babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
They Say: Don’t Sit and Slide
Ever grabbed your kid for a ride down the slide? Me too – we were both wrong.
A new study says parents who pop the kids on their laps to slip down the slide at the playground are unwittingly putting their children at risk for leg fractures.
Ironic – considering most parents I asked said they did the lap slide to PROTECT their tots.
Published in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics, the study found parents who do the sit and slide are increasing their child’s risk of a fractured tibia – aka your shinbone. The kids showing up in the emergency room with the broken bone were typically under thirty-two months of age and were sliding with Mom or Dad. It was an extremely small study, but considering how common the practice, worth thinking about.
Say researchers: “Parents should be educated not to go down a slide with a child on their lap. If the child is unable to use the slide independently, another activity would be more appropriate.”
So are you like me – guilty as charged?
Image: SagerScenes
Go Back To Strollerderby
0 Comments
Manjari commented on Sep 04 09 at 11:42 amIs that you with your cutie in the picture? Adorable!
jeannesager commented on Sep 04 09 at 4:26 pmOh – thanks Manjari. Yes, that’s an oldie of us on the slides at a theme park – the rare slide wide enough for us to go down side-by-side!
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Sep 04 09 at 4:52 pmThat’s a super cute pic! And holy crap, I just did the slide thing with my son at the park yesterday! Thanks for the heads up!
Sarah commented on Sep 04 09 at 7:23 pmUm- how many gazillion times do kids go down the slide on their parents’ laps with no ill effects? It’s not something I did with my kids, since I subscribe to the independence-encouraging/ lazy-parenting philosophy of not helping kids on the playground, but seriously, this is not worth worrying about.
courtney commented on Sep 04 09 at 10:02 pmI’ve done this tons of times. I let my son go down the slide if it’s sized appropriately for him, but if it’s a big kid slide that is too steep for him to go down alone, I’ll ride with him. I agree with Sarah…given the frequency with which this happens, the level of risk seems pretty darn low. I have to say, the reason I started reading Babble was that it was one of the few parenting magazines that didn’t panic over every parenting scare, but lately the articles have been getting more and more panicky. There are so many truly scary things involved in parenting, I see no reason to encourage unnecessary stress and fear.
ChiLaura commented on Sep 04 09 at 10:20 pmI’m with Sarah on the “independence encouraging.” I tell my kids that if they can’t do something by themselves, then they have to wait until they can. (I do keep my hand under them if they’re, for example, climbing a ladder, but I’m not going to climb the darn thing for them.)With two kids to keep an eye on, and a baby on the way, I need my kids to be able to do thing themselves and to have confidence that they know their limits, at least a little bit. So far, so good, and no injuries to speak of!
jeannesager commented on Sep 04 09 at 10:39 pmRather than fear-mongering, I think the point is that if your kid isn’t ready to go down alone, they might not be ready for the slide – period. It’s great to say you want to encourage their independence, but that also means teaching them limits . . . including staying off a slide that they can’t handle alone.
Lauren commented on Sep 08 09 at 2:30 pmThis happened to my friend. Her husband and one year old son were going down a large slide, and the baby broke his leg. Even worse, they were on vacation! I agree though, we do not need to worry about every little thing! Slide On!
Lisa commented on Oct 03 09 at 2:25 pmgee and here I was sliding down with them because it was fun and this is with both of my children being able to go down on their own. Like all things in life we need to be careful but come on where is the adventure if you can’t climb, run and fall in life. This is why you no longer see teeter totters and why children are so afraid to try anything, gawd forbid if they get hurt.
Kerry commented on Oct 18 09 at 9:08 pmMy son just broke his leg riding on my lap down a slide. I never thought this would happen to me, but my son’s doctor says its a very common injury. The pain and discomfort he’s feeling, and the guilt that I’ve felt for taking him down the slide are not worth it. From now on, if he’s not ready to go down a slide without me, then he’s not ready to go down that slide.
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
0