I think the point being made is of course it is going to be safer wearing a helmet tobogganing, but how much no one knows. It is also safer to wear a helmet in generally any situation, but we have drawn artificial lines in society to indicate where that line has been drawn.
Heck, just getting into a car has got to be 100 times more risky than tobogganing with no helmet. And yet no one chastises people on facebook for posting pictures of a kid in a car.
Playing on a playground is one place where helmet wearing is certainly discouraged, even though the chances of head injury are there.
Safety is generally a system of trade offs. Young children are put in rear facing car seats because of the nature of the majority of incidents, not because rear facing is always safer.
I don't think he lets whole tobagganing is a black and white issue. it depend on a bunch of conditions.
I also wonder if helmets might not be the best bang for the buck in terms of added safety while tobagganing. Would chest protectors be better than helmets in some conditions?
Well, anything that involves speed and my kid's bare head I put a helmet on them. Skating, skateboarding, biking, snowboarding and tobogganing - they wear helmets doing all of those activities. Am I missing something or is this all super obvious? I don't see how this is contentious or why you would want to convince me to take the helmets off my kids for these things. You're blowing me away, here.
I basicly have the same logic, as flawed as it is. Essentially you are trying to avoid regret. If your kid were to get injured you want to avoid blaming yourself that there was more you can do.
That being said driving is likely 10 times more dangerous and I suspect you don't even consider minimizing driving trips with the kids in the car. Why because you already use the regret management tools available, Winter tires, seat belts, car seats. So if you do get in an accident it was an accident and you couldn't have prevented.
Its relatively good short hand at making decisions without having to go into reams of statistics with data of questionable value however it leads to odd decisions like walking home drunk instead of driving home drunk which from a risk perspective is more dangerous. And it in general precludes not doing the activity whether it be driving or tobogganing.
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I basicly have the same logic, as flawed as it is. Essentially you are trying to avoid regret. If your kid were to get injured you want to avoid blaming yourself that there was more you can do.
That being said driving is likely 10 times more dangerous and I suspect you don't even consider minimizing driving trips with the kids in the car. Why because you already use the regret management tools available, Winter tires, seat belts, car seats. So if you do get in an accident it was an accident and you couldn't have prevented.
Its relatively good short hand at making decisions without having to go into reams of statistics with data of questionable value however it leads to odd decisions like walking home drunk instead of driving home drunk which from a risk perspective is more dangerous. And it in general precludes not doing the activity whether it be driving or tobogganing.
I don't think I'm trying to avoid regret. I'm genuinely trying to avoid serious injury. I like your post and the point you're making, but in this instance, flawed or not, I truly believe I am making my kids markedly safer by putting a helmet on them and that's why I do it.
The only worry with a hockey helmet and cage is that it makes them less situationally aware and possibly more of a risk to others. That is not based on anything other than a gut feeling, so I can't back it up. The cage would certainly help prevent facial abraisons though. So I guess it depends on where and circumstances of the situation.
Helmet for anything with an element of open air, speed and other participants though. Your kid sliding down a hill by themself with no one else around and no trees? Fine, do your thing. Extremely busy hill with a lot of selfish pricks who are out of control? Helmet. Always helmet.
Heard enough stories from EMS friends who won't let their kids slide without helmets. That's enough for me. Is it logically defensible? Grey area. Do I care? Nope!
I basicly have the same logic, as flawed as it is. Essentially you are trying to avoid regret. If your kid were to get injured you want to avoid blaming yourself that there was more you can do.
That being said driving is likely 10 times more dangerous and I suspect you don't even consider minimizing driving trips with the kids in the car. Why because you already use the regret management tools available, Winter tires, seat belts, car seats. So if you do get in an accident it was an accident and you couldn't have prevented.
Also: Social norms. Nobody else puts helmets on their kids in cars, so if your kid got a serious head injury in an auto collision, you wouldn't feel increased guilt or regret. However, if most people did have their kids wear helmets in the car, and you didn't, you would likely feel tremendous guilt if your child suffered a head injury, irrespective of the actual utility of wearing helmets in cars.
I trust my own risk assessment more than I trust social norms. Which is why, for example, I will not take my family on the highway on a long weekend.
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Originally Posted by fotze
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Also: Social norms. Nobody else puts helmets on their kids in cars, so if your kid got a serious head injury in an auto collision, you wouldn't feel increased guilt or regret. However, if most people did have their kids wear helmets in the car, and you didn't, you would likely feel tremendous guilt if your child suffered a head injury, irrespective of the actual utility of wearing helmets in cars.
I trust my own risk assessment more than I trust social norms. Which is why, for example, I will not take my family on the highway on a long weekend.
I assume, based on your own logic, that you also do not drive them around the city, drive them around at night, or drive them around in the winter, all with much higher rates of incident and risk than highway based driving during long weekends?
Sometimes, social norms exist for a very good reason. The social norm of wearing a helmet during otherwise-unprotected activities is one of them.
