborhood, and to judge those who don't let their kids run loose as paranoid or "helicopter" parents is a bit superficial. It is possible a "free range kid" is running loose in the neighborhood because he has no freedoms at home. Letting a kid go off on their own all the time is not necessarily empowering them in any special way, either. It is a very arbitrary idea that those loose strings on the kids somehow teaches them independence.
Dr. Phil had a thing on awhile back about the mom who let her kid ride the subway home from the mall by himself. Alot were ticked off about it but lets face it he will be doing it most of his life and she did prep him for it. It wasn't like she just gave him the pass card and said see you in a few hours. I am all for my child having freedom with in a certain limit. However I always follow safety rules for her like bike helmets and car seats. Never once have I pulled her out of the carseat while the car was moving. My child has been allowed to not hold my hand while walking in a parking lot if she is actually walking and not running.
Call me crazy but my kids have never ever once worn a helmet while riding a bike and neither have I. That isn't something that worries me but they have always sat in carseats and it took me a long time before I'd even let Samantha sit in the front seat.
Okay, you're crazy!!! My kids have always worn helmets and so do dh and I when we ride bikes. We also all use seatbelts. I don't care that we didn't have/use seatbelts when we were little, and I don't care that it's a law now. We make our decision based on safety, and we feel it is much safer to wear seatbelts and to wear helmets! When my ds15 was 6, he was just learning to ride without training wheels. He panicked one time and slammed on the brakes, flipped over his bike and landed on his head. There was a large dent in his helmet! He's never particularly "needed" it other than that one time. But that one time saved his life, I have no doubt about that, so I would never assume that they'll be okay, or be mad that that it's a law, so not wear helmets! It only takes one time to end up in some kind of accident and be paralyzed, brain-damaged or badly injured and WISH I would've worn a seatbelt or a helmet! I'd much rather wear them and never "need" them, than have something terrible happen that could've been prevented!
I agree with you completely. The same thing happened to one of our boys. At our house, it's always been "no helmet, no bike-riding".
Same here! My oldest ds flew over the handle bars and crashed so hard he dented his helmet, fractured his arm and bent the bike. The helmet saved his head!
Stone, when Rachael was two, we had "the parking lot rule". Once, she was at her step-brother's soccer game. He was walking her back to the car, and she was being really obnoxious for him, running off in the parking lot, etc. So finally, I scooped her up and carried her, squirming and fussing and crying, explained that she couldn't follow the rules for Jason, she had to stay with me. ANYWAY, the next game I had another mom speak to me. It seems her 2yo was giving her problems in the parking lot, too. Her mother told her that if she didn't hold her hand, there would be TROUBLE!!! Just then, they heard Rachael crying, and saw her struggling in my arms. The mom explained, "See? She wasn't following the rules, and now she has TROUBLE!" The little girl, wide-eyed, stuck her hand right up to her mother and exclaimed, "NO TROUBLE!!!" LOL!!!
I actually am pretty strict she has to stay right next to me or daddy. If she even gets that look of "I'm going to run" I grab her arm/shirt anything that will prevent her. Just like we have the "hand on square"rule. If we are in a parking lot and at the car we have to put our hand on the square (our gas tank) which is also the side that her car seat is on. We've never had trouble she thinks the square is a special place...i dont know why but she does. The first time she took off running she got a swat on the butt and since then she hasn't dared to do it. We also play red light, green light, yellow light. On the topic of bike helmets my daughter loves to wear her helmet because she thinks it is a special piece of clothing like a bathing suit. I personally never considered wearing one till my DD was born.
Wow I seriously had no idea that many people wore helmets. I never wore one growing up - did we even have them then? None of my kids friends wear them either. I never ever see anyone around here wearing one. The only time I see anyone wearing one is when we are hiking in the forest and people are riding dirt bikes.
I don't wear a helmet now. Never have. But if I were to do serious biking where I was on trails or something I would. My kids wear one MOST of the time, especially when we're out and around. Like today, we're biking to the park, so they'll wear them. But they don't for just being outside on their bikes. The bottom line is that it's NOT the government's responsibility to regulate EVERYTHING. Yes, there's a risk. There's ALWAYS a risk. Should we outlaw bananas because someone might slip on a peal? Or outlaw baseball bats, because someone might get hit by one? I don't mind taking REASONABLE PRECAUTIONS, but I also feel we can take reasonable risks, too.
