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The One Thing Parents Should Never Do At The Playground With Kids
Warning: this features a video of a child’s leg bent in a painful position coming down a slide.
If you’ve ever frequented the playground with little ones, chances are there’ll have been one time or other that you decided to whizz down the slide with your tiny tot on your lap.
You might do it with babies, toddlers or even bigger kids – especially if it’s a longer slide that you’re a bit worried about them coming down on their own.
But experts warn that sitting your child on your lap and zipping down a slide could be a disaster waiting to happen if you don’t take certain safety precautions.
So what’s the problem? Well, according to paediatrician Dr Free N. Hess (@dr.free.hess), one of the most common injuries seen in toddlers in paediatric A&E is a fracture caused by coming down a slide on a parent or older sibling’s lap.
@dr.free.hess Slides and broken legs in kids. Toddlers fracture. #parenting#momsoftiktok#safekids#safety#childsafety#pediatrician
♬ original sound - Dr. Free N. Hess, Child Safety
She explained in a TikTok video: “What happens is the parent or sibling puts the kid on their lap and as they’re going down the foot falls to the side and gets caught between the slide and their leg. They keep going down, the leg stays stuck and twists up.”
She then revealed a photo of a toddler’s foot being bent upwards, away from her leg, as she came down a slide on her mum’s lap.
“We see it all the time,” added Dr Hess. “If you’re going to take your kid to the playground, let them go down the slide themselves. Or put them on your lap and make sure you’re holding their legs in place so they don’t fall to the side.”
In response to the video, parents shared their own slide horror stories, proving it’s a pretty common issue.
“Oh wow I wish I had found you sooner!” wrote one parent. “My toddler (18 months) literally just got her cast off yesterday from this exact thing.”
Another added: “This literally just happened to my one-year-old today with his older sister. I feel terrible.”
Other parents were grateful for the heads up, saying it’s not something they’d ever considered. One wrote: “Oh my god. Thank you. Every other video I’ve been like ‘yeah okay I know that’. This? Not at all. Just shared with my husband.”
Another commented: “I never even thought about this. Thank you.”
So next time you head to the park, you know what not to do.
