For all of the fun (and sanity for moms) that parks and playgrounds provide, they also present plenty of dangers. Most of them I thought I knew about -- things like slides that get too hot and can cause severe burns and falls from equipment. There's one danger, however, I've never even considered, and it's something I see parents do all the time -- myself included.
In fact, parents are usually doing it because they think it will keep their children safer. Any guesses as to what it is?
It's going down a slide with a child on your lap. Whether they're just learning, or because you think that big tornado slide is just too dangerous for them on their own, or just because it's fun, many parents just put their kiddo on their lap, and down they go. Good times for all ... until someone gets hurt. And apparently a lot of kids do get hurt while doing this. It seems the rubber soles of their shoes can get stuck while going down the slide, but then weight of the adult can crush their legs, resulting in fractures and breaks.
A recent column in the New York Times highlighted the danger, and pointed to a study from Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., found that nearly 14 percent of pediatric leg fractures in an 11-month were a result of this practice.
Is it an epidemic? No, but it is something that's easily preventable, and all parents should at least have a head's up about it. One physician -- Dr. Edward Holt, an orthopedic surgeon at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis -- is so concerned about the practice, that he created the following video to inform parents just how it happens. It certainly doesn't mean you should stay away from the playground, but it is worth a watch before you head out the next time.
Has your child ever been injured on a slide in this manner? What other playground injuries have they received?
Image via Shlomi Fish/Flickr
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Comments 31
Oh, good lord. It won't be long before playgrounds are a thing of the past, and parks install padded bubble-wrap rooms for playtime. I can see the danger here, but it just seems like kids can't do ANYTHING fun these days without risking life and limb.
When I was a kid, we put wax paper on the blazing-hot metal death slide at the park so we could go faster. Our parents weren't even THERE with us. Those were the good ol' days.
Man I can't wait til I have kids so I can keep them inside the house 24/7 and let them have friends via online chatting. Omg...it's amazing ANY of us lived to be adults. Maybe I should sue my parents for all the times they did this with me or when my dad pushed me on the swings and I could have fallen off. If we keep worrying over EVERYTHING our kids do, then how will they behave as adults? Kids are going to fall down. Kids are going to hurt. Some kids are going to break bones (I never did lol). I just hope that when I do have kids, there will still be playgrounds and parks.
Wow, what a wimp? Seriously....by this writer's standards, I should be dead along with my brothers and every other normal kid I played with waayy back in the, ancient 70's. I suppose my parents should have been arrested for letting up play outside until the streetlights came on in the summertime, taking the bus by ourselves to the beach, riding bikes without helmets or being wrapped in plastic from head to toe. We walked to and from school, didn't have a cell phone at NINE....or ever in my case.
Nowadays I feel that New Age parents would prefer to skip their kids childhood altogether and send them straight to college. Very depressing.
Like so many things warned about in these kind of articles it's a non issue unless you're a complete idiot.
I agree with the other posts.. When I was a child my mother set us outside and told us to come back at lunchtime. We played alone in creeks, mud and woods and we drank from the water hose! We caught crawfish and bugs and frogs.... You just dont see kids doing things like that anymore. It seems like if you want your kid to have a good time you have to go through an approval for a "playdate", sign a health waver, and put your kid in a bubble filled with purell before they can do anything. And not to mention having to be at constant attention for freakin kidnappers and child molesters!! Its no wonder kids are so stuck on computers and video games and being indoors! They dont know any different.