Why You Should Take Extra Caution With Your Child On Public Playgrounds

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As simple as it may seem to take a ride down a playground slide with your little one, us Parents don’t often think about the caution that they, themselves, may need to take on the playground.

This is exactly why one Mother regularly shares the experience she had with her daughter that resulted in a broken bone.

It was an average day at the playground for Heather Clare and her 1-year-old daughter Meadow but then things took a terrible turn.

When she took her little girl down a park slide, someone stood by their side to take a picture of what should have been a sweet moment. But sadly, Meadow’s leg got caught on one side of the slide, which caused it to break.

“When we went to the ER, the super empathetic doctor lectured me on how common this injury is. I had no idea,” says the heartbroken mom, whose daughter is now 4-years-old. “I thought everyone took their kids down the slide.”

It really does seem harmless and that  everyone takes their kids down the slide because so many of us do. 

But the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has come out against slide-sharing.

According to the AAP, about 352,698 children under the age of 6 suffered slide-related injuries between the period 2002 and 2015. 

They say that many of those were leg fractures, similar to Meadow’s.

Heather wants playgrounds to add signs cautioning parents about the hazard.

While you may find many other post signs with warnings, the average person would be hard-pressed to find one that says anything about why a parent shouldn’t share the slide with their child.

So remember that it’s okay to politely decline when your kid asks you to slide. You may just be saving them from an injury that would sideline them from fun for a while.