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1st July 2025
12:29pm BST
The playground is a wonderful place to bring out the best in children's imagination and enjoy playtime.
While the swings, slides, and monkey bars are all great amenities for kids to enjoy themselves and burn off energy, they can come with dangers.
One mum has issued a warning to other parents to avoid letting their children use the slide in a certain way after her toddler experienced a serious injury.
Amelia Zamora, creator of MamaBear Reviews, from California, is warning other parents to never ride a slide with their child on their lap.
After she and her two-year-old daughter, Scarlett, went down the playground slide together in April 2018, their combined weight saw the pair travel down the slope at a faster speed than if her toddler was alone.
This meant they both shot off the end with extra force, landing into the concrete at such velocity that her daughter's femur broke.
Scarlett's recovery involved wearing a full-body spica cast and re-learning to walk.
"This cast was from her rib cage down to her ankles. It was awful. She could not move her hips or legs for over a month," Amelia wrote on her blog.
"The slide was steeper than we thought and we crash landed at the bottom. That crash landed us going to the ER and them doing an x-ray on our daughter’s leg because she was crying, lethargic and in pain," the warning video on TikTok is captioned.
"An x-ray confirmed she broke her femur."
@mamabearreview we went to a fun theme park on a sunny morning with friends. I had my oldest who was 2.5 at the time and my 2 month old. 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. That crash landed us going to the ER and them doing an x-ray on our daughter’s leg because she was crying, lethargic and in pain. An x-ray confirmed she broke her femur. 🦵🏻 . You can read the full story on my blog where I go into way more detail, but long exhausting story short: she ended up in a #spicacast Basically a full body cast which made life a bit more challenging. She had to be put under anesthesia and get the cast put on. I sobbed. For days I cried full of mom guilt and heartache watching my babygirl like that. We learned all the tips and tricks for the spica cast life and we made the most of it. ❤️ . 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. ❤️ . #spicacast #slidestory #parentingmoments #reallifeproblems #spica ♬ original sound - Mamabearreview
The severity of her daughter's playground injuries was something that gave Amelia 'mum guilt' and taking the slide with her is something she regrets upon reflection.
"Basically a full body cast which made life a bit more challenging. She had to be put under anesthesia and get the cast put on.
"I sobbed. For days I cried full of mom guilt and heartache watching my babygirl like that."
While her little girl recovered and likely has moved on from the ordeal, it's something that has stayed with Amelia.
"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 continued.
The mum now is using the experience to inform parents about the dangers of riding on a slide with their children, hoping anything similar won't happen to another family.
"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," Amelia warns.
"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."
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