Originally Posted by
himespau
We went with the TykesBikes 12 (which now no longer appears to exist), but I had the same helmet issue as you. One pinch and it was a month before I could get it on him again. Then I did the opposite approach, started with it overly loose and have been gradually tightening it until now it fits properly (kind of the whole boiling frog by gently increasing the temp thing).
With my older daughter, we started later and I just took a 16" giant and removed the crankset. That ended up being too heavy for her at 2.5-3, when we started, so going light is a good idea. I almost went with one of those resin like a bikes for my younger child, but he's a big burly kid so the heavier aluminum frame at 12" didn't slow him down.
Yeah, I loosened it some, I might loosen it more though. She's not in much danger walking around the patio like she is, it's more to establish that she has to wear a helmet, so maybe ridiculously loose to the point of useless is fine for a little while.
There was definitely an internal battle going on though. She desperately wanted to ride the bike, but really didn't want to wear the helmet. So she'd ask to ride the bike, we'd say you have to put the helmet on, she'd let us put the helmet on, but then when we'd start to put the strap on she'd take it off and cry. Rinse and repeat for about half an hour.