by Brian Fleming

Created on: March 05, 2009   Last Updated: August 19, 2010

Whenever I think back to my own childhood, I always remember October 6th. Why this day in particular? This is the day I fractured my wrist in seven places when my backyard swing set broke as I was swinging naively. I fell to the ground, hard, directly on my poor wrist, which took the brunt of my fall. 

Now that I have two beautiful kids of my own, I keep my backyard up to par on the highest saftey features available. What if instead of landing on my wrist, I had landed instead on my head and broke my neck? Given the choice, I would love to have two healthy, happy children, than a child who is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, due to a backyard accident that could have easily been avoided.

So, how do we keep backyards safe for our children? It is actually easier than you may first assume. First, stay on top of the assembly of any play-sets, swing sets, clubhouses, or tree-houses.

This just means taking out your screwdriver or power drill every so often (maybe once every two weeks) and just tightening up all of the screws, nuts, and bolts that hold together your child's play-place. I wouldn't have had to suffer through six months with a cast on my poor wrist, if I or my parents had just checked up on the bolts that held together my flimsy swing-set.

Second, think about pouring soft, fine sand underneath your child's play area. Although sand can get pricy (unless you can get a great deal), it is a great protection against backyard injuries. Soft sand can act as a layer of padding in case your child pulls a leaf out of my book and falls for some reason out of his tree-house, swing set, or play-set. I know it may not seem like much.

You may think that the money spent on sand will not be worth any protection it may afford, but let me ask you, would you rather spend a few hundred dollars on protecting your child in his backyard sanctuary or dishing out hundred of thousands of dollars in medical bills after your child falls on hard dirt or rocks?

There are more resources out there to keep your backyard safe for your children, which includes strategies for building safe, secure tree-houses and club-houses, how to keep an eye on your children, and how to remove any dangerous materials from your backyard. Making our backyards safe for our children should be high on our list of musts, as a safe child is a happy child.

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