trampoline or no trampoline

[disneynewbeemom]

My two boys think they want a trampoline for Christmas. I am worried about injuries -- my older child is a daredevil! How durable are they? I hate to get such a big ticket item only for them to jump on occasionally. What are your thoughts?

 

[wdwmom2]

I had one, inherited it through marriage. I would never purchase one myself. My children never had a bad accident, but it could have easily happened. My kids grew older, only used it to lay on, we got tired of moving it to mow. Now it belongs to our neighbor who has a DD8. He is very cautious with her on it. DH and I laugh as HE now has to tug it around to finish mowing!!!

This link gives you all the injury statistics from 2008. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=304491

And don't forget, many insurance companies will not insure you if you have one.

 

[vegasnative]

I was always leary about getting one because I've heard of the injuries. However, we bought one for our 3 boys about a year ago. They love it, their friends love it. We got one with the padding over the coils, and the netting (cage) around the trampoline. I wouldn't get one without either. My neighbor has one with a net, but the coils are exposed, and I don't like it. My kids have jumped on theirs before too, and so far we are without injuries.

My other neighbor across the street had a busted one, they got rid of it, and she told me her new insurance would not insure with a trampoline. OUrs does though, we have Allstate, don't know if this is something new and we are grandfathered in or if Allstate insures regardless. Couldn't tell ya.

In my opinion, it has been a good investment for us. We have ours sitting on rocks in the corner of the yard so we don't ever have to move it around as previous poster mentioned.

 

[anniemae]

Personally, I would not get one. I would not want the liability of someone else's child getting hurt. I have a friend who is a pediatric nurse practitioner and she sees broken bones and all kinds of injuries from trampolines. Her stories scared me!

 

[msmayor]

There is no way I'd ever have one; I don't think they belong anywhere except in a proper gym with supervision.

If you do plan to get one, better check your homeowner's policy regarding coverages. I know some folks have had problems because of injury claims against them when friends were hurt on them.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I wouldn't get one because of the potential for injuries and the insurance problems already mentioned. Many insurance companies consider them as high of a risk as a pool that is not caged.

 

[wdwmom2]

Personally, I would not get one. I would not want the liability of someone else's child getting hurt. I have a friend who is a pediatric nurse practitioner and she sees broken bones and all kinds of injuries from trampolines. Her stories scared me!

As soon as we would leave home, a group of children who parents never watched them, would come over and jump. They would scatter when they saw our vehicle coming home. If they were hurt, we would most likely STILL be liable!!!!! Just another reason to get rid of it!

I assist a pediatrician and you wouldn't believe the number of calls we get with children who have either landed wrong on the trampoline, have fallen off of it, or bumped into someone else jumping at the same time. Depending on the severity and the symptoms, they either are sent for x-rays or to the ER.

 

[bigbabyblues]

No trampoline at our house. DH is a paramedic and refuses to even consider it.

 

[golfgal]

While they are fun and our kids would love one, I wouldn't get one either. I know of some families that have one and make the parents of kids that want to use it sign a release. I am sure they won't really stand up in court but at least it is worth a try. A lot of insurance companies won't insure them or will charge you a high rate if you have one. If you do get one, get a hefty umbrella policy to go with it.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

We don't have one for safety reasons. We have a pool and a swingset and they are used in a safe fashion. The problem with trampolines is that they aren't safe if more than one kid is bouncing at a time. Unfortunately, they aren't much fun bouncing solo, so they are almost always used unsafely. We do have neighbors with them and we let the kids occasionally use them.

Life is full of risks. You have to pick the tradeoff that is appropriate for you. Trampolines are very unlikely to kill your kid. They are quite likely to cause a sprain or other minor injury. Our kids love to jump on them but one of them comes home hurt (so far always minor injuries) about 20% of the time that they use them.

It does make me a bit nervours that insurance companies won't cover people with them. That's a bad sign. If a greedy insurance company is turning away customers, that's a sign that those customers are taking some pretty significant risks.

 

[EMom]

I'll try and describe what the kids (11-14-ish) behind us used to do. They would get a good jumpy bounce going, so as to gain a lot of height. Then they would grab on to the netting of the enclosure as high up as they could. From there, they would crawl, ala Spiderman, to the top and BALANCE on the top of the netting. (usually sat on it, facing inward toward the trampoline) Then they would hurl themselves from that high position down on to the trampoline for a REALLY good bounce.

Problem is, if they had ever ONCE fallen backward while balanced at the top of the net, they would have at least had some sort of injury. A broken neck would not have been out of the question. Their back fence was just a few feet from the trampoline and if they had fallen THAT way, they would have impaled themselves on it. Yes, kids can be very creative.

I'd never have one. DH hates them more than I do, since his next door neighbor had an accident on one and became a quadriplegic.

