Those scooters that are so popular with or for little kids

Perhaps it's the mothers that are not the safest things in the world. Or rather their lack of safety and forethought. The scooters are great for getting a kid to exercise - and get to school on time and in a healthy and enjoyable way.

As for trampolines, if you've got a boy with all the energy, and inclination towards acrobats and bouncing up and down, you try and keep him off a trampoline. They must have expert coaching by a teacher who will explain the rules of safety to them. After that...well, some things just have to be left in the hands of the gods. Young people are just that - young.

should have said 'acrobatics'. Not 'acrobats'.

Always have a reliable strong net guard round a trampoline. And allow one child at a time.

jingl is correct. This mother was not in control of the situation. Before my GC were considered 'safe' on scooters I attached a dog lead to them, as you would attach a leading rein to a young child on a pony.
As for trampolines I don't know a better way to work off excess energy. Ours has a safety net too. I use it myself (great for bone strength and bladder control!!)

So rules apply for both the above and for the bunk beds, and there are tough sanctions if these rules are flouted.

Only time I tried GS's trampoline, a Tena Lady would have been useful!

Do not just "blame" the scooter for that one. The mother was not offering proper supervision.

Yes kids will fall off scooters, bikes, climbing equipment, but this mum was crossing the road and not paying proper attention to the child's safety. Never mind the scooter bit here, at that age she should have been firmly holding the child's hand.

Why on earth didn't the mother walk across the road beside her little child? I appreciate that she may have had her hands full and perhaps couldn't help him with the scooter, but she should have walked with him, not ahead.

My son lives near a school and the stories he tells of what mothers do when crossing the VERY busy A22 would make your hair stand on end! I'm beginning to think there should be a Parent Proficiency Test before they should be allowed out on the roads. That's not just me being flippant, there really needs to be some kind of common-sense teaching somewhere in their lives, it's a wonder more children aren't injured or worse.

Also, think how injuring/killing a child will impact on the driver and witnesses.

My twin grandsons (5) have these scooters. They don't go near roads that have buses or busy traffic on them, but are allowed occasionally to do the school walk through their small estate and over a pedestrian bridge by the river to school. If they start any messing about or try to race too far ahead, they don't get the privilege of going on them again and will just use them around the driveway and front path. What are small kids doing near a busy road with them? As others say, it's parental supervision not the scooters.

Some children have to go to school near busy roads. Does that mean they should be taken to school by car? The motor car wins again? The answer lies in drumming safety rules into the child, and good supervision.

I would say take children to school near busy roads in the safest way possible, don't put them at risk by allowing them to have a scooter they can't control. They can walk with adults and use the scooters in a safer place.

Scooters are perfectly safe as are trampolines and bunk beds but in this case, the mother was to blame. It is completely her responsibility to ensure her child's safety. GDs scoot back and forth to school every day as do many pupils. Trampoline is great fun and brilliant excercise for Granny but......definitely the odd tenalady would save her blushes

Scooters are not a new thing regardless of style. My friends and I had scooters and we all lived!

I hate them and it also gives me a chance to let off steam about another bugbear [sorry]. Our village is on a busy road and, because of that my children always walked next to me [within grabbing distance]. Most mothers I know then and now seem to let their young children [I'm talking pre school age here as well] go running on ahead of them, either on foot or on scooters. Not only are there roads to halt at but also driveways where people could possibly be reversing out of. I had to grab an older child once as he was about to step into the road when a car was coming; his mother didn't seem at all bothered. At the moment there is one young child [pre school again] who I often see on his scooter and his carer usually appears quite a while later. I last saw him careering along on his scooter with a drink in one hand [no helmet or protection of any kind]. Because of my mutant feet and dodgy knees I live in dread of a scooter running into/over me when leaving the school premises and then walking along the pavement. They just barge past or into you. If the scooter enables the child to get to school quicker then it follows that the mother isn't with them [unless she's on a scooter as well]. I get even more angry when I see a mother with a very young child running around [saw one at a bus stop recently] while she is busy checking her phone. It only takes one second for that child to run into the road . I know I'm over protective and a bit of a worrier [to put it mildly] but young children and traffic are a recipe for disaster.

That's not being over-protective, Tegan. Agree with you - small children need to be kept safe near moving traffic,

Anyone remember school road safety lessons? A song
"We must have safety on the Queens highway, look right look left then

Here is someone singing this vintage piece.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoCziWItsYk

I haven't time to catch all the lyrics from this. It is probably only relevant to those at primary school after 1952/3 (unless there was one for the Kings Highway). Come on you 60 somethings how much of this can we remember between us.

I used to let my son go to school on his scooter, it was a long walk for him otherwise. But when we left the countryside and hit the town and people, it was folded up and put in a bag over my shoulder. I loved seeing him racing ahead of me down the hill on a sunny morning, I used to think, what a wonderful way to start the day. Going home was uphill, but because he had his scooter, he never seemed to notice.

There is moving traffic just about everywhere these days. Children need to learn safe ways to cope with it. Sometimes school is just a bit too far for a child to walk. Scooters or bikes are then ideal.

If the "safest way" is to put another car on the roads, that adds to the un-safety for all children.

Mind you, I'm not talking five year old twins here!

I don't remember that one, Nellie. We had markings in the juniors playground, and were taught to stand a foot behind the edge of the 'pavement' whilst we checked the 'road' before walking smartly across. I would have been about 6 or 7, when it was rare to see anything more than the odd milk float or tractor on the way to school.

One of the problems with young children and roads/drivers is the fact that, with young children [obviously] being smaller than adults drivers, when driving towards them don't automatically realise how close they are as they factor in the size of an adult [if that makes sense]. Therefore, if a child suddenly darts into the road the driver will have thought they were much further away. There is usually lots of traffic around schools anyway as most parents drop their children off on the way to work these days. It isn't those parents who might hit a child as they are child aware due to their circumstances, it's the driver who doesn't have a child at school who might be late for work or [heaven forbid] on the phone.

I am always pleasantly surprised with how the kids round here, on the way home from school, stop and wait patiently at the curb for dad or mum to catch up. Obviously well trained.

Yes, they are on the way to my GC's school, too.

Tegan a parent knocked my 13 year old son down in her car as she was coming to pick his friend up outside school. He had a broken leg - I arrived as the ambulance pulled up (neighbour phoned me). Whilst he was chatting and at the tail end of a few children crossing the road, she could have been more careful, knowing children were coming out of school. I think parents and drivers all need to be on high alert at school times.

I was about to drive away from school a few weeks ago and looked up to see a group of my grandsons friends standing round the car; they had ran on ahead from the person who was looking after them and ran straight to my car just as I was about to drive away. Roads are dangerous but car parks etc are just as bad. A neighbour once, when my daughter was palying with her daughter put my daughter and hers into the back of her car when she took her son on a driving lesson . I don't understand people sometimes . It must have been awful for you, when .

Children don't think first, because they are children. It is up to drivers to be really watchful in such places and for parents and schools to teach children road safety skills.
In a number of counties now now there seem to be 20mph traffic signs outside schools at the critical school start and end hours.

Do primary schools do road safety lessons any more?