Let your kid watch whatever you want, but just make sure the TV is anchored to the wall.
According to a single Houston-area hospital's statistics, front-heavy TV's have fallen on toddlers 11 times in the last year, causing five deaths in the last four months. If that pace keeps up nationwide, 15 deaths/year/hospital, and assuming there are about 6,000 hospitals in the US, 90,000 children will be killed by falling televisions each year. This is an increase of epidemic proportions compared to 2005 numbers, when 2,600 kids were admitted to hospitals nationwide after televisions fell on them.
In order to avert this catastrophe, everyone should do the following:
Meanwhile, I'm going to brush up on my statistical analysis techniques by watching my local TV news.
Falling TVs pose a growing danger [houston chronicle via dt reader ponch]
Not worried enough about your kid yet? Read "Rates of Pediatric Injuries by 3-Month Intervals for Children 0 to 3 Years of Age," from Pediatrics, Jun 2003 [aappublications.org]
1 Comment
It's no new thing, that's for sure. Our 19" B & W Philco fell off a tv cart onto my brother's head when he was 4 or 5. We were laying on the floor in front of it and pushing on the base of it with our feet, so watch out for that habit. 40 years later, he still has a lovely inverted "L" scar on his forehead. And he turned out fine. Well, mostly. But that old TV probably weighed twice as much as one of those new projection tv's.
[but it's not shaped like a lightning bolt or anything... -ed.]
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