Do you children participate in sports... Read THIS!
By redkathy
@redkathy (3374)
United States
September 22, 2008 1:59pm CST
My boys both participated in sports from age five through high school. While sports are a very good for teaching children team work, and self discipline while building self esteem, they can be very dangerous.
My oldest participated in Pop Warner football for flag years and then a few years of tackle, later moving on to cross country and weight training. The younger participated in Pop Warner through his first year of high school, middle school basketball, then JV ball as a sophomore along with weight training and skateboarding. It turned out that skate boarding was the most dangerous, of course it was unsupervised and he was old enough to be out on his own.
In reading the news from Healthier.com today I found surprising is that baseball rates so high in child eye injuries. I think knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets, not eye protection when I think of children in sports.
"Emergency rooms in the United States treat a sports-related eye injury every 13 minutes. Baseball causes the greatest number of sports-relater eye injuries in children aged 14 and younger, according to the National Eye Institute, while basketball is the leading cause of eye injuries in those aged 15 to 24.
It is believed that 90 percent of all sports-related eye injuries can be prevented with the proper eye protection. Lenses made of polycarbonate that carry the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) label are recommended."
Read more here http://www.healthier.com/Article.jsp?aid=9305
So parents, do you think about eye protection when you children sign up for base ball, football, soccer or another sport?
4 responses
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
23 Sep 08
They actually have the helmet with the guard for football. I don't think that they could see anything if they wore anything else on their eyes for protection.
I do know where you are coming from. I have one boy who is in 11th grade and he plays football, wrestles and weight lifting. My 9th grader plays football, basketball and weight lifting. My 9th grader broke his finger last year in football. It was horrible. He had surgery that didn't take so had to have it again. I have seen many boys with broken bones due to their sports.
I do, however, think that kids who participate in sports are less likely to be kids who get into trouble. They are well rounded kids who have very good work ethics and alot of that is attributed to them playing sports.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
23 Sep 08
my children are all grown now but they played every sport we had. i have a grandson that i think will play evrything to. i think they should have every kind of equipment there is for protection. it should be made a rule for them to have it.
@redkathy (3374)
• United States
23 Sep 08
Sports and music are great for the kids. Pop Warner coaches were wonderful about the boys wearing gear. My son hated hip pads and they would always check his hips before playing because they knew. Boy did he get yelled at when he didn't have them and rightfully so!
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
22 Sep 08
No, I've never thought of eye protection, and in ways you could argue that wearing safety glasses could cause more harm than good. The edges of the glasses could be shoved into the child's head causing bleeding and cuts and wounds, and perhaps worse damage to the eye.
The way the "experts" are going, they'll soon have kids out in the fields wearing complete body armor, to the point the child won't even be able to move!
Sometimes kids just need to scrape their knees and get cuts and wounds, it's part of being a kid.
Funny thing is, just this past weekend I was at the ER with my 5 year old for a huge bump he'd gotten just above his eye... but it wasn't from a sports accident. He was just playing in the yard and tripped and fell and his head hit the pedal of a bike. He's fine of course.
1 person likes this
@redkathy (3374)
• United States
23 Sep 08
That's my son in the picture. He wore glasses but didn't like the safety glasses when he got older. In fact he hated them and refused to wear them. No wide receiever positions for him. LOL The safety glasses were prescription and all rubbery like goggles, nothing to dig into his face. If you look at the picture you'll get to see hands to the face!
I agree with what you are saying about the experts, they can really get out of control with things but the eyes are something that I didn't think others would think about. In my case I had to protect my sons only good eye but had no idea of the stats until I read this article.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
22 Sep 08
Yes our kids all competed in sports, thank goodness none of them were badly hurt, though my daughter still suffers from her swimming injuries. My oldest daughter stills keep score for high school swimming and works as a volunteer for the band.
I know that sports are danagerous, but life is that way and the children do learn
things that help them in the grown up world.
1 person likes this
