I’m the last of the generation that grew up bouncing around in the back of a pick-up trucks and riding shotgun without a child safety seat. And despite learning to ski and ride bikes before I could read, it wasn’t until we had the LoganCody that the ever-present helmet-hair entered our life.

“Today, my kids only look normal to me with helmet-hair. That matty-sweaty-knotted hair is a look of health, activity and safety. The LoganCody have an almost ever-present mildewey smell in their hair, and it’s a smell that I’ll probably that I’ll probably remember them most for. I can smell it now as I write this.

Helmets weren’t new to me. We wore helmets for downhill and super-g races when skiing. But that was it. Never for freeskiing. When climbing, we wore them on big walls, ice climbs and chossy mountaineering routes. But never for standard routes and it wasn’t even a consideration for floofy sport-climbs. And they were never the subject of debate when you strapped on the ‘ol brain bucket on for flying hang gliders or paragliders. Still, I rode thousands of miles on my mountain and road bikes throughout the 80′s and 90′s without a helmet as cars whipped by at 60mph or I rattled down 409 or a Tahoe trail on a no-suspension mountain bike.

It’s not like I don’t know the consequences. I’ve had my concussions. I’ve seen sun-dried brains splattered on the rocks at the bottom of a route in Yosemite. I’ve helped transport the brain-dead body of a fellow paragilder that died despite wearing a helmet. There’s not much to protect that lifegoo inside our egg-shell skulls. One good smack and you’re a vegetable. Or dead. Not sure which is worse.

Once the LoganCody arrived to the LaPlante Family Junkshow, it finally clicked with me. Helmets were mandatory. ‘Nuff said.

While Jessica and I joke that if I could surgically install helmets on the noggin’s of our ever-bouncing LoganCody, it’s only a half-joke. Since we don’t own a TV or have video games, the LoganCody seem to always be getting their schralp on with their bikes and skateboards. We buy band-aids in bulk. Someone is always bleeding or at least picking at a scab. That’s our life.

I get pissed off and yell at parents that let their kids hit rails in the park at Alpine Meadows without helmets. Yeah, I’m an asshole. But I can show you the coma-inducing dings in the back of my helmet to perhaps convince you to the otherwise. One bad hit and you’re eating via a foodbag the rest of your life.

Today, my kids only look normal to me with helmet-hair. That matty-sweaty-knotted hair is a look of health, activity and safety. The LoganCody have an almost ever-present mildewy smell in their hair, and it’s that smell that I’ll probably remember them for. I can smell it know as I write this.

Even as late as three years ago I would still typically ski without a helmet. Jumping on rails and boxes to keep up with the kids changed that more than being that “role model” for the kids. Nowadays I can’t even pedal three blocks to Bibo’s coffee shop on the townie without the kids yelling at me to make sure I have my helmet on. While as dorky as it feels riding the red townie, it’s the right thing to do as a Dad.

I wrote a business plan in 1993 while in college to make smaller/stylish helmets that would appeal to kids and wish that I had followed through on that now. High profile deaths due to head injuries are a persistent reminder to shed the vanity and strap on the egg-shell. Yesterday’s unfortunate death of Actress Natasha Richardson following complications from the brain injury she incurred while skiing without a helmet should drive the point home. Her two grieving sons and husband can’t help but ask themselves why she wasn’t wearing a helmet while she was taking skiing lessons.

For the hundreds of hours I’ve logged on skis, bikes rock climbs without a helmet I feel both lucky and like hypocrite to become that much more of an advocate for helmets. While I’m not sure making it the law is always the answer, it surely is becoming a statement of vanity/stupidity to not wear one. Especially if you have kids.

Go ahead and leave me a comment about how “Helmet Laws Suck” and why not wearing a helmet is cool. I’ll still give huge props to Tony Hawk who skates with a helmet. He’s a Dad. He gets it. Athlete icons like Tony Hawk, Shaun White and Simon Dumont who ride with helmets make it easier for us Dads to keep the helmets in the mix. It’s not like I don’t want to sympathize, I just can’t be an idiot anymore AND be a good Dad.