We all know the summertime ritual of mowing the lawn. For some kids, it's a weekly chore, but there are risks that could lead to serious injury. Ryan Loyd has more in this Safe Family report.

While it seems simple enough, mowing your yard can be the start of trouble, especially when important precautions are not taken.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says in 2007, lawnmower-related injuries sent more than 210,000 people to the hospital or doctor. More than 16,000 of them were under the age of 19.

"The kids we see in neighborhoods sometimes look incredibly young to be mowing the lawn."

Doctors like Joseph Davey faces the task of repairing bad injuries in some of the most serious lawn mower related accidents, including when limbs wind up underneath the mower.

"It’s like a big machete, and it's going around faster than I can swing a machete, and if your foot gets caught under there, it's not just a single one. It takes a while for the blade to stop."

Parents, ask yourself three questions before allowing your child to operate a mower.
-Is your child mature enough to understand the importance of safety?
-Is your child big enough physically to operate the mower.
-Is your mower in good working order?

Riding mowers are especially dangerous, and are to blame for about 70% of all lawnmower injuries in children.

Davey suggests not even giving children a ride to stress to children that mowers are not toys, "If you get two people on and one falls off or jumps off, and the blade is going around, then obviously that can be tragic."

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