Treadmill Tragedy: How your quest to stay fit could hurt your kids.

I made a mistake; I didn’t appreciate the danger of maintaining a treadmill in my home with small children. Don’t get me wrong, I am a responsible parent — I had purchased and installed all of the recommended child safety equipment that was on the market, rendering my home unusable to children and adults alike. And while it had occurred to me that my treadmill could pose a significant danger to my children, I figured that since my children were both under the age of three, and never allowed in the room with me when I was running on it, the real danger would come when they were a bit older and more independent.

I also took great comfort in the four step process that was required to start the treadmill belt: (1) possessing the key that enabled the treadmill to have power (a key that I kept hidden in the treadmill cup holder which was well above the line of sight of my 2 year old and completely inaccessible to my 1 year old); (2) inserting that key into the slot that was above the eye level of my oldest child; (3) the process of selecting the type of workout desired on buttons above the eye level of my oldest; and (4)hitting enter, which would have started the treadmill at a painfully slow pace (requiring yet another button to get the belt to move faster).

Since my oldest was struggling with basic things like potty training and talking, and my youngest could barely walk, I wasn’t particularly worried about either child navigating this multi step process on their own. But this was an error in my judgment, and I think about it with considerable regret and guilt, every time I see the scars on the legs and feet of both of my children.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, after returning from a fabulous weekend away, when the unimaginable happened. While my husband and I unpacked our car to settle in for the night, we put our children in the family room with their toys and started the laborious process of unpacking every bag and baby accessory in our vehicle. Every trip in the house brought me, and my husband, past the family room so we had periodic supervision over our children.

Then I heard it…the scream that every parent knows, the scream that doesn’t mean that they stubbed their toe or scraped their knee; rather, the scream that meant something absolutely awful had happened. To this day, I don’t know how the moments leading up this terrifying moment played out, but my children made it quickly from the family room to the workout room in our home. My oldest child figured out how to start the treadmill. And increase the speed. While she and her younger sister, were standing on the belt. They were slammed against the wall behind the treadmill and sucked under the edge while the belt was moving. The belt swiftly removed large quantities of skin from their legs and feet. They suffered burns and serious skin loss — and I suffered guilt that will last a lifetime.

Admittedly, it could have been much worse, but it also didn’t need to happen. Children notice things that we don’t anticipate, like where mom hides the treadmill key and what she does with it. Since the key, and the slot to insert it, were above the eye level of my oldest child, these children must also notice more intricacy in our movements than I could have possibly imagined. There is no way I can understand how my daughter made it through the multi-step process of not only starting the treadmill, but also increasing the speed considerably. But it happened and my children have the scars to prove it. Based on this horrifying experience, I would recommend the following to any parents who have a treadmill in their home:

1. Keep all exercise equipment locked up and out of sight of your children (we now utilize a lock on the door of our workout room after the accident, and wish we had thought of it prior to this accident).

2. Hide any keys to the equipment in a separate room at a height that is at least twice what you think your tallest child can reach (this advice has relevance well beyond the storage of exercise equipment keys).

3. Prevent electrical power to the equipment when not in use.

4. Don’t underestimate the power of observation or speed of action from even the youngest members of your family.

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