How to Get a 3 Year Old to Wear a Bike Helmet (and Keep It On)

If your 3 year old rips the helmet off every time, it's almost always one of three things: it doesn't fit, it went on at the wrong moment, or they've noticed you don't wear one. Fix those and the helmet mostly stops being a fight. What's left is a rule, and 3 to 5 year olds are good at rules when the rule never changes.

Chapter 5 of the PreSafe workbook, Road Rules, has a character for this. Bump is a helmet, and his line is the one to teach: "Whenever you cruise, whenever you ride, always wear a helmet with pride."

1. Check the fit

A helmet that's too big slides over their eyes. One that's too tight pinches. Either one gets pulled off, and the child is right to pull it.

• It should sit level on the head, two fingers above the eyebrows, not tipped back.
• The side straps should make a V just under each ear.
• The chin strap should be snug enough that one finger fits under it, no more.
• Shake test: with the strap buckled, have them shake their head. The helmet should move with the head, not on it.

Let them pick the helmet if you can. A child who chose the orange one wears the orange one.

2. Fix the timing

The helmet goes on before the bike comes out, not after they're already on it and excited to go. The order is: shoes, helmet, click, then the bike. Same every time, like the seat belt. The workbook puts Click the Seat Belt and Bump the Helmet on facing pages for that reason: same rule, same click, one for the car and one for the bike.

If the helmet isn't on, the bike doesn't move. Say it calmly once and mean it. Most kids test it twice and then stop.

3. Wear yours

This one is uncomfortable. A 4 year old who sees you ride without a helmet has learned that helmets are for little kids, and they don't want to be a little kid. Wear one on every ride, including the one around the block. It's the single most effective thing on this list.

4. Make it a rule, not a request

"Please put your helmet on" invites a negotiation. "We always wear helmets" doesn't. The rule covers bikes, scooters, balance bikes, trikes and anything else with wheels. The rhyme says "whenever you cruise, whenever you ride" on purpose.

5. Give them something to be proud of

The rhyme ends "with pride" and that's not decoration. The workbook has a page where the child cuts out Bump's pieces and glues him back together, and a coloring page that says "A helmet makes your head safe and happy." A child who has built the helmet character and colored it thinks of the helmet as theirs. Stickers on the real helmet do the same job.

What to say when they ask why

Keep it short and about them. "Your head is soft on the inside and the helmet is hard on the outside. If you fall, the helmet gets the bump instead of you." That's why the character is called Bump. You don't need statistics and a 3 year old won't hear them anyway.

One tip: put the helmet on the handlebars when you put the bike away. Next time, it's the first thing they see, and the order takes care of itself.

What to do next

Chapter 5 of the PreSafe workbook has the Bump and Click pages, the car seat matching page and the road sign coloring pages to print. The road rhyme and the short chapter video are free in the Learning Center.