Thread by @R_Denhollander

Once when I was young, around 8 or so, we had a garage sale. My siblings and I were killing time riding our bikes along the sidewalk and this guy stopped in. But he wasn't there to buy anything.

He went up to my mom, introduced himself and said he'd stopped because he saw us...

We weren't wearing our bike helmets properly. He asked if he could show her, and she called us over. One of us had our helmet on too far back, and they also weren't properly adjusted. He bumped my brother's helmet with the heel of his hand. It pushed back, exposing his forehead.

He explained to her the head and facial injuries that would result, and then spent a good 20 minutes teaching her how to adjust the Y strap and test to make sure we were fitted correctly.

A few things stuck out to me back then:

He didn't say "not my business" or worry that my mom would be offended. He reached out kindly because we were genuinely at risk.

And my mom wasn't offended. She was far more concerned that we be safe than that she looked like she knew everything. She genuinely welcomed help.

So did my dad. And every single time we rode from that day on they made us test our helmets like that guy showed us. Literally every time. They didn't pretend to learn, they actually did.

So I've always done the same with my kids.

Today, 4 yr old baby girl "wanted to fly"...

And was flying down hill on her scooter. She'd done it lots, I'd cautioned, but she flew too fast, faster than I can run to catch her, and she went face first into the concrete.

I fully expected to find broken teeth and a very injured face. She hit hard, face first.

But her helmet didn't move when she hit. Because I'd checked it like that man taught my mom 30 years ago. Because her helmet didn't move and was correcly over her forehead, her face never touched the pavement.

She had knee and elbow pads too. She minorly skinned one knuckle.

A Frozen band-aid is all I needed for a face-plant.

To the guy who took the time to stop and cared more that we were safe than if my mom got mad, thank you. Your advice saved my 4 yr old today.

And to my parents, thanks for caring more about us than your pride.

Thanks for learning eagerly and modeling the importance of learning by emphasizing it when no one else was around.

And PSA because I'm so glad someone told me:

Your bike helmet should cover your forehead, ride about 1.5 inches over your eyebrows, and shouldn't slip back if you bump it from underneath with your hand. And it might take some effort to achieve that, but it's worth it ❤

Oh, and my mom reminded me that in the end, he did buy something after he fixed all our helmets - a whole dozen of the cookies I'd made.

Thanks for investing in us 30 yrs ago, so my daughter was safe yesterday ❤️