Recent research has revealed using slides is far more dangerous for children if they are lying on their parents’ lap. The added weight of the adult makes the ride quicker, and automatically more dangerous. If the child’s leg gets caught on the edge of the slide and it gets twisted, it’s more likely for it to break at that speed than when the child is alone.
Many children got hurt while going down on slides with their parents
The research discovered a number of 352,698 children ended up injured after using slides between 2002 and 2015. Also, most of these injuries were quite serious, as they were fractures. Although parents are not aware of it, children are more likely to get injured if they go down the slide while lying in their lap.
Adults choose to do this since they think it’s safer for the child. They have no idea that they might actually put him in danger, and put the child on their lap without thinking twice. When informed about this, they said they wouldn’t have done it if they had known this was such a bad idea.
The younger the children are, the more chances are for them to get hurt
After analyzing the children who had suffered injuries while playing on the slide, they discovered that most of them had suffered them after their parents put them on their lap, and went down together. Over a third of these children had had a fracture, and the number of injuries increased among those who didn’t ride the slide alone.
Also, the younger the children were, the more increased their chances of getting a fracture while on their parents’ lap. Therefore, this was the main cause of the serious injuries. If the kids went down the slide alone, their chances of getting hurt got significantly lower.
Therefore, parents should know how dangerous this practice can be. If their child is too young to go down a slide, it’s better for him to wait until he can do that on his own, rather than sit on an adult’s lap and suffer such a serious injury.
Image Source: Flickr
