With climbing walls, heights and a bunch of other kids, playgrounds can be a dangerous place, even if you keep a close eye on your child. However, new research reveals that parents may actually be increasing their child’s risk of injury by doing something they believe will keep their child safe. So what action should you be avoiding on the playground if you want to keep your kids safe?
The dangerous action in question occurs on slides. A number of parents believe their kid is at risk for injury if they attempt to navigate a slide on their own, so they come up with a solution – put the kid in their lap and go down the slide together. While this may seem like a good idea, it’s actually very dangerous.
Lap Sliding and Leg Fractures
A recent study decided to look at the nature of playground injuries among children. Roughly 1 in 3 injuries on the playground involved a fracture, usually involving the lower leg. When investigating these injuries, researchers found that the most common way a child suffered a leg fracture on the playground was when their foot caught on the slide while they were traveling down the slide on their parent’s lap.
“Many parents and caregivers go down a slide with a young child on their lap without giving it a second thought,” states lead researcher Charles Jennissen, MD, Clinical Professor and Pediatric Emergency Medicine Staff Physician, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. “And in most cases I have seen, the parents had no idea that doing so could possibly give their child such a significant injury. They often say they would never have done it had they known.”
The reason why lap sliding can be dangerous is because adults are much bigger and heavier than their child. If a kid goes down the slide by themselves and catches their foot, it’s unlikely to cause a major injury because there won’t be much force involved. But if you add an adult to the equation, a fracture can easily occur if a child’s foot gets stuck and the weight of the pair continues forward.
As you might have guessed, researchers recommend that adults and teens do not put a small child in their lap and go down a slide. If you think that’s the only way for your child to safely navigate the slide, use extreme caution to prevent your child’s foot from catching on the slide’s surfaces.