Gregory Robinson
A mum has issued a warning after making a common playground mistake with her son on a slide.
Jean, who posts on Instagram as @mommawillteach, took her young son to a playground and went down the slide with him.
The mum decided to sit her son on her lap as they went down, however she had no idea that this would lead to her son breaking his leg on the slide.
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She took to Instagram to warn parents against making the same mistake she did.
"Here I was, a mum of 18 months, thinking how sweet to put my toddler on my lap for additional support," she wrote in the caption.
"Boy, was I wrong and learned the hard way. Five short months after he started walking he had a broken leg from lapping it on a slide!"
She finished her post with the message: "Please share with your parent friends, so toddlers keep their limbs in place & one less pang of parental guilt…"
In 2017 researchers at the American Academy of Pediatrics found that riding down the slide with a child in an adult's lap can actually increase the chances of them breaking their leg, or getting seriously injured in another way.
Parents often mistakenly assume this is the safest way for a child to go down the slide.
However due to the additional weight, the adult and the child together will go down the slide at a much faster speed, increasing the likelihood of a broken bone if the child catches their foot on the slide.
Parents and carers in the comments thanked Jean for her PSA and suggested signs should be displayed in parks and playgrounds to warn adults against riding down the slide with their children.
One woman shared: "I'd love to see signs up at playgrounds! Lots of caregivers don't have any idea it's dangerous.
"Sometimes I will say something, because I have experienced it myself with my niece riding on my lap.
"There are so many things we can't protect our kids from, but this is one that's completely preventable!"
Another mum said: "This happened to my daughter. She was 22 months at the time. I had her on my lap and her foot got stuck under her body. Broken leg.
"Doctor said he saw this so many times."
A third adult wrote: "Ugh, yes! I took my niece down a bouncy slide once when she was around 2 & broke her little leg."