Sledding has become a beloved winter activity for many of us, whether it be with friends, family members, or both. However, as with every fun activity, especially when children are involved, it's important to go over some safety tips for sledding. If you're a parent with young children, it's important to keep them safe using the tips below.
Choosing the Right Hill for Sledding
If you have a few snow-covered hills in the area, it’s not a given that they’ll all be great sledding locations. Here are a few tips to choosing the right hill for your kids to go sledding down:
- Make sure it isn't too steep and has a flat bottom area to stop safely
- Avoid hills that are close to ponds, fences, or other hazards
- Avoid hills that are near streets or parking lots
- Ensure the hill is free of poles, trees, and jumps
- Choose a hill that's more snowy than icy, this way if your kid falls it's a softer landing
- Go sledding with your kids in the daytime, rather than at night
Dress in Layers
Sledding in the snow means you'll be outside for a while during the wintertime, so you're bound to get cold if you're not wearing the right clothes. This is why it's so important to dress in layers and dress warmly before leaving for going sledding with your kids.
Both hypothermia and frostbite are risk factors for being outside for a long time during the winter, and it's important to wear warm clothes to prevent increasing your chances of getting either. Before heading outside, make sure that you and your kids are layering up and wearing warm clothes to stay warm and dry. This should include winter boots, a thermal layer of clothes, snow pants, winter jacket, mittens, etc. Also, packing a full set of dry clothes will help them warm up quickly if they play hard and get covered in snow.
Buy the Right Sled
When looking at snow tubes for sale, you want to make sure you choose the right one. Fortunately, there are a wide range of snow tubes for sale to suit pretty much any budget, so you never have to worry about not having enough money to buy your kids safe sleds.
Sledding Safety Rules
Now that your kids are properly dressed and have the right sleds to go sledding with, it's important to talk about some necessary sledding rules to follow:
- Ensure that an adult is always present to supervise your kids. In case someone gets injured, it's important to have an adult on the scene to administer first aid and bring injured children to the emergency room. However, if anyone suffers a serious injury, you should be sure to call 911.
- Kids under five years of age should be sledding with an adult and kids under 12 years of age should be supervised.
- Do not let your children build jumps or place obstacles on the sledding hill
- Make sure your children are facing forward on their sleds, never let them sled a hill backward or standing since this can cause a head and neck injury.
- Make sure your kids walk up the sides of the hill, not the center since they can hurt themselves and other sledders.
- Only allow your kids to sled one at a time.
- Never tow your child in a sled with a motor vehicle.