Taking An Interest In Your Child's Education

Keeping Your Child Safe On 3 Potentially Dangerous Playground Items

An average of over 200,000 children in the United States are injured on playgrounds every year to the extent that they need emergency room treatment. These injuries occur at both daycare, school, public, and home playgrounds. While this statistic may sound alarming, playground accidents can be avoided when you take proper safety precautions for your child. Make sure you know the three pieces of playground equipment most of these accidents occur on and how to help your child use these items more safely.  

1. Climbers

It may sound surprising at first, but 23 percent of playground injuries occur on the simple ladders, or climbers, that children use to get onto the equipment. Climbers include the ladders used to get up to the top of a slide and the ladders used to get onto the platforms of jungle-gyms. Many playgrounds also have rope climbers. It is easy to see how one broken ladder step or one torn rope could lead to a steep fall. 

Inspecting these climbers regularly to make sure they are not damaged can help prevent many of these accidents that can lead to concussions or even broken bones. Keeping soft playground mats under the entire playground area at your home playground can help your child avoid serious injury if he or she falls. At public playgrounds, also ensure there are soft mats or soft shredded rubber under all playground equipment. 

2. Swings

Swing accidents come in at second place when it comes to child injuries, making up 22 percent of emergency room visits. While a school district in Richmond, Washington recently made headlines by pulling swings off its playgrounds to prevent student injuries, many people feel children don't have to stop using swings when proper safety precautions are taken. 

Along with inspecting the swings your child will be using to make sure they are in good shape, there are several other ways to keep your child safe on these now controversial pieces of playground equipment:

1. Make sure there is a distance of at least 8 inches between swings on a swing-set and that there are 8 inches of space between each swing and the ground. 
2. Use the baby swing with the bucket seat for children ages 6 months to 4 years old. Wait until your baby can hold his or her head up independently before using this swing. 
3. Supervise your child, or ensure an adult supervisor is close at all times. This can prevent many swing accidents. 

Other basic swing safety rules include keeping other children away from the swings when they are in use to avoid collisions and making sure your child knows that "jumping off" the swing is a big no-no. 

3. Slides

Slide accidents make up 17 percent of playground injuries. Some of these accidents occur when children are climbing ladders to get onto the slides, but others likely occur on the slides themselves. Supervision is a very important aspect of slide-safety, as eager children can collide with each other when one tries to take a turn on the slide before the last child has finished. 

There are several types of playground slides, and each has specific safety guidelines that you can look for. Basic, straight slides should have 4-inch high guides along the sides of them to prevent children of all ages from sliding off the edges. Tube slides should be at least 23 inches in diameter to prevent children from getting stuck. A larger diameter is better, especially for children who are overweight. 

Children should always land on soft, padded surfaces and never concrete or hard ground. The grass is not soft enough to prevent injury if your child lands at an awkward angle. 

Playgrounds shouldn't be dangerous places. They can all be safe when you recognize the potential hazards of playground equipment and take the necessary steps to keep your child safe while using them.