WARNING: Playground Slides - Did YOU See the NY Times Article?

Thanks for sharing! Definitely not something I ever considered. My fat a$$ is too big to ride down a slide anyway (not literally, but it's not a pretty sight) so I never did this but I do see people do it all the time. I will pass this along to my sister, who does have a little one and friends with little ones.

I doubt I would fit through the twisty slide myself so I never tried it holding a toddler. I guess it is good to know about this risk. My kids are old enough to slide by themselves on most slides. At 1.5 or 2 they could slide alone on smaller, age appropriate slides and work up to the bigger ones. One preschool playground near us has a very wide slide and an adult can use that one with a child on their lap since there is no side to get caught on.

Hmmm, I guess by reading Kristina M's comment I lack "common sense" because I have gone down the slides before with my kids on my lap. : ) Now to your question, I have heard of this happening before and have always been fearful when I see people slide together but always always keep my kids feet together on top of my legs when we do slide together. We also go kinda slow down the slide due to my fat a$$. : )

I am sorry, but a slide is meant for ONE person at a time, to allow more than one is failure to follow rules and use "common sense." When my son began learning how to slide down the twisty ones I had him remove his shoes because he did not exactly understand that putting his shoes down caused him to stop fast and he could get hurt. Now he understands that he can not do this and can keep his shoes on.

Ok, I went to the article thinking maybe there was some sort of news flash information.... ummm... nope. Not news. It's just common sense. I never cease to be amazed that no one thinks of stuff like this. Really.
I mean, I went down slides when I was a kid. I have had a foot get hung on the slide depending on what kind of shoes I had on. Of course it can happen, and does often, but when another person is coming down right behind them (or under them) the force of that person's weight doesn't stop just because a shoe is stuck. No shock there. It's basic science stuff.

And these kinds of stories aren't new either. I've seen them in parenting magazines for years. So no, no controversy, but not news, either, really. Just use your noggin people.

How many times do billions of kids slide down slides and don't get hurt. Its always good to be aware of these things and I think its common sense that only one kid should be on a slide at a time. But kids are kids and they will go together or a parent will think its fun or safer to slide with them. Accidents happen, its why they are called accidents. Just my opinion but good to know. =)

If I had a buck for every thing that could potentially injure my children in day to day activities, I wouldn't need to work.

I think this is just one writer that found something to grab attention.

Well good thing I never made them slide with anyone else. :)

This actually just happened to my 21 month old yesterday, luckily like the article said her own weight made her foot get untangled but she still rolled off the side of the slide( she was sliding down on her own). I felt horrible, luckily she didn't even cry. We just got our swing set about 2 weeks ago and it's been a real challenge trying to keep her from climbing to the top when she sees her other sisters do it. I ride down the slide ALL the time with her and with my 2 y/o so thank you so much for sharing this.

Oh wow! That is awful! But informative, thanks!

I had read about these things before I had a baby so I knew about playground dangers. My big thing was more "broken glass and other sharp objects in the mulch or playground padding" concerns. Here is Houston there is always a scare of snakes nestled somewhere in the twisty slides or even at the bottom of a slide or hiding somewhere in the playground equipment. But thanks for bringing awareness. You never know what unknowing mom you might be helping for the future.

Thanks for posting this, I had no idea such a serious injury could happen. You think your child is safe if he's on your lap, right?

Thanks again,
R.

When it's laid out like this, it totally makes sense that these injuries could happen as the adult "drags" the child's leg behind by accident.

I would like to see stats on another thing that always worried me when my child was younger: Too many slides, especially newer "twisty" ones, have very low sides and are very shallow. I can't count how many times I saw children stand up or kneel in these slides and lean over the very low edge from the top. I would be very surprised if kids have not been hurt by falling right off these low-sided slides when they try to stand or kneel on them, or just lean over the side when sitting on them.

I'm not sure what you mean by "What do you think?" It happens. I've known a child that broke his femur (thigh bone) going down the slide with a babysitter, and was in a full leg cast for upwards of 6 weeks. And if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. There little bones are meant to support their low weights, not their own weight plus the weight of an adult. Not to mention the speed that can be achieved going down some of these slides... Either let them go down the slide themselves with you standing on the side, or don't. Why risk it?

ETA: I agree that accidents happen, its part of growing up and how you learn. My own kid broke his arm falling off a balance beam at school. But I don't have any bad feelings about it, because it wasn't anything I did or anyone else did that caused it. I'm sure there are all kinds of neck and back injuries from kids falling off the monkey bars upside down, and I cringe everytime I see mine do it, but what's more fun to a kid than hanging upside down? :) There are risks involved with any activity, but if I can minimize the risks that I create, without increasing the risk to my children (for injury or over-sheltered-ness...is that even a word), you better believe that I'm going to!! You have to find your comfort level and go from there, everyone is different and that's the way it is supposed to be.

Helicopter parenting?? I let my kids go down age appropriate toddler slides all by themselves as soon as they showed interest in it. I would just catch them at the bottom. I guess if they are not sitting yet and you slide them down, this may be something to keep in the back of your mind, where you just hold their feet together in your lap.

My SD broke her leg going down a slide by herself when she was just over a year old. Her foot got caught at the top and iher leg was twisted as she went down. She had a cast, which didn't stop her one bit from learning how to walk, and she was healed up fast and fine. Stuff happens.

This study is about when the child is riding on the parents lap. The legs were obviously not held together safely, and the momentum of the parent's weight had something to do with the pressure of the broken leg. Without the parent, the foot would be fine. My 4 year old niece broke her arm walking down a sidewalk. Trips are common injuries too, but I'm not going to carry my kid around either.

"This may be one of those counterintuitive cases when a child is safer by himself. If a foot gets caught while the child is sliding alone, he can just stop moving or twist around until it comes free. But when a child is sitting in an adult lap, the force of the adult’s weight behind him ends up breaking his leg."

this has happened to my daughter when she was going down by herself, and it turned her around, she ended up at the bottom of the slide backwards. but, i supposed her weight is not enough to stop her and cause a leg injury.

I heard about that a couple of years ago and we stopped sliding as much with DD. If we do slide now, it's with her situated where she won't stick a leg out. I was talking with the mom of a toddler about this just today.

Further, a common way kids dislocate an elbow? Jumping off the swings. Ah, childhood.