Family: Grounds for playing safe

“When supervising kids, be proactive, don’t just sit and chat on the phone or read a book”

SYIDA LIZTA AMIRUL IHSAN finds out how parents and caretakers can minimize playtime pains for children FEW things make a child happier than a sunny afternoon at the playground with friends, running and chasing each other. It’s a great learning place where kids interact with their peers, develop social skills and build physical strength.

But more than just child’s play, a playground can be a battlefield that’s more than just about who gets to go on the swing first. On average, 12,000 children get injured on local playgrounds annually, under supervision or otherwise. And that’s the number of kids in 300 classrooms, assuming each class has 40 students.

Columbia Asia Hospital – Cheras consultant orthopaedic and arthroscopic surgeon Dr Azfar Rizal Ahmad says one in five children who visit a hospital’s accident and emergency unit suffers from playground-related injury.

“Of the injuries, three-quarters of the kids fall, 10 per cent suffer from strike and impact, like getting hit by the swing and 1.5 per cent, from entanglement, especially when the play area has ropes.”

Dr Azfar Rizal, a parent himself, says he was never aware of the danger in playgrounds until he did research on the topic and realized that “playgrounds can be a dangerous place to be for children.”

Playgrounds are not safe because it’s designed for all kids, when ideally, children of different ages and heights should play in areas with equipment specially designed for them. Children five years and younger require playing equipment that are 1.5m and below, while the ground has to be soft, with more padding.

“Modern playgrounds use soft surfaces like wood chip, rubber or sand and that has cut down the incidences of head injury compared to the 1980s when playground floors were cemented.

“Here, playgrounds are for all children. Either that or the preschoolers’ playground is just next to the regular one. We can’t stop kids from running around, so we have to create a safe space for them to play in,” he says.

Like his colleagues, Dr Azfar Rizal says the monkey bar “is only for monkeys, not children”. When the height is more than 1.5m, a child would hang on to it but if his hand muscles are weak, he would let go of his non-dominant hand and when the dominant hand cannot contain his weight, the child will fall, perhaps resulting in a fracture.

“In a research done in Singapore, 66 per cent of injuries resulted from the monkey bar. Lowering its height may reduce the incidences but more than that, playgrounds need to be properly designed, taking into consideration both designers and doctors’ opinions on how to make them child-friendly in the real sense of the word.”

Of the types of injuries, fracture makes up 35 to 40 per cent, followed by laceration (25 per cent), abrasion (20 per cent) and sprain (11 per cent). He is concerned about fractures among children because although not life-threatening, the cost is high to the family and government.

The ratio of playground-related injury in boys and girls is 2:1, with those aged 5 to 9 being most susceptible.

So what should parents and caretakers do?

“The benefits far outweigh the danger, so don’t stop your kids from going to the playground because it is where they develop their physical skills, co-ordination and strength. The onus is on adults to create a safe environment for them.

“Also, when supervising kids, be proactive, don’t just sit and chat on the phone or read a book. You have to recognize dangerous behavior and parents should choose playgrounds carefully. Clothing is another important aspect that is often neglected. Remove all drawstrings and if the girl wears a tudung, make sure it is well-fitted to minimize the risk of strangulation,” he says.

*This article first appeared in New Straits Times. 2011.dipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.