Today I felt like I failed as a mentor. Bummer. To see one of the reason why I felt that way, click here.

Caution skaters, this post probably won’t sit well with you if you’re against wearing helmets. I am not afraid of saying what needs to be said. For the growth of skateboarding and the safety of new youth joining, consider this:

Date: Kids Day 2019

‘We had a long talk after the session in regards to the importance of wearing helmets. Especially when you’re learning new stuff. Since my son was kind of just pushing around and getting more confident, you know, learning basic controls and such, I didn’t push him to wear protection. Unfortunately as soon he saw other kids his age without lids, he questioned the importance. The whole time it didn't sit well with me. Next time he will be wearing a helmet. At the end of the day, it was a good experience for me to see him experiment on the many features at Planet Park Skate Park.

Letting kids explore their surroundings and encouraging them to get past little roadblocks is life.

As a sidenote, we won’t be going to that skate park anymore together because my son felt because nobody else was wearing helmets (his age) that it was OK for him to not wear a helmet too. The skate park we went to in a Hachioji the week before enforced brain protection. I think this is a great initiative when kids are learning. At the very least there should be a period where kids should wear helmets while they’re learning. Once that newbie period has been completed, I feel children should have the choice (but only once they prove themselves to be capable of basic manoeuvres on a skateboard). If skate shop owners are wondering why new kids aren’t joining skateboarding, then maybe the cause could be whether or not they should have rookies (their newly minted customers) wearing helmets. The big game-changer could be to introduce helmets from a young age. Encouraging mandatory brain protection at the parks that the skate shop owners represent could be the difference maker that gets many new riders involved in skateboarding. As a father, I wouldn’t let my seeds plant themselves in dangerous activities without at least wearing helmets while learning.

So what I'm saying is skate shop owners should be selling helmets to all new skateboarders as part of the “welcome to skateboarding package”. If owners don't want to stock helmets due to limited space here in Japan, then at the very least they should have a connection for their customers on where they should get their helmet. After all, they're a part of the skate family now so let's treat them as such.

On Instagram, @authenticandyanderson knows what’s up!

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