Safety Considerations When Choosing Parent Child Slide Park Equipment
When you take your child to a playground, it’s important to be aware of the equipment they can and cannot use. Some equipment, like slides, require a certain size and level of development skill before children can ride them.
For example, letting a toddler sit on your lap while they go down a slide can be dangerous. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against this practice for kids under age six because it increases the chances of a leg injury.
Safety First
Safety is one of the most important considerations when choosing parent child slide park equipment. It’s not only safe for your child, but also an important factor in developing a positive experience and learning how to behave safely in the playground.
It’s common for parents to allow their children to go down slides and jump off jungle gyms without supervision, but these activities can be dangerous if not done properly. It’s especially important for toddlers to be supervised while playing on playground equipment.
For example, many kids get hurt when they go down a slide on an adult’s lap and fall off. This can result in shinbone (tibia) fractures, which require surgical treatment.
Another common injury is elbow fractures. This is the most common type of playground injury and typically requires surgery to fix. It occurs when children try to protect themselves by grabbing the hand of someone else and then falling on an outstretched arm.
In addition, many children also suffer fractures when they climb up the ladder of a slide. It’s best to have your child climb up the ladder one step at a time while holding the handrail.
It’s also a good idea to check that the playground equipment is in good condition. Inspect the equipment for sharp edges, nails, rusting parts or peeling paint that could indicate it’s unsafe.
You’ll also want to make sure that there are no broken pieces of equipment on the playground, and that there’s enough ground clearance around merry-go-rounds and other types of slides to prevent kids from getting pinned under them.
The equipment should also be a shaded area or covered in some way so that it’s not too hot for your child to play on. This can also prevent burns from slides and swings that are exposed to sunlight on a sunny day.
Having good playground equipment is also important for your child’s health and wellbeing, as it helps them develop healthy habits and skills. It’s also essential for preventing injuries that could interfere with their overall development.
As the weather warms up, more and more kids are going to be taking advantage of their outdoor space to play. It’s a great opportunity for kids to have fun, but it’s also important that they use their imagination and engage in safe, healthy play.
Don’t Let Your Child Go Down Alone
Slides are a fun way for kids to burn off energy, but they can also be dangerous. According to one study, slides parent child slide park equipment are involved in more than a fifth of playground-related injuries that require emergency-room visits.
Fortunately, the slides at your local park are probably built with safety in mind. But that doesn’t mean your toddler can go down them without a parent in the picture.
Parents are often tempted to let their little ones slide down with them because it looks like a harmless activity that lets them bond with their child. But it could be risky, as the New York Times reports in its latest story about slide accidents.
The mother of three children wrote a post on Facebook last year that shared a photo of her daughter Meadow with the caption, “An accident that I did not want to see happen to my daughter.” She shares that she was going down the slide with her toddler on her lap when their foot got caught and Meadow broke her tibia and fibula.
Heather Clare says that her doctor told her there’s no safe way for a parent to go down the slide with their child, because the weight of the person behind them is not enough to stop the limb from being caught. The doctor also pointed out that adults take up space on the slide, making it hard for a child to sit up and not have their arms or legs catch the sides.
That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics advises against letting children go down slides alone. They also caution against using slides on hot days or in direct sunlight, as they can heat up enough to cause serious injuries.
When a slide is too hot, children can have trouble putting their feet down and can get their ankles or legs caught, which can break them. In addition, they can also fall off of a hot slide and break their necks or other internal organs.
While many playgrounds have areas that are specifically designed for toddlers, there’s still a lot of equipment that’s too big or too steep for a two-year-old to use. That’s why it’s important to visit playgrounds with age-appropriate play options, so your toddler doesn’t feel obligated to try something they’re not ready for.
Don’t Let Your Child Jump
You see a toddler who’s monopolizing a slide, pushing ahead of smaller children (yours included) who are waiting for their turn. You want to warn this mom that her child is being dangerous, but you also don’t want to make her angry.
A recent article in US Weekly magazine features Heather Clare, a parent who waited in line for her daughter to go down a slide alone and then watched as the daughter’s leg broke. The story shares that even though the mother thought she was doing what was best for her daughter, it wasn’t.
According to the article, this happened because Heather went down the slide with her daughter and the weight of her body behind her made it difficult for her daughter’s leg to stop if it got caught on the way down.
This is a serious situation that should never happen to your child. The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that more than 352,000 kids under the age of 2 were treated in emergency rooms for slide injuries between 2002 and 2015.
In most cases, the injury was a broken leg. These fractures require surgery and can result in a long leg cast.
When your child goes to the playground, check that it has soft surfaces like sand, mulch or wood chips underneath the equipment to lessen the risk of a fall. You should also look for equipment with guardrails to help keep your child safe.
It’s also important to check the ground around the equipment for any broken pieces of glass or wood that could get in their way. If it’s not possible to remove these items, ask that they be disposed of before your child plays there.
Then, teach your child that parent child slide park equipment he should always wait until the slide is clear before he goes down it. This will help prevent him from bouncing up onto the bottom and hitting someone else in the process.
Another thing to do is avoid letting your child throw sand or chips at other kids playing at the park. This is an easy mistake to make, and it can cause your child to accidentally hurt a nearby child.
Don’t Let Your Child Ride With You
A new study finds that parent child slide park equipment is one of the most dangerous things at the playground. According to researchers, children who ride down slides on a parent’s lap are at an increased risk of a broken leg or other serious injury.
The findings come from a study by pediatric emergency medicine physician Charles Jennissen, who examined data on 352,698 children under age 6 who were injured on slide-related playground equipment between 2002 and 2015. Most of these injuries were minor, but about one in every eight of them involved a leg fracture.
Typically, these injuries occur when the child’s foot catches on the edge of the slide. But when a child rides down the slide on a parent’s lap, they’re more likely to catch their foot because of their size and weight. This can cause the child to break a bone in their foot, ankle, or knee.
This is especially true when children under the age of six are riding down the slide. These children are at a higher risk of injury because they haven’t fully learned to walk yet.
It’s also important to consider that some slides are not as safe for younger kids as they should be, because they haven’t been maintained properly or are older. They are often made from plastic and metal that can easily burn kids’ skin after they’ve been in the sun all day.
Another concern is that slides are not always positioned in the best way to prevent falls. A slide’s surface may be too rough, or it may have gaps and protrusions that can trap clothes. This is why it’s important to inspect the quality of any slide before allowing your child to use it.
Parents who let their children ride down a slide on a parent’s lap are also increasing the risk of other injuries, such as a head or arm injury, according to Jennissen. This is because the slide may be too tall for the child to reach, and they might get their head stuck in a hole or other protrusion.
