A&E doctor shares the five presents she'll never give children on Christmas morning
Bec Oakes
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@beachgem10/Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images
With Christmas less than two weeks away, if you haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet, I'd definitely start to panic.
But, with so many new toys being released each year, when it comes to shopping for the little ones in your life, it can impossible to know where to start.
From Barbie dolls and Lego sets to kids' tablets and other gadgets, the list of potential presents to put under the Christmas tree is endless.
Now, an A&E doctor has shortened the list slightly by sharing the five toys she'd never give to her kids:
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Dr Meghan Martin is a paediatric emergency medicine doctor and mum of four from Florida who posts stories about her job with her 1.4 million followers on TikTok.
Dr Martin has seen the dangers of certain toys first hand and recently posted a video about how they can lead to a trip to the hospital, or even death.
Here are all the toys she recommends avoiding for kids:
First, she told viewers to not give a child any type of toy that requires button batteries.
"They keep those little compartments closed with these little cheap screws — it's not worth it. They can literally kill kids and they do every year," she explained.
She went on to advise parents to keep water beads away from young children as they can easily be swallowed.
"Water beads are sold as sensory toys but little kids can ingest them when they're small and they can get larger and cause bowel obstructions."
She said the small beads can cause problems for pets, too.
Dr Martin explained: "Kids go way too fast on [electric scooters]. They hit a bump, they go flying, they mess up their faces, arms and heads — it's bad news."
The same principle goes for hoverboards, with the mum of four claiming to see an influx of hoverboard-related injuries after Christmas each year.
While a trampoline may seem like the perfect way for your little ones to blow off steam, Dr Martin absolutely 'detests' them.
"Number one item from the list should not be a surprise to anyone, it's trampolines," she said.
"I detest trampolines. They keep the emergency department in the orthopaedics team in business.
"It doesn't matter if you have a net, it doesn't matter if it's buried in the ground. Most of the injuries actually happen on the trampoline."
She finished the now-viral video, which has been viewed more than 1.3 million times, by wishing her viewers a wonderful holiday, saying she hopes they 'do not need to pay me a visit.'
And, parents took to the comments to agree with the A&E doctor's advice.
One person wrote: "I'm really wondering how I never broke any bones as a kid with how many times I fell off the trampoline."
Another said: "Someone just gave us 10000 water beads, it never came in the house."
And a third commented: "I refuse to buy anything with button batteries and recently water beads.
"Thanks for spreading awareness!!"