Heady Helmets

Having a hard time getting your young 'uns to wear protective helmets when they ride bikes, scooters and skateboards?

The short answer is: "No helmet, no riding a bike, scooter, skateboard...."

A few enterprising retailers have a more positive incentive: fun helmets.

Check out these Nogin Sox foam helmet covers that attach with Velcro. Slip one on and young riders turn into T-Rex, a Lady Bug (with LED lights), a Screamin' Frog or the only kid on the block with a scary-looking lighted Spiked Mohawk. With a price range of $19.95 to $24.95, they cost as much or more than some helmets, so the cute factor had better be worth it.

Some major helmet-makers, such as Trek, Bell and Giro, make helmets with fun designs for kids, so you get the cool look and the helmet for one price, $29.99 to $34.99.

As Blogging Baby points out, we've gotten a tad overprotective with our kids, but helmets coupled with vehicles and fast wheels just makes sense. You can make all kinds of adorable helmets, but the best incentive for kids to wear helmets is for their parents to wear them. It bugs me when I see a family riding bikes together and the adults don't have helmets, but the kids do. What message do you think they're getting?

My husband, who also thinks this generation of parents is way too protective, has logged a lot of miles on a bike and is a big believer in helmets. For good reason: His helmet has broken his fall on a few occasions and saved him from almost certain brain injury on at least one.

Would fun helmets inspire your kids to cover their heads before hitting the road?