Many of us are unaware that thousands of children are rushed daily to emergency rooms across Canada for serious injuries caused by falls from monkey bars. This was brought to my attention when my son fell off a monkey bar causing the entire bone in his arm near his elbow to snap off completely. Most children who get fractures from monkey bars holler in pain from a hairline fracture or a chip in their bone. In my son's case, and probably for many other children, the injuries are so severe that they require emergency surgery. My son also had metal rods placed in his arm for several weeks after his surgery. The long rods were eventually yanked out without any anesthetic whatsoever, causing excruciating pain.

This injury really angered me because the day I went to the ER with my son, I was told by the attending physician that this was the 'third child today' who had sustained an injury from a monkey bar, and that this occurs daily, with sometimes up to 5 children going to the ER for the same reason.The doctor shook his head and said, 'I don't know even know why these monkey bars are still allowed on playgrounds and parks'.

It dawned on me that until this day, to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever advocated against this playground equipment that causes such a large number of serious injuries.

While the issue has been brought up, there has been a lack of mandatory standards to keep children safe at play. The CBC has reported on the matter saying that“More than 28,000 children are injured every year on playgrounds across Canada, and the rate of hospitalizations has gone up by eight per cent between 2007 and 2012'.

This is alarming. Yet, each town or city in Canada can use its own discretionary powers and judgement as to which playground equipment to include and which safeguards to implement, if any at all.

It only takes a split second for a child to fall down and become injured, and with an absence of regulations at the local, provincial and federal level, the number of injuries speak for themselves. The natural reflex of a child is to use their forearms and elbows to sustain the fall from a monkey bar, and it results in fractures. Of course a child playing on such equipment would be clueless as to the potential danger they may be putting themselves in. Parents too are, for the most part, oblivious.

We are not talking about scratches and scrapes, but about serious injuries resulting in ER visits and surgeries. These types of injuries cost tax payers a lot of money unnecessarily. It also causes a lot of pain to 28 000 children every single year.

Please sign this petition asking your government to remove monkey bars from public places such as schools and play grounds. At the very least, if removal is not an option, a very thick foam pad should be placed underneath monkey bars to absorb some of the impact of a potential fall. Currently most parks have sand, stones or mulch underneath monkey bars. This is the equivalent of concrete. We ask that our government intervene and that safety standards and an assessment of allowable playground equipment be implemented at the local, provincial, and federal level.