Child Restraints?? Really???

[Aberdumbie]

Rant warning....

My wife and I are adopting two young kids. Now I grew up in a time where a ride to the store meant climbing on the back deck and wallering around while we rode in the family Buick..... Well I just bought a new truck so I could install the child restraints. Sheesh... More like child bondage.....

So Today we have a three year old birthday and buy a small bike. Now my neighbors are all acting judgmental because I don't have the boy wrapped in pads and helmets and such.... I mean really??? Do we have to protect ourselves from ourselves now?? I mean, don't a few bumps and bruises mean we learned something along lifes journey?? What's next?? Racing hemets and Hans devices for a grocery store ride? Full body armor?? I'm sorry, I just hate having all this "safety" imposed on my obvious lack of judgmental abilities...... Rant over.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Check accident stats for kids with and without helmet, with or without proper protection in cars. It may make you rethink your position.
In the holy good times you're talking about, 20x as many people as today died on the road

 

[pedroims]

I'm with you, I understand and agree with some safety measures but it is getting anoying, for some reason, today's kids are not smart enough to hammer a nail without breaking a bone.

 

[ChrisB2]

I went over the handlebars as a kid plenty, never had a permanent injury. On the other hand a friend of mine was struck while riding without a helmet as an adult and has permanent brain damage.

 

[elgecko]

 

[Stinsok]

At as child I stood up in the car, no seat belts. Rode in the back of a pickup about a million miles. Rode bikes without any protective gear. The only reason I stopped jumping over stuff on my bike is because I got a 26'' 3 speed.

 

[David Henry]

Aber"dumb"ie.

Parental fail.

 

[Son of Wobble]

I went over the handlebars as a kid plenty, never had a permanent injury. On the other hand a friend of mine was struck while riding without a helmet as an adult and has permanent brain damage.

Last time I went over the handlebars I was 35 years old. I was going approximately 20 miles an hour up on my toes on the pedals when the chain came loose. Hitting the cement hurt so much more than when I was a kid. The fact is kids simply have more supple bones. My friend's six year old fell of the roof of the house, landed on his head on brick and yet walked away. Another pal's kid went out the back window of their sedan when it rolled over on the highway at 70mph. She needed skin grafts from cuts caused by the shattered windshield, but, amazingly, no broken bones.

 

[line6man]

I've seen plenty of people freak out over child leashes, and other questionable forms of restraint, but I just don't see any reason not to have your child wear a helmet and safety pads. Yes, kids should have a modicum of common sense, to not injure themselves in stupid ways, and yes, a helmet won't do much if you have a serious accident, but what harm does it do to teach your kids about safety, and give them some basic form of protection? I suppose that some kids will make it a huge hassle when you try to make them put on their safety gear, but that just goes with the territory of being a good parent.

Disclaimer: I know diddley squat about kids, so maybe I'm way off.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Thing is... I do keep my kids safe. Just tired of common sense being legislated out of my life

 

[fdeck]

Welcome to parenting. I think you've got two separate issues here.

First, you get to decide how much modern safety apparatus your kids need. The child seats are required by law. Bike helmets aren't. The only anecdote I can offer is that my kids have always been required to wear bike helmets, and the idea that it's an imposition on their freedom wouldn't have occurred to them at age three -- that's purely an issue for adults. Most of the kids in my locale have grown up thinking that a helmet is just a normal part of riding a bike.

Second, the judgment of the neighbors... that's been with us since time immoral.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Aber"dumb"ie.

Parental fail.

That's good! Bet that one was hard to come up with!

 

[Alkali Ike]

Oregon law requires helmets for all bike riders under the age of 16.

My former boss was an avid cyclist. One morning on his way to work he was struck by a car and suffered a concussion and some memory loss. He started using a helmet.

 

[Son of Wobble]

Back in the good ol' days, if something happened to one of your kids, you simply dropped another.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Welcome to parenting. I think you've got two separate issues here.

First, you get to decide how much modern safety apparatus your kids need. The child seats are required by law. Bike helmets aren't. The only anecdote I can offer is that my kids have always been required to wear bike helmets, and the idea that it's an imposition on their freedom wouldn't have occurred to them at age three -- that's purely an issue for adults. Most of the kids in my locale have grown up thinking that a helmet is just a normal part of riding a bike.

Second, the judgment of the neighbors... that's been with us since time immoral.

I get it. I have raised three generations of kids. I got great grandkids. All are healthy and whole... Just struggling with all the regulation that infers I'm not adept enough to keep kids healthy.

 

[fdeck]

I get it. I have raised three generations of kids. I got great grandkids. All are healthy and whole... Just struggling with all the regulation that infers I'm not adept enough to keep kids healthy.

Don't take it personally. The whole idea of public health is that we don't decide who's adept enough, and who isn't. The regulations simply cover everybody.

 

[pacojas]

i slipped on a sheet of ice, banged the back of my head,.. now i can see glimpses of the future! would a helmet have saved me from the awful visions i see headed our way?

 

[corinpills]

Try not to take it so personally. A lot of those regulations are for lowest common denominator parents in a desperate attempt to keep kids safe in a world that has gotten much more dangerous. A perusal of the newspaper on any given day should make it quite clear that people who have no business having children are having them constantly. The idea that, if left to their own devices , most people will make the right choices doesn't quite cut it anymore.

 

[Son of Wobble]

I get it. I have raised three generations of kids. I got great grandkids. All are healthy and whole... Just struggling with all the regulation that infers I'm not adept enough to keep kids healthy.

+1
Over-regulation demeans us by insulting our intelligence. It robs us of dignity, as it is meant to do.

I was in an airport bar in Salt Lake, awaiting a connecting flight, when this great old cowboy stepped up to the bar. He was eighty if he was a day, but when he ordered a NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER, the bartenders requested ID.
And when I complained on Pop's behalf, as is my surly wont, I was met with major stinkeye and "Yer not a terrorist, are you, Pal?" after-glances. It is a racket, I tell ya. Junior's helmet included.

 

[Aberdumbie]

+1
Over-regulation demeans us by insulting our intelligence. It robs us of dignity, as it is meant to do.

I was in an airport bar in Salt Lake, awaiting a connecting flight, when this great old cowboy stepped up to the bar. He was eighty if he was a day, but when he ordered a NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER, the bartenders requested ID.
And when I complained on Pop's behalf, as is my surly wont, I was met with major stinkeye and "Yer not a terrorist, are you, Pal?" after-glances. It is a racket, I tell ya. Junior's helmet included.

Thumbs up to you man.... I suppose I didn't drink the 21st century Kool aid. Do you suppose George Patton or John Wayne fretted over having to keep their kids in a protective bubble? Aghast!!! That Wayne boy doesn't have his knee pads. Go tell his father!! Yeah, right.