Extreme Sport Safety

While kids have always done crazy things, jumping into lakes, rolling down hills, building ramps and climbing trees, they have a name for them these days, they are called extreme sports. You cant ask kids to stop playing and trying these sports, but you can make it a little safer by giving them the proper safety equipment and making them wear it.

There are many broken bones that can be avoided each year from accidents on skateboards and bikes. There are many serious head injuries and even fatalities from improper helmet use or just not wearing helmets. Now I know one of the arguments is that when we were kids, nobody wore protective equipment or helmets and most of us survived. Maybe we were just lucky, I’m sure everybody knows somebody that got hurt badly enough by falling off their bike that a trip to the emergency room was required, maybe even worse.

I, for one, could have avoided a broken wrist and a bruised skull if I was wearing the proper safety equipment. I was also friends with a girl that was rushed to the emergency room with head injuries and another boy in my school was hit by a car and died, while riding his bike. I am not saying that a helmet would have definitely saved him, but you never know. No matter what used to be, it is a pretty simple thing to make sure that your child wears protective gear, after all as a parent don’t we want to protect our children, even if we never protected ourselves.

If they are playing football, you’d make them wear a helmet and pads, if they are playing baseball you would make them wear a cup and cleats, so why would riding a bike or skateboard be any different. At the minimum, they should always wear a helmet, arms and legs can usually be fixed, but heads are hard to replace. Along with the proper helmet, most helmets can be used for rollerblading, skateboarding and bike riding, they are made sport interchangeable.

You want to carefully check the specification when you are choosing a helmet for your child. Some helmets are made specifically for a certain sport, so if your child will be competing you will want to make sure that is the one you purchase. Besides the helmet, knee pads, wrist guards and elbow pads are also good ideas. For skating or biking on ramps hip and back pads should also be purchased.