It’s something we’ve probably all done at the local park – gone down the slide with our kids. But mums have revealed how this seemingly innocent act has changed their families forever.

Heather Clare’s one-year-old daughter had only just started walking three days before, when she popped the toddler on her lap and rode down a slide. It wasn’t until they reached the bottom that the mum realised something was horribly wrong.

“This picture is the moment her leg was breaking,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “She’s still smiling… because it was happening at this exact moment. When we went to the ER, the super empathetic doctor lectured me on how common this injury is. I had no idea.

“I thought everyone took their kids down the slide. I strongly feel every playground should have a warning sign, but since I’ve never seen one (and we go to A LOT of playgrounds).”

While the accident happened in 2015, Heather continues to share her story, to warn other parents.

“I share this picture every year in hopes that the pain Meadow felt and the guilt that I still feel will save other babies and parents from the same. Don’t ever go down a slide with a baby on your lap. There is no SAFE way to go down a slide with your little.”

And Meadow isn’t the only one to suffer devastating slide-related injuries.

Amelia Zamora says a fun day out turned into a horrifying ordeal for her two-year-old daughter after they both went down a slide together.

“I had my oldest who was 2.5 at the time and my two month old,” Amelia explained in a social media post. “My oldest wanted to go down the big slide and asked me countless times to go with her. A friend offered to watch the baby while I went with her. Little did I know seconds later our lives would change forever.

“The slide was steeper than we thought and we crash landed at the bottom.”

Amelia explains on her blog that the slide was steep and that she and her daughter flew off at he end, despite her attempts to stop them using her feet.

“The momentum of my weight (mind you, I am not a big heavy person either. I’m 5’4 and 75kg) with the steepness of the slide had us both flying off.

“We both flew off and my daughter landed on her right kneecap and I landed on her side and bruised my knee and scrapped my elbow. But it wasn’t until later that night that I’d realise my daughters injuries were much worse!

“I scooped her up and told her it was okay, as the fall had knocked the wind out of both of us and I tried to calm her down as she was screaming and crying.We sat for awhile and then I decided to leave the group of friends and take her home.

“Fast forward to later that evening when my normal two year old would have been running all over the house trying to entertain her then 3 month old sister, was laying on the couch refusing to move.

“My husband and I later took her into the Emergency Room to get x-rays and we were heartbroken to find out that she had broken her femur! Which as I’m told is one of the hardest bones to break.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Amelia | Mama Bear Reviews (@mamabearreview)

It resulted in their daughter having splints and a spica cast for four weeks. It meant her hips and legs were immobilised, with the cast having to be installed under general anaesthetic.

The ordeal prompted Amelia to warn other parents of the danger of a simple slide with their kids.

“It was gut wrenching and hard. You hear all the time not to go down the slide with kids because they put their legs out and it could get caught on the sides and break their legs etc. but you never think it could happen to you, and it wasn’t even the fact her leg got caught, it was the steepness of the slide and the fact that I stopped at the bottom but our momentum kept us going.

“She had to re-learn how to walk once the cast was off, she was apprehensive of slides for months afterwards, and I will never forget that day and those loooong months after.

“So here’s my PSA to those parents who think it won’t happen to them: don’t risk it. hold their hand off the side or just give them encouragement to go alone and if the slide looks too steep, be prepared to catch them at the bottom because looking back, I wish I would’ve just told her not that slide.”

Have you ever gone down a slide with your child? Let us know in the comments below. 

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.