Playing Safely at the Playground

by Cindy Bond

Every year, about 250,000 kids under the age of 15 require some sort of hospital treatment for playground accidents - from bruises to cuts to broken bones to head injuries. You may be able to supervise your kids while they're playing in your neighborhood, but how can you help them be safe at school and daycare?

Teach your kids some commonsense rules for playground fun, advises Mick Mack, project coordinator for the National Program for Playground Safety.

• Show kids which equipment is okay for them to play on according to their age and size. "No 4- or 5-year-old should play on anything that's 8-feet high," says Mack. You can judge by looking at the playground equipment what's right for your kids. Look at the height, and the distance between steps and rungs. Today, new equipment is often labeled by age. Look for the signs.



• Take a look at the surface of the school's playgrounds. If it's asphalt, concrete, or pavement, ask the school to replace it with sand, gravel, wood chips, or shredded rubber. Why? A child's fall onto concrete from an 8-foot slide has the same impact as a car traveling at 30 mph that hits a brick wall.



• Make sure that your kids wear shoes, like sneakers, that won't slide on wet surfaces.



• Remind kids not to play on wet equipment or force parts of their body through small spaces.



• Teach your children to watch out for hot metal surfaces, such as slides, that may cause burns.



• Review simple safety precautions with your kids: Don't cross in front of moving swings. Get off a seesaw only when your partner's feet are on the ground. Don't push or pull others while playing on climbing equipment.



• Don't encourage young kids to swing faster or climb higher than they're comfortable with. Very young children will naturally stop themselves before they pass their own safety level, as long as they're not egged on by others.

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