In article <[email hidden]>,
Just zis Guy said:On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 18:37:48 +0000 (UTC), .paul <[email hidden]>
wrote in message : said:I'm still trying to decide on the helmet issue, but for consistency,
she's current required to wear one while on the bike.The key thing is to make sure she knows it's to protect her from bumps
and scrapes. The idea that a half-inch of polystyrene stands any
chance whatsoever of preventing you dying if you are hit by a car is
the big, dangerous lie.
Of course. However, for children riding in the park, the risk _is_
bumps and scrapes. As to if there's a greater risk than playing on the
swings, and why there's ``no need'' to wear a helmet there, well, that's
the world of irrationally protective parents, and their desire to force
other parents to share their irrationality to make them feel better
about it.
I wear a helmet partly to shut my wife up and partly to avoid clonking
my head on canal bridges, especially now I'm riding a higher bike. My
wife now appears less doctrinaire. Our elder daughter, 8, when on a
bike is encouraged to wear a helmet, but not obsessively no. Our
younger daughter, nearly 6 and on a tagalong, wears one as the mood
takes her and us.
Helpfully, we went out for an en-masse ride on Monday with a friend
who's been riding seriously all her life. She'd not got her Brompton
with her, and she ended up riding my Mount Vision with the saddle
dropped right down and her feet resting delicately on the SPD pedals.
The word `helmet' wasn't mentioned, and I think none of us actually wore
one, including my wife. Result, I think.
ian