Feedback Wanted on Trampoline Owners

Isabelle,

just wanted to throw this out there...

my mother was in gymnstics and was using a trampoline in high school... she fell on her neck and was almost left paralyzed. She did recover with physical therapy though.

Due to this, I have an extreme aversion for trampolines and will not - under any circumstances - let my kids play on them at other people's houses.

so... just thought i'd add my two cents.

good luck... safe jumping :)

Before buying check your homeowners policy...and if you do not have a fenced in yard (most here in IL don't) you need to really think about what would happen if someone was injured on your property....a friend of ours is a ped ER doc...based on what he has seen in the last 5 years I do not let my kids on a trampoline. Some other issues that friends of ours who were looking at getting one were...the visual "eyesore" factor of the trampoline...and whether you want to be the "hangout" place where other kids will gravitate to....our neighbors growing up had one and their boys were awesome athletes (they'd do double back flips and could bounce each other almost to the 2nd story of the house... but I remember personally flying off...and a sprained wrist and rolled neck even though I was also a gymnast...they're a lot of fun but also a huge risk...and I figure there are so many other fun things to do outside.

Just my two cents!

B.

Isabelle,

My 4 yr old daughter broke her arm last summer bike riding. We had to see an orthopedic. He said her's was a very common "kids' break". He said most of his young patients came in after monkey bar falls or trampolines. He said he's forbid his children to go on trampolines after all of the injuries he's seen, both from falls and collisions. I commented that my kids had only been on trampolines in gymnasiums where they were surrounded by full padding. He said even then - he thinks they all should be banned from little kids using them. They are simply too accident prone, lack good judgement and the ability to control their bodies.

Just some input from another mom who now won't let her kids use them EXCEPT in their gymnastics classes.

Sara

We had a trampoline and sold it ONLY because we were moving and didnt want to take it down,etc. Anyway, I am going to be buying a new one. Our experience has been good...accidents do happen, but can happen on anything. We do have rules though-no jumping without an adult, no crazy stunts..things like that. My girls have been in gymnastics since they were 3 so they know how to jump and what to do. Also, an enclosure is a must. Good luck!!!

We had a trampoline when my older kids were young and they did really enjoy it - also made them very popular with the neighbor kids. As the others mentioned, be sure you have very strict rules and proper insurance coverage. I asked for a signed permission slip from neighbor kid's parents releasing us from liability - prob wouldn't really hold in court, but did it anyway.

When we weren't home, my husband would put it up on its side against the house so it wasn't so tempting for kids to sneak in and bounce.

Be aware you'll have to supervise very closely - our rule was only one kid could bounce at a time. Otherwise they will inevitably bump heads, chip teeth etc. Also, the heavier child will cause the lighter child to bounce way higher, even with an enclosure, if they bounce too high, losing control they land wrong and can be hurt.

Also - my son chipped half his tooth bouncing on a trampoline (at someone else's house) since he thought it would be fun to bounce a bowling ball next to him while he jumped! Obviously there was no supervision happening when this occurred...So - no other items should be allowed on the trampoline while anyone is jumping as they can bounce up and cause injury.

You'll want to re-position it every few days so your grass doesn't die underneath.

That being said, it's great excercise - lots of fun and no mess! - for grown up kids too :-)

have fun!

this is one of those things that some people love and some people hate. We had a trampoline that we got when our youngest was 2 and older son 8. they loved it. it finally fell apart last summer. the kids are now 13 and 19! We did add an extra umbrella policy on our insurance at that time. We also monitored how many kids were on it at one time and if it was the younger kids or the older kids. The obvious age differences made for much larger kids and they could bounce the littler ones off! my husband used to jump on it with the kids too. I couldn't because of motion sickness. It was even nice to just lay on it when the sun was out and just relax! Kids can hurt doing anything. It just depends on the level of supervision and rules that you establish.

We love our trampoline. My children are 3.5 and 22 months. It has an enclosure that zips so they are safe. The 22 month old jumps and jumps.The two boys play ball in there etc.. The only problem is that the whole neighborhood wants to jump on it too. Which is fine but only 2-3 people can jump at a time to avoid injury.

HI Isabelle,
I have 4 kids ages 13, 11, 8 and 4. We love our trampoline. It's something that we can all do together with such a big age difference between the kids. We laugh in hysterics and just have a great time. Some of our best memories are bouncing around out there.
If someones in a bad mood a quick 5 minutes out there gets us laughing again.

We had a trampoline with netting all around it. When we moved and could use it as an excuse not to take it, we left it behind. When my one daughter was 8 she was jumping on it and sprained her ankle pretty bad. She still has trouble and she is almost 15. One good thing came out of it. When I took her to the emergency room they asked if she had anything else. I noticed a red spot on the back of her leg when she had been hopping around but was focused on the ankle at that point. I said to the nurse, yes she's got a red spot on the back of her leg I want to look at. My daughter pipes up and says that is where the dog bit her. A friends dog had bit her earlier when she was playing across the street and she didn't tell anyone. So we were pretty fortuant that she hurt her ankle or the dog bite could have been serious.

If you choose to get a trampoline, I would keep the strict rule that only one at a time should be on it. Careful line we walk not being over protective.