The shocking reason why monkey bars may get banned from playgrounds
"Too risky"
While a trip to the playground is on the top of most children’s list of favourite activities, experts have warned of the dangers of some equipment.
According to Nine News, there are growing calls to ban ‘risky’ pieces of equipment including monkey bars and trampolines.
A 10-year study found that 686,409 children were treated for injuries in hospital at a cost of $2.1 billion – the most common cause of these injuries were falls from playground equipment.
“The worst injuries can just be absolutely life changing and devastating because injury happens in the blink of an eye,” says Professor Kate Curtis, an emergency department nurse.
“A lot of people say that kids getting injured is just part of life. While that may be true, and they should learn from life, kids can’t learn if they’ve got a major head injury and can’t learn if they’re dead.”
The most common injuries she sees are children with broken wrists, broken elbows and concussions – usually caused by falling off something high like monkey bars.
However, one mum spoke out on A Current Affair saying getting children out and about and active is important.
“Things might be a bit high or scary but when they conquer that equipment, the look on their faces is priceless,” mum Rochelle said.
“The risks of sitting still and being sedentary are much greater of possibly falling and tripping on play equipment.”
Nicola Conville has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 20 years across a wide range of print and online publications. Her areas of expertise are parenting, health and travel. She has two children; Lucy, age eight, and Nathan, age five.
