Warning to parents

[Just Plain Ruff]

Those rubber mats that are on playgrounds can get super super hot. Just saw a news story about a 3 year old who suffered 3rd degree burns from the rubber mats designed to cushion the falls of kids.

The mats can get so hot that they can cause 2nd degree burns in less than 5 seconds.

I saw this kids feet after he was on the playground and the soles were burned off. He spent 2 weeks in a burn unit.

Make sure your kids wear their shoes.

[spenac]

It is sure sad when what is supposed to provide safety for our kids does them more harm.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Child safety advocates are now recommending that playgrounds with this type of surface on them be covered with canopies and the like.

[CBEMT]

Child safety advocates are now recommending that playgrounds with this type of surface on them be covered with canopies and the like.

What's next- bubble wrap suits?

I played on steel and aluminum playgrounds sunk into dirt, and sometimes concrete. So did everybody I grew up with. And somehow, we're all still alive and relatively well-adjusted.

Now you have half the kids in the US on meds before they're even teenagers, and when they grow up they're effing useless whiny crybabies.

But they were safe on the playground!

[Just Plain Ruff]

yes, I agree, but remember, child safety advocates are funded mainly in part of the Bubble wrap industry.

but don't you think that if this is a known issue that it would be safer and less litigation costly to put either a different playground covering or put a canopy over the playground.

you have one child who is permanently disabled due to his feet being burned like the one in the original post, costing that playground company millions of dollars in damages which could have been mitigated by a simple change in the composition of the mat's or a simple 100K awning over the playground?

I don't profess to like that choice but sniff sniff sniff "It's for the children" (crocodile tears)

I played on that same concrete playground and I have only one broken bone in my life and that was from falling out of bed and breaking my collarbone.

[JPINFV]

A $100k awning would serve the same purpose as a $20 pair of shoes. Why should the play ground contractor bear the brunt of the cost of bad parenting (improperly clothed kid, not checking playground temperatures, etc)?

[Upton4785]

I'm not even that old (in fact to many people, I'm not even old yet!) but even I had the plain dirt and sand and concrete playgrounds, all of which were fun, and whatever injuries came up were our own faults anyway.

I agree with the comment about kids being on meds before they're teens. I think it's rediculous. There is a two year difference between myself and my girlfriend. When I started dating her, I was fresh out of high school, she was a junior. In my class, only a couple of kids were on prozac and the like. In her class, she said almost everyone was on anti-depressants. It's stupid! A guy breaks up with his girlfriend and goes on a 3 day depression... then some "highly trained" psychologist who didn't really listen to the kid in the first place pushes a bottle of drugs on him and boom, messed up for life.

[Just Plain Ruff]

A $100k awning would serve the same purpose as a $20 pair of shoes. Why should the play ground contractor bear the brunt of the cost of bad parenting (improperly clothed kid, not checking playground temperatures, etc)?

The same reason why sleeping pill manufacturers have to put warning labels on their bottles that this may cause drowsiness.

The same reason why clothes iron companies have to put "Do not Iron clothes when wearing" and finally the same reason why toaster manufacturers must put a warning label not to drop into water.

[under-dreaming]

I would have never imagined that the big heroes who rescued us from all the unknown stuff in the sand and dirt could forget to take into account the sun's energy to heat those pads up! I must admit, I didn't consider that either (the playground had dirt, grass, and sand when I was younger; so I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing the new rubber floors). Perhaps this is a lesson for us: There are many things that we can do for our children to make their environment a safe place. A "safe place" is really just a state of mind though. We thought the sand box was safe, until children started getting poked and cut on broken glass and used needles; but before the danger presented itself, we were in a "safe place". Accidents happen. Accidents happen in safe places too.

A three year old doesn't have the experience to understand that they are in trouble until it is too late, and they don't run as fast when they need to make a great escape. This is not the fault of the maker of the mat. This is negligence from the child's parent. It would have to be a pretty hot day to facilitate the kind of heat that could generate third degree burns. This child's parent should have kept what we like to call "A high index of suspicion" for all of the things that intense heat can do to a three year old child. Dehydration, heat stroke, minor to severe burns from certain surfaces. I would be out there with my kid, playing with him and helping him anyway! Especially at that age! I wonder what happened out there, that the parent could not scoop the child up at the first sign of distress. Whatever the particulars may be, we should remember this: Just because there are "safety" mats on the ground, that does not necessarily mean that the scene is safe.

I hope for the best with that poor child.

-Kiel

[Just Plain Ruff]

A $100k awning would serve the same purpose as a $20 pair of shoes. Why should the play ground contractor bear the brunt of the cost of bad parenting (improperly clothed kid, not checking playground temperatures, etc)?

JP I'm gonna disagree with you here and here is how I got to why I disagree with you.

just how do you intend to keep a childs shoes on them when they are on one part of the playground and you are on another. To claim that this is the result of bad parenting is just a cop out. The child was not improperly clothed, they had shoes on but they removed them. When in doubt, blame the parents. It's always the parents fault.

I was just at the park with my son the other day. He has a pair of crocks that he loves. I was watching him like I usually do and making sure that there was nothing on the playground that he would cut himself on or the like.

He was about 30-45 feet away from me.

He took his croc's off and started running around. Are you telling me that I'm a negligent parent for not having him keep his crocs on? By your reasoning, I'm a bad parent and negligent parent for allowing him to take his shoes off. That's a load of crap.

Are you saying that the parents are negligent by not taking a thermometer and checking the playground for it being too hot? The sun was shining down on the playground. The playground that we were on has those black surfaces that this article mentioned. I DID test the temperature of the black surface and it was not hot, not even close to being hot enough to burn a childs feet. As a matter of fact, the temperature was mildly warm but not hot.

I think that your premise is incorrect that it's the parents fault. Sure a parent can mitigate the risk by touching the slide and seeing if it's too hot, or checking the sandbox for needles and bottles but how do you keep your 5 year old from removing his shoes? You can tell him all you want but to get right down to it, they are gonna remove their shoes if they want to and that's that. No amount of prevention will keep them from doing that unless you either superglue their shoes on or duct tape them.

The story I mentioned said that the childs feet were burned in a matter of seconds. How am I supposed to get to my child who is 30 - 45 feet away in a matter of seconds.(unless I stick within 4-5 feet from him during his entire time of playing, which is no fun for him nor for me)

Unfortunately the damage is done. The childs feet are burned and a simple awning over the playground would have saved the child the days and weeks of painful rehab. Plus it would have saved the parks and rec department, the city and the builder countless thousands in litigation costs. (I think the benefit outweighs the cost)

I am not advocating awnings because the surface material should never get that hot and if they need to they change the surface from the black substance back to sand or woodchips. Kids are gonna get injured but truly it is up to the adults in this world to "try" to keep them safe but we all know in this world, keeping children safe is never guaranteed.

I'm in no means advocating a nanny state and having this be mandatory equipment on playgrounds but to put the blame solely on the parent is simply absurd.