OP here... I find that kids 7-10 gladly wear helmet in my classes. They're a fun hat! ...But pre-teen on up oftwn has a vibe with helmets that this is their parents forcing something on them and they're going to dip the uncool thing as soon as possible. So the bike baby goes out with the helmet bath water. And I get little adoption of bikes for the older kids. Especially if I require helmets. It's tricky! I want them to love the freedom of bikes. And I don't think the helmet is a miracle tool that is worth losing them over. In high school I see the racks can be full of bikes and maybe half the kids wear a helmet. I don't think anybody is bothering them.But the possible parallel with PFD and water play is interesting to me. I think in whitewater that teenagers would all gladly put on the pft. But for a shallow float they might resist. Our community has done terribly (over the past 50 years I've been involved) with kids, teens and juniors doing social biking in an integrated way with adults, or with any kind of structure. They'll do it on their own to get to their friend's house. Our local social mountain bike group is having several low-income kids showing up on trail rides. They're not wearing helmets. And they're not integrating with the adults of they're on the periphery. These are poor kids who recently been in juvenile home and in trouble with a lot. They don't mind that we leave them to themselves but it's interesting that they are interested... another one of them has started riding with our Urban social Street party group and rides the wheel your whole time. We tell him not to but he won't listen. He also doesn't really integrate with us but he is hanging around us. These are our kids and we have to take care of them. The fact that they're participating is an important sign. We don't want to lose them...Anyway I'm curious about how all of these cultures interact... what is really going on with the safety police angle... I understand that safety is legitimate but there is a cultural class aspect to it...Sent from my Galaxy