Whenever our kids want to play outside our houses, we cannot help but worry about how safe the outdoor is. Let alone if our kids want to ride a bicycle around our backyard and street without hurting their selves. We always want assure the safety of our kids because as parents, we know it is important to protect our kids from harm. Good thing bike helmets for kids are also available to make us less worried about their safety.
But how can we really make sure that the helmets we choose are safe? How do we know if the helmets will really protect our kids? This is why we need to know how to choose helmets for our kids to have the safety protection we want and they need.
Before anything else, we should make sure that the helmet we choose passes the safety standard test provided by institutes such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and Snell Memorial Foundation. It is important to look for labels or stickers provided for helmets which mean the helmets have passed their safety standards.
After checking the safety standard of the helmets, we need to decide on what type of helmets we want our kids to have. There are generally two types of bike helmets for kids; the hard shell helmets and the soft shell helmets. The hard shell bike helmets are made of hard plastic or fiberglass which enfolds the polystyrene sheet.
Hard shell helmets are heavier and less comfortable for kids. The soft shell helmets have inner lining made of thick polystyrene. The soft shell helmets are lighter and more comfortable than hard shell helmets. It is better to choose which type suits our kids and which type they prefer.
It is also important to make sure that the bike helmets will fit well on our kids' heads. It is advisable to bring our kids when we are going to buy them bike helmets to allow us fit the helmets on their actual heads. The bike helmet should fit all around our kids' heads. The helmet should cover over half of our kids' forehead with a 1-inch space from their eyebrows. The helmet should not be too loose to move in any directions. The helmet should not also be too tight to cause pain on our kids' heads.
We should find helmets with chin straps to secure the helmets on our kids' heads. The one strap should go behind the ears and the other should be in front of the ears. The straps should be in the Y-form to ensure that they are in the right place. The chin straps should also be adjustable to properly fit the helmets in place.
We should also find bike helmets for our kids which are brightly colored. We can also let our kids choose the design they want. We may help our kids choose their bike helmets by suggesting colors similar to the colors of reflectors like orange, yellow, and yellow green. Not only kids want these kinds of bike helmets but they are also visible to other drivers and motorcyclists on the road.
After buying our kids the bike helmets they want, we should keep some important reminders about the bike helmets. We should not let our kids wear helmets when they are playing on playgrounds because the straps might strangle with the bars. We should regularly check our kids' helmets for breaks and damage.
If the helmets are damaged, we should immediately replace it with a new one. We should also replace helmets after crash or impact. If the helmets are not yet exposed to crash, we should replace them every 3-5 years. More importantly, we should remind our kids to always wear their helmets whenever they go out and ride their bikes.