My Talk With My Son About The Dangers of Longboarding

In a blog post from last week, I reminded everyone to insist that children who enjoy longboarding wear their helmets, and to wear them properly.  I don't know about you, but whenever my son heads out on his longboard with his friends, I'm a bit nervous about head injuries.  So, when I read a not-so-surprising news story last week about how longboarders are at a significantly higher risk of brain trauma than those who use regular old skateboards, I immediately went and had a talk with my son, who is 14.  I sat down before the lights went out for the night, and reminded him of how important it is to wear the helmet properly when longboarding.  It needs to be strapped pretty snug around the chin and not be wobbly or loose fitting.  So many times, I see kids with helmets that are basically dangling on top of the head with the strap loose. I doubt such a set up would do much good to prevent an injury, particularly at a high speed.  So again, remind your kids who longboard (or bike, or roller blade, etc.) not only to wear those helmets, but to wear them properly.  You'll get the dismissive shrug of the shoulders from them.  But then you might do what I did and tell them about the study last week that found a heightened risk of head injury.  They'll pay attention.