Most parents are probably familiar with heelys, but for those of you who are not, heelys roller shoes kids are basically sneakers with a wheel attached on the bottom. They allow kids to shift from walking to rolling without changing their footwear. Cool, isn’t it? No wonder heelys roller shoes kids are the top-selling and most wanted Christmas gift for 2015. Every kid wants a pair of these, I’m sure if I were a kid I would also want one.
But here’s what concerns parents. As with any other toy, the first thing parents want to know is ‘are they safe?’. We’ll go over the injuries you can get, how to prevent these injuries from happening, and anything else you should know about heelys. The most important thing both parent and a child should know is how to use heelys in the correct way.
Heelys are considered to be mostly safe by a lot of parents as your child can’t actually pick up that much speed or go very fast in them. This doesn’t mean that your kid can’t get hurt, just like anything with wheels that requires playing outdoors there are always risks. They are not more dangerous than a skateboard or a scooter, but kids can still injure themselves in the same way, however because of the speed, it’s usually not as severe. There have been a few more serious injuries over the years but this is rare and with parental supervision shouldn’t be an issue.
You should approach heelys roller shoes kids the same way you would approach your kid wearing roller skates or roller blades. Most parents think that because they only have one wheel protective gear isn’t necessary when it actually is. The manufacturer states and highly recommends that your child should be wearing a helmet, wrist guards, knee pads, and elbow pads when riding in heelys. This is one of the best ways you can prevent your child from gaining an injury. You should always remove the wheel when you want your kid to walk around from place to place and be aware of the surroundings making sure they are not using their heelys on uneven surfaces, near traffic, or on stairs. You can also avoid injuries by avoiding using the heelys in crowded areas.
Some other things that you should know before you buy heelys are to make sure that your kid is putting their feet one in front of the other, tell them not to keep both feet together as they will most likely fall. They should be wearing all the protective gear they would wear if they were riding a skateboard or roller blades, this includes helmet, elbow and knee pads, and wrist guards. Never leave the wheel on the heelys all the time, this will allow your child to use them impulsively in places they are not supposed to like shopping centres or parking lots where they are most likely not going to be wearing all the protective gear.
It’s not suggested you allow your child to wear and use the heelys indoors; the main reason being that if they fall they are more likely to hit something hard like a desk, table, display case and get seriously injured. You should also keep in mind that most places ban heelys like schools and some stores and malls. This is mainly to avoid injuries that can be avoided by not wearing them; this should only be an activity that is supervised by adults at all times.
