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Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive April 2005: Skating and Safety Gear What Would You Do?
My dd, age 9, is going to a huge birthday party tomorrow at a local skating rink. We have required her to wear her helmet, wrist guards, knee and elbow pads whenever she puts on her rollerblades at home and she has never given us a problem about her safety gear. Now she is begging us to not make her her safety gear for the party tomorrow because "the other kids will not be wearing safety gear and they will make fun of her". She would be "mortified" if I made her wear all her gear and she "would look like a baby". I tried to meet her half way and told her that she only had to wear her helmet and wrist guards. Dh, on the other hand, does not think we should make her wear any of it. I understand what dd is saying and it's true. The other children probably won't be wearing any safety gear and at age 9 being made fun of or being called a 'baby' is really hard and the kids this age can be really cruel.
Personally, I wouldn't make her wear any of it. Around here, kids don't wear any protection at the skating rink. Of course, you can get hurt whatever you're doing, but I think a rink is safer than the sidewalk. (At least it hurts a lot less when you fall!) My kids have never worn a helmet or pads when rollerskating or ice skating at a rink. She would definitely stand out if made to wear it! JMO.
Full gear. Look at what would have happened to my ds if he hadn't had his bike helmet on the other day. I am surprised the rink doesn't require it for insurance purposes. I wouldn't encourage them to think that safety gear is optional.
Full gear, or at least helmet and wrist guards, and long pants. Being called a baby is a whole lot better than spending several hours in the ER. Think of it this way - you love your daughter so much you have spent a lot of money to buy gear to keep her safe, and you know that she is not an idiot like the kids who are more concerned about looking "cool" than taking reasonable precautions.
None of it. At least here, no one wears any of that stuff in an indoor skating rink, not the employees, no one.
For what it's worth, my middle son presented me with a permission slip for him to play football in high school, which was essentially a waiver for any claims because of injuries. I told him if he needed a permission slip to play a sport, he was not going to play the sport. He tells me it didn't warp his life. (Though he did get a nasty gash in his chin from being hit with a bat in baseball, which, not being considered "dangerous", didn't require a permission slip.)
But let me add - at a skateboard park, they wear all the gear.
I don't think that I'd make my DD wear it (if she were 9). We used to have monthly skating parties in elementary school and no one ever got hurt. The floor is smooth and even, unlike sidewalks which can have unexpected terrain changes and hills. Plus when the rink is crowded it's pretty hard to get moving as fast as you could outside. As much as I should probably be advocating for helmet/pad use I can't help but remember being that age. If I were going to be the only one wearing all of that gear I'd probably had asked to stay home. For outside skating/biking it's a different story!
No gear here either. The risks just aren't as high as being outdoors. Like riding a trike inside I didn't make my kids wear helmets, but outside we did. Accidents happen, but they will with or without gear.
I do make dd wear her helmet at home if she on her roller blades, but I have never made her do it at a rink. I have never seen anyone wearing anything at all in a rink to be honest. I think there is a big difference between home where there are cars and cement and curbs and all of that than a rink with basically nothing but a wood floor. Yes, they could fall and hit their heads, but usually, it is their knees or bottom they fall on.
I would make her wear at the very least the helmet. My brother, at 30 years old is just now getting his life back together after living with epilepsy because of a head injury he sustained at the age 8. Had he been wearing a safety helmet things would have been different.
Emily where was he when he had his head injury?
Factors related to injury and location of injury. Fifty percent of patients reported that a loss of control with no obstacles was the major factor contributing to their injury. Only 2.5% attributed their fall to a collision with a motor vehicle, while 30.5% blamed a road hazard. Other contributing factors were the presence of pedestrians (0.8%), another in-line skater (5.9%), a cyclist (2.5%), and other causes (7.6%). Approximately half (48.7%) of the patients were skating in a park, 21.8% on a sidewalk, 25.2% on a roadway, 2.5% in a roller-rink, and 1.7% in a house.
I do not have my kids wear gear at the rink, although they do when they are outside.
My kids schools have a fund raising *skate night* once a month at the local skating rink. They never wear safety equipment at the skating rink. Neither do the other kids. There are Ref's on duty with whistle's controlling the skaters. They arent just out freestyle skating the whole session. They do the following:
Kaye we were riding our bike outside when it happened. He was on the back & I was driving when the brakes failed & we were hit by a truck. Had he been wearing a helmet the injuries would not have been so bad...he died 3 times on the flight for life. That is why my children wear safety equipment...statics may show that it doesn't happen often indoors, but it does happen.
Around here helmets are highly encouraged by ice skating rinks. I don't know about roller/inline skating rinks. At the ice rinks though, the kids DO wear the helmets more often than not, including my nine year old.
Well I think I'm going to allow her to go without the gear. Some part of me is saying that I'm crazy, but after talking to some of the other kid's moms (and after reading the posts here) it seems that kids do not wear their gear at the skating rink and with dd and dh both against it this is a battle which I'm going to choose not to fight. I will be there for the duration of the party so I can keep my eye on her.
Oh, and Kaye, thanks for the statistics. I at least feel better knowing that the percentage of serious injury at the skating rink is quite low.
Around here they don't wear gear at the roller skating rink.
Tunnia, I agree with your decision. I went roller skating quite often at the rink as a kid (this was right around the time NJ implemented the helmet laws for kids 14 and under) and never wore a helmet indoors. Honestly, your kid could run and fall on a hardwood floor just the same, sometimes it's ok to relax. JMO
I agree with Crystal and the others. My kids wear it at home, but not at the rink. It would be terribly ostracizing, the risks on smooth terrain and in a controlled situation aren't nearly as great, and sometime we have to realize that we can't always wrap our kids in bubble wrap
My kids have never worn the protective gear at a skating rink. It never occurred to me. Emily always wears her helmet, when she plays with her scooter, or rollerblades at home. There won't be cracks and unevenness at the rink. I think I have only rarely fallen, at a rink.
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