'They were excited': Brampton mom creates multisport helmet for her Sikh children

CTV National News: Bike helmets for Sikh children An Ontario mother is being praised for designing bicycle helmets for Sikh children who wear traditional topknot buns and turbans.

All three of Tina Singh’s sons are adventurous, and when they wanted to learn how to ride bikes – the Brampton mom knew they’d need helmets.

But it wasn’t so easy to find something that would fit over her sons’ patka – a Sikh turban typically worn by young boys – and their traditional topknot bun.

Singh first encountered the problem with her eldest son, 10-year-old Jora, as standard helmets would sit too high on his head. So, when he wanted to learn how to go off-ramps, she knew they’d need to find another alternative.

“I started saying to my husband, ‘This is not okay,’” Singh told CTV News Toronto on Sunday. “I spent so much of my time as an occupational therapist working in the area of acquired brain injury that I knew that I didn’t want my kids riding without a helmet.”

At first, Singh would hollow out the inside of a helmet to make space for Jora’s patka and hair, but it wasn’t a long-term solution.

Then about two or three years ago, Singh decided to take matters into her own hands and approach a designer to conceptualize a proper helmet for her Sikh children.

“I had to go through a few iterations,” Singh said. “But then, as we learned more about safety testing, and as we learned more about the regulations around how helmets are tested, we made some changes to make sure that they fell in line and would pass all that testing.”

Singh’s multisport helmets have three different safety certifications – the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), EN-1078, and ASTM – and can be used by children over the age of 5 when they’re cycling, skateboarding, kick-scootering or inline skating.

All of her sons, Jora, 9-year-old Kabir, and 7-year-old Ajit, also helped pick the colours for the helmets, which come in blue, red, and matte black.

'THEY WERE EXCITED'

When the first prototype was finally ready, Singh says her sons were all excited – “at this point, my kids [were] tired of trying on helmets.”

“They were excited because it went on [and] they didn’t have a struggle,” she said. “There was none of this, squishing it onto their head and trying to get the straps to go on, like it was a relief for them.”

While they haven’t had many opportunities to wear the new helmets yet, Singh says many parents and kids have shared how much they like them.

Singh says that of the feedback she has gotten so far about the helmets, the best response for her is from the parents.

“It’s moms like me, right? It’s the moms who’ve been like, ‘Oh my God, thank you so much for making an option for my kids,’” she said.

“I think the positive response from parents who have been trying to, you know, upsize their helmets, or cutting holes in their helmets, or digging into the foam of the helmets – all of the things that we did before – are really appreciative to have an option where they don’t need to do those things.”

THERE IS STILL WORK TO BE DONE

While Singh has created a helmet for her kids to safely ride their bicycles, she says there is still so much more work to be done. The helmets she created can’t be used for every sport or activity that requires safety gear.

“When you go to a batting cage and have to wear helmets, which are required and important, they don’t fit or set properly,” Singh said. “There [are] still barriers that are in place, and I hope that there is an option, so when kids go to any of these kinds of activities right there, it’s not a surprise there’s an option for them.”

Her hope is that other companies see Sikh Helmets, and see it as a need to make more diverse safety equipment.

“Let’s highlight how we can create products that are more inclusive and diverse so that we can increase participation and so no one is left out – so no kid is left out – of participating in sports and activities that their peers might join in,” she said.

Balpreet Singh, legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization of Canada, told CTV News Toronto that Sikh Helmets is “definitely a welcome step.”

“It’s innovation in a field that badly lacks choices for Sikh families,” Balpreet Singh said, adding there is a common belief that nothing should be worn overtop of the turban.

In 2018, the Ontario government granted turban-wearing Sikhs an exemption to ride motorcycles without helmets to recognize their civil rights and religious expression. However, the previous government required Sikhs to wear helmets, despite opposition from the Sikh community.

“There are many families that believe that nothing should be worn overtop of the turban, and in that case, you know, no helmet will be acceptable. On the other side, there are many Sikh families that do believe that helmets can be worn, and for kids-style of turban, this helmet is an option that Sikh families can go with. So creating more choice, creating more options, is always great, and it’s a long overdue step.”

Sikh Helmets are currently in production and will be open for pre-sales soon.

With files from The Canadian Press