I have to admit that I have seen my share of kids getting injured at a playground. From little ones being unsupervised on equipment that is too large, too complicated or too high for them, to innocent bystanders who get in the way of the metal merry-go-round, it pays to be vigilant when it comes to watching your child play.
But here is a little known but all too common cause for injury. Toddlers and preschoolers who get their shinbones broken when they go down the slide. And this time, it isn’t lack of supervision or a freak accident. This time it is something that a parent or caregiver caused themselves.
We’ve probably all done it as parents. Coaxed a reluctant child down the slide. or maybe the child isn’t so reluctant but way too small to ride down the slide on her own. Although awkward, we ride down the slide with the child in front of us or on our laps, just to make sure that she doesn’t fall off or come to any harm.
But recently, this practice is making the news, thanks to a study by Dr. John Gaffney, a pediatric orthopedist who has seen his share of broken bones. According to Gaffney and the study he just published in Journal of Pediatric Orthopedics, all of the cases he has seen, that is all, in which a child has gotten injured on a slide, were due to a parent or older sibling riding down the slide with the child.
This is what often happens. As the two of you descend the slide, your child’s foot might get caught against the side of the slide. I have seen this happen many times with toddlers riding the slide alone. But the light weight of the child sliding alone means that she will stop sliding when this happens. Unfortunately, the weight of the parent or older child creates a lot of additional momentum. This means that instead of stopping, the child’s leg actually breaks.
The best advice is to simply distract your child from using the slide until she is ready to slide down alone.