Follow up Trampoline Question

I just found out there was such a park near us and - no way - is my kid going anywhere that mess.
The waiver you have to sign in order to use it (they put in in a local newspaper) basically means they are responsible for nothing even if you end up being a paraplegic (although lawyers say those things are meaningless and doesn't stop anyone from suing).

Yes, I have allowed her to go to supervised trampoline parks and she took gymnastics for four years. That's where she got hurt. There is no way in hell I'd put some amateur, rinky dink do it yourself unit in my yard.

Interesting question M.!
I had a trampoline as a child and my daughter had one as well.

Most of the trampoline parks are new around here so we never went to them but I think I would have blast if I could go sometime! My daughter is a part time nanny this summer and they are scheduled to go to a trampoline park next week.

We also went to the City Pools and pool at the country club frequently. We don't have a pool in the backyard because of our lot and how it would be placed. We back up to woods and I would have a pool full of leaves and creatures!

We did have a pool in the past and did not care for it... All we ever did was work on it.

I see we are practically neighbors! Have a great day.

Home insurance companies will drop you in a heartbeat if they find out you have one. They will tell you to take is down. If you do it comply, insurance cancelled. They are a big liability. That is the big issue. Everyone has different opinions on safety of them.

We have a trampoline in our yard - we got it about 7 years ago. The first Summer the kids were on it alot. We made rules that only one kid was allowed on at a time. No one under age 6 was allowed at all. Our nieghborhood boy was the most amazingly agile kid I've ever seen and could flip forward backwards and sideways - really. My kids are not that nimble.

It is considered dangerous. We haven't been able to change homeowners insurance since we got it since it's grandfathered on our old policy and all new ones have exclusions. My son came home from our neighbors across the street with a concussion one evening when he and the other boy hit heads. It was scary. We already had the trampoline but probably wouldn't have gotten it had it happened before.

A note regarding the trampoline "parks"... We took our youth group a few months ago - the big difference is that the parks have staff who stop kids from doing certain maneuvers & limit the number of people on any one trampoline. Plus the trampolines go up the walls so there's no possibility to tip off onto the ground. Much of the bounce area is for basketball or dodgeball and the kids are really very closely controlled - or at least they were at the park we went to.

I think there are alot of things that carry the potential for injury - skateboards and skateboard parks (my friend's 19 yr old son died in a freak long board accident when he hit a rock, the board went out under his feet and the back of his head hit the ground), bicycling (I broke my collarbone when I was 20 when a car ran a stop sign), tree climbing, backyard pools (my SIL fell from a slide and fractured a vertabrae when she was a teenager), etc.

So - yes - they're dangerous. I think they get a worse rap than bicycles and skateboards because homeowners get sued over accidents related to trampolines where as no one gets sued regarding bike & skateboard accidents so they don't have to be excluded. For whatever it's worth our trampoline hasn't been touched in about a year - seems the only time anyone is on it these days is when we have a family party - the little kids are on it. it was expensive, we hoped it would be a way our kids would get some physical exercist - but it's ended up being like the treadmill inour spare bedroom - used initially but sitting there now - unused... At least there's no clothes hanging on it!

We don't really have those here, so I couldn't say. My kids are old enough now, though, that they probably wouldn't want to do that even if they had them. (They'd rather be driving a car--son gets his license in a few weeks).

Pools are not dangerous--if you are properly supervised, and know how to swim. (no horseplaying for example)
Trampolines are-- even without horseplay, a miscue on the bounce can send someone careening off onto the ground, totally out of control of their body in the process.

My BIL runs an ER. Guess what one of the biggest reasons kids show up in the ER is.... It isn't pools.

And anecdotally, I broke my arm on a trampoline as a child. Total accident. Nobody was horsing around. My brother just landed wrong. The timing was off, and he landed on my arm. My neighbors also had a trampoline, and we did all kinds of idiotic things that were dangerous in the extreme (flips off of them onto the ground, etc). We actually were all pretty acrobatic, and no one ever got hurt doing that stuff. Not beyond scrapes and bruises anyway.

The potential is there though... even without the horseplay.

I won't have a trampoline in my yard for liability reasons. That and I don't want to have to go out and supervise the neighborhood every afternoon for 2 hours while they all jump on my trampoline.

Yes - I let them go to trampoline parks. The one near me is very well supervised and maintained. As a matter of fact they are going with me tonight when I go to trampoline fitness class - they jump while I work out and when we get home everyone is tired, win-win!

i did let my kids play on friends' trampolines (not the parks) but it was pretty terrifying for me. i tried not to be ruled by fear, but in retrospect i think i'd have been fine to just say no to that one. they didn't get hurt, but trampolines are really a crapshoot.
i just can't get all upset over pools. i've got a pool now, and grew up in the middle of the ocean. i don't get being afraid of water.
khairete
S.

Nope, I wouldn't. I don't like bounce houses for the same reasons. If you get a trampoline, expect some broken bones. Talk to an ER nurse or doc about trampolines, you'll never want your kid on one again.

We go but don't jump on the trampolines. There's a bounce house, big slide, and foam put there, too, which my kiddo enjoys.

To me the difference between having a pool or trampoline in the yard and going to a public pool or trampoline place is the amount of supervision you need to provide. You get a pool or trampoline in the yard and all off your kids friends want to come and play and you have to spend all day supervising them. They aren't activities they should be doing unsupervised. If you go to the trouble and expense of having a pool or trampoline in your yard you want it to be used regularly, so you will find yourself giving up lots of your time to supervise.

You take them to a public pool or trampoline park and there are staff there to supervise them, and even if you are required to supervise you aren't going to be going there every day.

There are risks with any activity. I am not super worried about the safety aspect of swimming or jumping on a trampoline. There are risks whether you are doing it at home or in a public place. I would just rather not have the headache of assuming liability for every kid in the neighbourhood. I also prefer to go out to public places and see people rather than be stuck at home all day.

My son is allowed on enclosed trampolines, only. My sister has one for her boys (they are on their second one) and he loves it. I think there's a lot of truth to the statement that kids who don't usually play/have a trampoline do suffer a lot of injuries.

One of my nephews, too, used to their enclosed trampoline, broke his arm on one without 'walls'. And no, we don't go to trampoline parks.

I think trampolines are very unsafe and no, we've never been to a trampoline park - but we don't have one near me. If it were supervised and only allowed one jumper at a time, probably, I would.

I'd never buy one for my home but it's so hard to keep my kid off the one at my sister's house.