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An ordinary piece of playground equipment has scarred this toddler for life.

The merry-go-round at Sempahore.

 

 

 

 

 

A one-year old girl is scarred for life.

She will face months of treatment.

All because of a simple trip to the park which went horribly wrong.

The scars on this tiny one-year old’s legs are hard to look at and even harder to imagine that they were caused by a piece of common playground equipment – one that many of our children play on daily across Australia.

Amanda and her daughter Ella (Source: Facebook)

Amanda Hann, of North Haven – the little girl’s mother posted a warning to other parents on Facebook. Her warning has been shared over 10,000 times.

Her daughter, Ella was with her grandmother at Sempahore Beach in Adelaide enjoying a day out.

It was not an excessively hot day and was only 10.15 in the morning.

They had bought an ice cream and went to the shaded area of a playground nearby to eat it.

She says, “Within a matter of minutes my daughter had jumped up and gone to run off and play as toddlers do. She headed straight for this little metal merry-go-round. At 10:15 it wasnt heaps hot yet, sitting about 26/27 degrees”

Ella climbed aboard a metal merry-go-round which was part of the Port Adelaide Enfield Council’s $480,000 new playground.

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Amanda writes” ONE SPLIT SECOND was all it took for my daughter to turn back to look at her grandma and at the same time go to take a seat on the bottom of the merry-go-round. I think the pictures of her horrific burn speak for themselves. Several trips to hospital for treatment and constant dressing, not to mention the care and strain on us at home to keep the area clean and dressed 24/7 (not allowing water or anything get into the burn) with a highly active toddler! She is only 1 year old and is now scarred for life.”

“BEWARE OF THE NEW SEMAPHORE PLAYGROUND – some of the equipment clearly hasn’t been made to withstand warm days, let alone the Australian sun and are a risk to any child who climbs/falls/sits onto the checkerplace surface! Please share, as Semaphore is full of children all summer – I dont want another child to suffer the way mine has!” she wrote on the post that has since gone viral.

Her mother posted this image.

 

 

 

 

The council told The Advertiser that the playground was to Australian standards and  that they would cover the metal equipment with a 10mm thick rubber coating to protect other children.

As Amanda’s story went viral reaction to it on social media also took a predictable path – blaming the mother and grandmother rather than the equipment.

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“A one year old baby I doubt would be able to climb onto a merry-go-round without some help. Adult supervision seems to be lacking here,” wrote one.

Another ”With 3 older children and over 200 playground visits with metal play equipment I can’t say we experienced any mishaps in the playground or parks. This was because I assessed all environments I entered and checked to see if they were safe.

And on and on ..” Younger children burn quickly – have to say a degree of blame is with the carer”

A brave few stood up to the trolls “Pretty sad reading every comment basically laying blame on the mum for not checking temperature of a ride at 10 am on a normal 27 degree day on a playground covered by a sunshade”

The beach at Sempahore where the playground is located.

Blaming the mum and grandmother is a baseless nasty reaction to an awful incident that must have frightened the life out of them both.

This loving grandmother was trying to treat her granddaughter – not harm her, and anyone who shames her should be ashamed instead of themselves.

Amanda told The Advertiser “Her grandma is now terrified to take her to the park and it’s actually got me a bit anxious because you wouldn’t think there would be something so dangerous in a playground.”

Our thoughts are with this little girl and her family – and we hope she makes a rapid recovery and Santa brings her lots of joy and love.

 

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