We make our children wear helmets simply because we want to protect them from a serious head injury. What the government thinks is irrelevant. The risk of serious or even fatal head injury to a young child is real, whereas the risk of slipping on a banana peel is virtually non-existent. The two risks are not the same. Not wearing a helmet while riding a bike is more similar to not strapping a child into a car seat or not wearing a seatbelt when driving them somewhere. Personally, I don't see any good reason not to do so. It's teaching children responsibility and some basic rules of safety. And when some of your friends are nurses, you learn very quickly the results of a child not wearing a helmet.
I still feel there are times when it's OK NOT to wear a seatbelt, and I have no problem with taking a child out of a carseat to nurse while driving in a car. I understand severe brain injury. I taught physically handicapped children for over ten years, including SBI kids. But I still don't feel that's a reason for the government to interfere in our lives. Yes, my kids wear seatbelts while riding in a car. Like you say, there's no good reason NOT to. But if I want to take a bunch of kids somewhere, I can't "just squeeze in" one more. That REALLY bugs me!!! (So instead we have to take two cars, and use up twice as much gas.....) AND if people were so concerned about seatbelts, why aren't they required on school buses?
Alot of you are right "WE" never wore bike helmets as kids, however when I was little I was prone to bashing up my knees and elbows so when I went rollerblading or skating I had to wear elbow and knee pads I thought it was embarassing because my friends didn't have to but my mom had a point, I wasted to many band-aids falling down and this would prevent me from hurting myself to much. So my options were pretty clear, learn to skate better or wear the pads..... I stuck to riding the bike instead. For years parents have been trying to get seatbelts on school busses but the schools feel it isn't cost effective to buy a new bus or get them installed. When we bought our house three years ago we picked a house close to a school so we could walk our child to school so she wouldn't have to get on a unsafe school bus. There was a huge national petition circulating years ago to make it mandatory that school busses have seat belts and it just didn't get enough people signing it I guess.
I don't agree with this at all. A bike does not travel at speeds up to 70 miles per hour. It also isn't a law so I feel like if you want to make your kid wear one great! But if don't make mine wear one it doesn't make me a bad parent. And I agree with Jackie that we certainly do not need the government to impose more restrictions. And like Jackie there are times I do not make my kids buckle in - for instance when we were are on our country property or at a campground. On regular streets or highways I do though but I still don't feel like I need somebody in government telling me I have to.
That's OK. We don't all have to agree. I seem to remember a statistic that a surprisingly high percentage of car injuries occur within half a mile of home and when the car is going quite slowly. We can't assume there will be no injuries even when we're traveling at 20mph. Anyway, when I was a teen, we'd often reach speeds over 40mph on a bike; there were some nice hilly lanes around. We're discussing child safety. It has nothing to do with government. I'm sure a majority would agree that the government already pokes its nose into too many aspects of our lives.
It's a law in some states. I know Maryland and Pennsylvania have some kind of bike helmet law up to a certain age. I think it's under 16 in Maryland. So why isn't there a law requiring helmets on motorcycles? (Again, I'm not FOR such a law, but feel it's an inconsistency that there isn't one!)
Because our countrie's laws says that under a certain age people are not allowed a choice in the matter. Alot of states do have helmet laws for motorcycles but it is the same reason you don't have to wear a helmet while driving in a car. It probably could save your life if you smash your head into a window but people who drive in cars don't want to wear helmets so they always petition against it. Most people who drive motorcycles don't want to wear helmets so they petition against it. Quite personally I think it is dumb to allow a kid on an ATV but they make them toddler size because there is a demand for it. Same with dirt bikes and electric scooters. I get the urge to yell at a parent every time I see one allowing 5 little hooligan kids climb around on an ATV while it's moving, and the kicker they don't make them where helmets. Every year you hear of a kid who gets ran over or seriously injured on one of these vehicles but so many parents are lax. There's not much you can do but keep your own kid off one and make sure that when your kid goes over to another kids house you ask "are you going to allow them to ride any motorized vehicles while she is over here?" just like you ask "Are there any guns in the house?" JMO
You seriously ask those questions? WOW!!! (And yes, there are guns in my house, but they're locked up in the basement, without ammo, and the ammo is locked on a totally different floor. My kids know how to shoot safely; Rachael even did a presentation to the homeschool co-op on gun safety when she was nine. She and Phillip have both been through formal hunter safety classes. As far as ATV's go, we don't have one. But if I did, I would NEVER allow a child other than my own on it if the parents weren't there. I'm much more concerned about trampolines without one of those "cages" around them.
California is a state that requires a helmet until the person is 18 years old. This is for minors using bikes, roller blades, scooters, skateboards, or anything non-motorized on the public streets or parkways. All motorcycle riders are required to wear a helmet, regardless of age, in California.
