Kids love bunk beds, that’s a fact. There’s nothing more fun for kids than being able to pick top or bottom bunk and being able to share that bed with their siblings or friends. However, the truth is that without rules or care, having bunk beds in your child’s room can become dangerous. Rough or wild play can result in any number of injuries from falls or becoming trapped in the frame or ladder of a bunk bed. This hardly means that bunk beds are some malevolent force out there to harm your children, but you should take extra care if you plan to have one in your home.
The majority of bunk bed related injuries come from falls off of the top bunk. Despite the fact that top bunks are often close to the ceiling and that they have guard rails to prevent exactly this, falls are a leading injury. The greatest protection against a fall from the top bunk is making sure your child knows exactly how dangerous playing roughly on the bed can be. Just being well informed about the dangers of falls could be enough to keep your children safe.
The next most dangerous injury sustained from bunk beds is becoming trapped in the guard rail, ladder or frame of a bunk bed which can lead to strains, broken bones and even suffocation or death. While death, the most extreme, is a rare occurrence you should still be very careful to make sure that hazards like this are safeguarded against by adding netting to guard rails or building on stairs or a wider ladder for safety. Having bunk beds in your home can be a fun and unique experience for your child or children, but make sure to put their safety as a priority when explaining to them how to safely sleep in it.
Authored by Robert Lobitz for Bunkbeds.org