 

[WaltD4Me]

My sister is a nurse at a pediatrician's office and the two doctors there tell all parents how strongly they are against home trampolines. They have had three patients in the last 2 years who are now paralyzed after falls from their trampolines, along with many other broken bones and other injuries.

 

[clh2]

As others has suggested...check the guidelines for your insurance company.

Also - FWIW - in addition to injuries...we had a microburst in our village about 10 years ago. A neighbors trampoline became a "frisbee" and whacked their patio door. Let's just say - the neighbors needed to deal with the glass inside their home.

Definitely get something to keep the trampoline on the ground in case of high winds/bad storms.

 

[daisyduck123]

We would never own one, nor would I allow my children to play on one.

If you're still on the fence about it....why not ask your pediatrician for his opinion? I'm sure that'll cinch it for you. They are just an accident waiting to happen.

 

[golfgal]

As others has suggested...check the guidelines for your insurance company.

Also - FWIW - in addition to injuries...we had a microburst in our village about 10 years ago. A neighbors trampoline became a "frisbee" and whacked their patio door. Let's just say - the neighbors needed to deal with the glass inside their home.

Definitely get something to keep the trampoline on the ground in case of high winds/bad storms.

I know of someone that had a deck taken out by a flying trampoline during a bad thunderstorm.

 

[dsny1mom]

We bought our Jump King from Sam's Club about 14 years ago. Ours has the spring pad and a cover (they didn't make those cage things when we bought ours). We created an area for it and layed cedar chips under and around it, so it never had to be moved.

You have to have rules and they have to be enforced to assure everyone's saftey. When our kids were young their friends had to get permission from their parents to jump and I had to talk to the parents myself. We only allowed one person at a time to jump. No flips. No jumping without an adult at home. Our backyard is fenced so we never had a problem with uninvited jumpers.

We only had one problem in 14 years. Older DD, then a young teen, had some friends stop in to say hello when I wasn't home. They sat in the backyard and one of the boys pleaded with her to jump. She gave in and he jumped a bit and then younger DD (then 11) started jumping alone the boy got back on and the two colided and younger DD broke her elbow. The trampoline was closed for the remainder of that summer as punishment.

Older DD cheered through college and coached All Star squads as an adult and it is an excellent device for perfecting toe touches.

My kids are now in their mid 20's and they still jump every now and then. In fact younger DD hosted a July 4th bash at my home for her friends and many of the young adults had a blast jumping. The trampoline is in excellent condition even though we live in the midwest and leave it up (covered) all year. I won't take it down because some day I will have grandchildren who will also have tons of fun on it.

dsny1mom

 

[ktlm]

I'm an attorney and I have been involved in defending a trampoline case where some homeowners were sued because a neighbor's kid got a bad broken leg (got the growth plate so his legs may not be the same length as an adult) on a trampoline. As a result of everything I learned in that case, I will never have a trampoline and it scares me to think of my DD even getting on one. What I found are that the most serious injuries are not from falling off the trampoline. In our case, there was no fall. You are never supposed to have more than one person jumping on a trampoline at a time. If you do, if one person comes down at the wrong time (when the tarp is at the wrong tension), it can cause serious injuries (it's kind of like jumping off a building or out of a tree). In our case, there were just 2 kids on there together alternating jumping. One came down when the tramp was in a certain position and his leg snapped. What really scared me wasin researching we found that doing flips is extremely dangerous even if only one person is on there. If you misjudge and land on your head rather than your feet, you can break your neck and wind up quadriplegic or paraplegic. There have been several lawsuits against trampoline makers where that has happened.

 

[emer95]

Never ever would I get a trampoline for my children. My neighbor is an ER nurse, and she has seen so many life-changing, paralyzing injuries due to trampolines. One scary story was all I needed to hear.
The PP is correct- so many parents think that their children are safe on a trampoline because they have a cage and netting around it- WRONG. The most common injuries are not from falling off of the trampoline, but from how the child lands on the trampoline itself. My aunt got one for her kids, and the very first time her teenage daughter jumped on it she messed up her knee and needed surgery. She used to run track but cannot anymore and is severely depressed about it and has gained a lot of weight. They took it down right away and obviously really regret buying it.

I love jumping on them and they are so much fun, but definitely not worth the risk.

 

[SydSim]

Just watching an episode of America's Funniest Videos soured me from trampolines. Kind of scared to let DD jump on other people's as well. But I wouldn't judge someone who has one though

 

[minniecarousel]

NO trampoline!!

My younger son, the athlete, screwed up his elbow (trying to remember) I think it was his Freshman year of HS baseball, by a trampoline injury. He ended his season early.

Say "no" to the trampoline. They belong in gyms with proper coaching.