'Tis the season for snow and sledding. But is the beloved childhood pastime
too dangerous for kids?
Children and teens on sleds account for at least 20,820 injuries in the United States each year, according to a first-ever analysis of U.S. emergency room reports.
The study also found that nearly 230,000 children and teens age 19 and younger were treated for sledding injuries in emergency departments between 1997 and 2007, according to msnbc.com.
And who is most vulnerable? You guessed it, boys of a certain age. Kids between the ages of 10 and 14 accounted for largest proportion of injuries, 42.5 percent, followed by children ages 5 to 9, 29.5 percent. Boys made up nearly 60 percent of the cases.
Fractures were the most common injury, accounting for 26 percent of the injuries, followed by bruises and abrasions, 25 percent, and then cuts and sprains at 16 percent apiece. The head was the most frequently harmed body part, and more than 9 percent of the kids hurt sustained traumatic brain injuries, msnbc reports.
Ian Miller, 12, of Pottstown, Pa., died Jan. 15 after a sledding accident during a Boy Scout snow trip. His parents are working to require helmets at public sledding sites.
Bottom line: If you want to sled, wear a helmet, and steer clear of cars, trees and other obstacles. You'll be glad you did.
I was one of two people whose accidents got the best sledding hill in my town closed to sledding. There were people hang-gliding there the same day, going down on skis, with hang gliders. One guy went out of control, veered straight toward me. I turned and ran, and got an aluminum pole to the back of the head. That was the first time I was ever knocked out. I remember coming to with a bunch of people standing over me, and looking and seeing the guy struggling to get loose from his glider over in some rose bushes.
The other one cited around that time was a woman who died when she hit a tree. I have a pretty good idea what tree she hit, too. She was on a side-trail leading through the woods. I was on the main, open slope, impossible to hit any trees. Apart from a little hill at the bottom where you could catch serious air, and the threat of hang-gliders, there wasn't a lot of risk on that slope. They could have just fenced off the sides and called it good.
If we let the nannies in our individual lives ruin our lives, it is one thing, FEEL FREE TO BE PARANOID OF EVERYTHING FOR FEAR OF AN INJURY!
PARANOID NANNIES..... PLEASE LEAVE OUR KIDS LIVES ALONE! They have enough sour things in their lives to ruin their day!
TAKING AWAY OR BANNING EVERY ACTIVITY A CHILD MIGHT DO OUTSIDE causes OBESE DEPRESSED ELECTRONIC DEPENDENT CHILDREN!
Any connnection between those things in todays society--banned outdoor activities/obese, electronic addicted, depressed children?
Nah!
Perhaps we just need to put all children in a hypo-allergenic safety ball and only ever let them go outside that ball to use the bathroom wearing enough protective gear to make a football linebacker look naked!
I used to go sledding a lot as a kid.
As the parent of now grown boys I would say that frequent ER visits are par for the course when one has male gender kids! Although sledding, even with the Boy Scouts was never a cause for any of our ER visits.
down the hill, and stop, need to get up, get out the way. But I remember all the good
times sledding.
If you have never sled before, be responsible, have fun.
Boys do NOT become men if they do not learn that they are NOT immortal.
The problem today is that so many kids are raised only by their mothers and the "dads" are not around or in cases Not allowed to be involved with their kids.
This just makes all these boys into pansey a$$e$.
My sons mother wont even let my son play in the rain. How is he supposed to build up his immune system if he can't even play in the rain.
So whenever i have my son and it rains i take him ouside and we play catch in the rain.
If he gets sick, i take care of him. If he gets injured as all boys are supposed to be at one time or another then i take care of him.
I can sure see why there are so many homsexuals nowadays with women raising their boys to be pansies.