Top doctors have disclosed the everyday activities they prohibit their children from engaging in due to health risks. Dr Shilpa Dass, a child neurologist based in New Jersey, filmed nine of her medical friends and family as they shared their parental banned lists.
A pediatric anesthesiologist revealed she would never let her child eat whole grapes because of the choking hazard. The Child Accident Prevention Trust warns that young children can choke to death on whole grapes, as their size and shape can completely plug a child's airway. The charity recommends cutting grapes for children up to five years old.
A neurosurgeon said he would never allow his son to ride an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) due to the high risk of traumatic brain injury. Between 2012 and 2021, there were an estimated 67,957 ATV-related head injuries among children in the US. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that from 2018 to 2020, there were 2,448 deaths associated with off-highway vehicles, with ATVs accounting for more than two-thirds of those deaths.
A gastroenterologist friend said he would never let his children play with toys containing button batteries. Consumer Reports found that nearly one in three of 31 evaluated items had dangerously accessible button batteries. Between 2011 and 2021, an estimated 54,300 emergency room visits and at least 25 deaths were attributed to button battery exposure, with 78 percent involving children aged six or younger.
An OB/GYN said she would never let her children go to school without teaching them about periods and birth control, citing that only half of young people in the US receive sex education meeting minimum standards. An orthopedic spine surgeon friend said he would never own an in-home trampoline, as the Mayo Clinic reported over 800,000 children sustained trampoline injuries in the US between 2009 and 2018, mostly at home.
