Help Getting Daughter to wear Helmet

[lattelover]

WOW! I was shocked when I saw so many responses, thanks for the ones with suggestions...

Ayway, I agree, for themost part, with many suggestions. nic840 - I LOVE the idea of the scavenger hunt! (when she's a little older). Our family bike outings are about being together and having fun, not torturing our kids. She'll wear it when she's ready, and until then it's trial and error. We don't ride without them though. A helmet saved my hubbys life TWICE. I like the idea of many short trips, like across the street to the ice cream shop!

We've decorated the heck out of it with Dora stickers, and my son and I spent the good part of three days this week wearing and "playing" dress up with our helmets in the house. She even brought hers over to me the other day and wanted me to put it on her! I even got it buckled!!! Then she wanted it off. Fine by me, baby steps...

We're going riding this weekend with another family who has a young girl in a burley, so I'm hoping when she sees her with her helmet on, she'll get the idea. It could be that this one just isn't comfortable on her, so I'm going to the bike shop and looking around for a different style/fit. In the end, it's just a matter of getting used to it. That and picking the right time of day to go for a ride!

Thanks again for the feedback... I'll let you know how our Sunday ride goes. We got a new(er) Burley, so I'm hoping she's more comfortable in it. That could go a loooong way!

Cyndie

[lovelylibrarian]

I hope your daughter adjusts to the helmet soon, latte. I wish my parents had started me biking so young.

Sorry to have highjacked your thread earlier. I did get some great feedback too though.

Keep us posted.

[lattelover]

Thanks lovely, no problem. I hope you get him to come around soon. The first time my hubby was hit by a car was when he was 12 out biking with his dad! The guy didn't even stop. Can you imagine?! The second time was right after we were married, and a van turned left in front of him. There's nothing you can do to prevent other people from making a really bad decision. My hubby went thru the side window, thankfully had the sense to turn slightly and take the impact with his shoulder rather than his head. But you should have seen his helmet! He went on to get his PhD, so I'm guessing the helmet did the trick. Of course, he still can't remember his parent's birthdays...but I'll just chalk that one up to being a GUY.

I personally love the idea of the bike store employee cracking him over the head... Good luck!

[lattelover]

Well, things did NOT go as well as I would have liked today... sigh...

We drove out to Vernonia, where there is a great bike path that goes for 10 or so miles. We met another family, and all the kids were excited to go. Lauren started in with the screaming the minute the helmet went on. I tried everything... "look honey, all the kids and mommies and daddies have helmets on if they want to ride their bikes..." I had her favorite snack, books, etc. Nothing made her happy while that helmet was on her head. Every once in a while I could get her distracted, but that would last for 30 seconds and she was right back to screaming. I finally turned around and headed back to the car (she could have cared less), but she fell asleep before we got back, so I just rode around the lake until the rest of the crew made it back.

Looks like we need to do some really short rides to the ice cream shop across the street before attempting another big family ride...

I'm also going to get her a new helmet. Hopefully one that fits a little better than brother's hand-me-down. Dora stickers didn't even make it tolerable for her.

It's so frustrating! It's hard enough finding time to exercise when you have little ones in the house. Then when you figure out a great way to do it all together, but something like this stands in the way... sigh.

Oh well... she'll come around. Until then, I guess we are just going to have to take turns riding with kid #1.

Thanks again for all the ideas. I will definately file them away for later use...

Cyndie

[Grog]

I'm also going to get her a new helmet. Hopefully one that fits a little better than brother's hand-me-down. Dora stickers didn't even make it tolerable for her.

Can you get her to choose it for herself (among a few that you'd pre-select for her)?

[janeho]

Sorry it didn't go well for you yesterday - we had a similar situation with our son when he was in the trailer. The things that worked for us were - he picked his own helmet, we refused to move if he took it off and we kept the rides short and to child friendly destinations. Now he's 5 and his sister 7 they are the ones who are the "helmet police" checking everyone has one on before we set off.
We didn't really bother with helmets particularly on short quiet road rides until we had the kids when we felt that if we wanted them to wear a helmet we had to set an example. It is fortunate for me that we did - a few years ago I was only cycling the kids to their pre school a mile or so away. I had the trailer on the back and hit a patch of black ice. I came off and my head hit the road very hard. My helmet cracked badly, but my head was perfectly fine. Thankfully the trailer stayed upright and the kids were OK.

[nic840]

She will come around...as you know it just takes time!
I also wanted to let you know that my older daughter didn't like the burley because it bowed her back a little and made it uncomfortable for her. I ended up putting a little moshi (one with the little bippy filling) in the small of her back and it made all the difference.

Oh and when looking at helmets look for ones with a flat back. Fits better in the trailer and doesn't push their head forward.
My little one has a Trek helmet that fits great in the trailer. Pretty soon you will be pulling the trail-a-bike with the trailer hooked to it! I get stares all the time! I added two flags, on the the trail bike and one on the trailer so everyone sees me!
Good luck and let us know the progress! -Nic