Why you shouldn’t take child on a slide

PARENTS have been warned not to let their child sit on their lap on playground slides because it could easily break the youngster’s leg.

A study of injuries suffered by more than 350,000 children found they are far more likely to break their lower leg or shinbone when on a chute with a parent.

And the younger the child, the greater the chances they were on someone’s lap when they were injured.

The US researchers said that a child sliding down alone who catches their foot on the edge of the chute is unlikely to hurt themselves. But on a parent’s

‘It could give a child a significant injury’

lap they will slide faster because of the added weight, generating enough force to twist and snap a bone – especially among toddlers and infants.

In Britain, an estimated 40,000 children every year are taken to A&E having been injured in a playground, with more than one in five cases caused by slides.

The lead author of the study, Dr Charles Jennissen from the University of Iowa, said: ‘Many parents go down a slide with a young child on their lap without giving it a second thought.

‘In many cases, they had no idea doing so could possibly give their child such a significant injury.’

Slide injuries in Britain have previously been shown mostly to come from children falling off them or as a result of their own behaviour.

This includes running into a slide, climbing up the chute or being pushed off the top by another child.