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When at the playground, letting a child sit on your lap may seem like the safest way to go down the slide, but according to a new study, it's actually much more dangerous than it seems.Researchers at the American Academy of Pediatrics found that riding down a slide this way can actually increase the chances that a child could break his/her leg or get seriously injured in another way. In fact, they found that an estimated 352,698 children under the age of 6 were harmed on slides between 2002 and 2015. Many of these injuries were leg fractures that happen when a child's foot caught on the edge of the slide and twisted backwards.Lead researcher Charles Jennissen, who is also a clinical professor and a pediatric emergency medicine staff physician, explains that size and weight play the biggest role in potential danger when going down a slide. Because children generally weigh less, they are unlikely to get a severe injury when riding alone, even if their foot does catch, because the force of their forward momentum is relatively low. However, when they are sitting on the lap of a parent, the relative force is much greater because of additional weight. This means, you're going down the slide at a much faster speed, making the chance of a broken bone more likely if the child's foot catches on the slide's surface."Many parents and caregivers go down a slide with a young child on their lap without giving it a second thought," said lead researcher Charles Jennissen, MD, Clinical Professor and Pediatric Emergency Medicine Staff Physician, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in a statement. "And in most cases I have seen, the parents had no idea that doing so could possibly give their child such a significant injury. They often say they would never have done it had they known."Rachel Rothman, Chief Technologist in the Good Housekeeping Institute, agrees, saying that when a parent rides along, it often goes against the safety conditions that the slide was designed by."While it may seem counterintuitive, it is likely safer for your child to go down the slide on their own. The slide is designed with certain weight and size restrictions for young children in mind and parents should always adhere to whatever specifications are listed," she explained. "The size and weight of adults can often cause unintended injuries. If for some reason a child's foot were to get stuck while sliding alone, it is easier for them to remove it traveling solo. When an adults additional force is part of the scenario, it makes it much more difficult to do so. Our advice: Allow young children to slide on their own, under supervision and after they are instructed on how to safely navigate the play space."Rothman also adds that parents should be mindful of other things, like an untied shoe, that could also result in injuries on the playground."Parents should be cognizant of anything that could cause an entrapment, like a drawstring or shoelaces and remove anything of concern in advance."