The mother posted the photo as a warning to other parents. Photo / Facebook
The mother posted the photo as a warning to other parents. Photo / Facebook
The toddler in the photo above broke her leg just seconds after the picture was taken. Her mum wants it to be a warning to other parents about the dangers of slides in playgrounds.
In the photo, you can see the moment little 1-year-old Meadow's leg begins to break as she slides down on her mum's lap.
Mother Heather Clare was playing with Meadow in a playground in New York when she did what a lot of parents do: she took her little girl down the slide on her lap.
The mum posted the horrifying image to her Facebook page alongside an important warning to other parents.
"So every year I do a PSA on going down a slide with your child on your lap," the mum started.
"When Meadow was 12 months old (I went down with Matthew first, but he was lucky), I went down the slide with her on my lap and her foot got caught between me and the slide. This picture is the moment her leg was breaking. She's still smiling ... because it was happening at this exact moment," she wrote.
The mother wrote the doctor at the hospital "lectured" her on how common this injury is.
"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), 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," she wrote.
She also responded to people criticising the way she is holding little Meadow in the picture.
"For everyone commenting on how I am holding my daughter. We didn't start this way. She was centered on my lap. When I realised what was happening, I used my top hand to try to stop us and leaned to release her foot. I wasn't riding down the slide with her on one side and leaning. That's 'common sense'."
Her post has gone viral, with nearly 80,000 shares in three days and a number of people commenting on how they had no idea this injury was so common.
