DEFINITELY! I grew up sledding and LOVE it!!
I have fond memories of: sledding with my parents, waiting for my brother to get home from school to take me sledding, and of hurrying home after school to "hit the slopes."
I would definitely take kids sledding. It's fun. It's great exercise and it's a way to enjoy winter weather. Nothing beats a face full of white fluffy stuff from blasting into a drift or "wiping out" into pile of laughter.
I would also definitely make sure the slope was clear of hazards and teach kids how to sled 'safely:' learning how to pick where to ride, steering, how to get back up the hill, staying aware of other sledders and bailing off.
When I was young (not in school yet) I was limited to our backyard 'mini hills' or going with my older brother. We (with full parential permission) went sledding in the alley behind our house. The hill is somewhat steep and lined with nice "soft" things like retaining wall & chain link fences.
It amazes me that the worst thing I know of happening was me doing a solo down the hill and running into a phone pole. I hit my head, but my brother was pissed because I'd dented/scratched HIS new sled (an old fashioned runner sled). [He was supposed to jump on after giving a push start, but missed this time. . .The sled was new, so the steering was hard compared to the old one we had been using.] We have some old home movies of the hill and there were lots of kids.
In college we would sled on inner tubes and cafeteria trays down a (comparatively) small, gentle slope. But, being young and nuts, we did in in the dark. . .in chains or mobs of people hanging on together.
We also have a tobaggan. When we were young, our parents would take us to the golf course. Later (3rd grade), we moved and found a new hill. This one is steeper and a "good run" meant we hit the fence on the far side of the field (about as wide as a football field is). It also meant we adding a very long tow rope in order to pull it back up to the top.
In the interest of full disclosure: On this hill, a friend totally wrecked her knee the first time down the hill because the guys pushed before she got her feet tucked in. . . [I also have a classmate who was paralyzed in a sledding accident - hit tree head first. Recently, a girl died in what was termed a sledding accident. In reality, she was run over because she slipped and fell as a vehicle backed out, which could have happened if she was out just outside walking or playing.]
Conversely, I don't know how many afternoons I've spent sledding with family and friends without any noteable injuries (other than the head first event
). I've been hurt/bruised much worse from down hill skiing wipe outs than from sledding ones. For that matter, I broke my ankle playing volleyball - no excuses: didn't get bumped or land on someone else's foot, just landed wrong and it snapped.
I would definitely take kids sledding. It's fun. It's great exercise and it's a way to enjoy winter weather. Nothing beats a face full of white fluffy stuff from blasting into a drift or "wiping out" into pile of laughter. I would also definitely make sure the slope was clear of hazards and build their skills gradually: from pulling little ones on a sled to sending them down gentle slopes to a 'catcher' (like you do on playground slides) to riding w/me and learning to steer, to sending them down solo and increasing the slope of the hill.