Trampolines

[SamSam]

Thanks for the great idea! Would you mind sharing your waiver with me?

Don't mind at all. It's very basic and you can change it to meet your needs.



My child/children__________________________________________________have my permission to swim in the backyard pool at "address here', owned by 'Insert your name here", until such a time as I notify them that my child may not use the pool. My permission is contingent upon obtaining permission from either "Your names here" each time. If "your name here" are not at home then it is not permissible to use the pool.


__________________________________________ ____________
Parent or Guardian Date

Tel. __________________



• No running
• No diving
• No rough play
• Please pick up all pool toys, etc. before leaving.
• Please make sure bath door is shut.
• Please notify either 'Your names here" if anything is wrong.
• No metal in pool
• No glass around or in pool
• Do not play with Herbie (pool sweep)
• Please let us know if anything gets broken

 

[Mama Steph]

That's great, thanks for sharing.

 

[luvthatdisney]

We have never had one, but our neighbors across the street have had one the entire 8 years we have lived here. For the most part, it has been fine. They do have the large net around it, which has had to be replaced about 3 times within 8 years. The kids tend to grab onto the net to get their balance and it eventually gets loose and pulls down. It is funny to watch the adults climb around the outside to get the net back up to the top.

The majority of the injuries happen while the kids are on the trampoline, by running into each other. There has been one or two that fell out the opening of the net, but no real bad injuries.

The only other problem they have had with it, is with the neighborhood teens. They tend to hang out on it at night when they think the neighbors wont know. They tend to get loud sometimes, but other than that no big problems except for the fact they did not ask to use it.

 

[luvdisney00]

We got one in the Spring and the kids love it. My kids are all on a competition dance team and it helps them with their tumbling and jumps. I am sure to ask parents before kids come over for permission for them to go on, and my kids know that they are not allowed on unless DH or I are home. Almost all of their friends have them, so kids don't go crazy on it, they are all used to having one around. I do have a fenced in yard.

 

[MomRN]

We have one for about 10 yrs. We got it for my sd, who was 6 at the time. She was in gymnastics and we could trust her on it...but now she is 16, doesn't use it, and the 4 yr old is too much of a daredevil to keep it around. They are nice for kids that know how to be safe, but if you have any daredevils I suggest you think twice. They are too easy to get in trouble with.

So it's going to sd's moms house, where she has younger siblings but aren't as young as the one she has here. Maybe if it lasts through there abuse, after ds gets older, we'll ask if she will bring it back here or buy a new one.

 

[Bell30012]

It's a good thing my parents never saw some of the stunts us "daredevils" pulled when I was growing up. How high up a tree would you climb now? I think jumping on a trampoline requires flips, somersaults and incredible dismounts.

 

[Chelley00]

We didn't ask our insurance guy, I suppose if he comes over and says hey take it down we will. We don't let kids on it unless we have permission from the parents

Just be aware that if someone else gets hurt on your trampoline and sues, you will not be covered by insurance. Also, some policies are written that if you have a trampoline, it violates your policy and makes you privy to immediate cancellation. If you answered that you do not have a trampoline when you started your policy, but then bought one later and didn't report it, can be seen as fraud.

I know those are extreme cases, but I wouldn't have a trampoline without asking if I had insurance on it first.

Our insurance does cover it, but we don't have a fenced yard so I wouldn't want one to open it up to all the neighborhood kids.

 

[Keishag]

Don't. I mean that in the nicest way possible. We had one when I was growing up and it was such a pain (very literally, which I'll get to). Everytime a friend came over my mom required that we had a note from their parents saying we were not liable should something happen to them while on our trampoline. Turned out that I ended up falling off of it and breaking my femur when I was 14 years old. Not a good experience. I know they have mats and fences now that help prevent these kinds of accidents, but I still will never own one. There are too many other safer alternatives.

 

[penn19]

When we were kids we climbed trees to heights that were insane. We jumped our bicycles off ramps that made Evel Knievel proud. Rope swings from trees over creeks... Trampolines? The things we did would make your insurance man rip up your policy right in front of your eyes.

Point is, in all those daredevil days how many serious injuries do you remember? Where was all the padding, helmets and other safety equipment? If I'd have went bike riding with a helmet, I might as well have painted my bike pink and added tassels.

 

[hsmamato2]

See,I'm one of those old fashioned 'bad' moms and I let my kids climb trees,make jumps,build fires (have to learn sometime),use pocketknives out in the woods, swing on ropes,fish in creeks...etc.
I don;t have a trampoline b/c our yard isn't fenced,the neighbor kids always come around when we're not home,and I refuse to be held liable. How relaxed I am doesn't matter in todays lawsuit happy world.
All it takes is just ONE kid getting an injury on your property,on an item you are legally liable for owning,whether or not you 'allowed' the kid on it,and you WILL understand why many of us choose not to have one.
I learned the hard way,you don't always know people so well,till their kid gets some incredibly minor scrape while playing at your home (this was for the most innocent thing,they were kicking a soccer ball around,and it grazed off a forehead,leaving a small scrape,kid wasn't even worried enough to stop playing) Not even a CUT,but a small scrape,and the parents were LIVID.
Fortunately,after a while,they just left it alone,but I shudder to think what could have been the result if the kids had been bouncing on a tramp,or doing one of the many other things that kids do,like climbing trees,etc.
I kind of wish for a fence sometimes,so my own kids could have the tramp they want,but it's too risky.

 

[ktlm]

I'm an attorney, and I probably wouldn't have thought twice about letting DD get on a trampoline if I hadn't defended a trampoline case several years back. Now, I don't want to ever see her get on one and we will never in a million years have one at our house. I had no idea how horribly dangerous trampolines were until I did research connected to that case. In that case, my clients were the parents of two boys. Their yard was fenced. A neighbor boy came over to play, and broke his leg merely jumping up and down on the trampoline (no tricks). The break was in the growth plate, so his legs may very well not be the same length when he is an adult. The homeowners were sued for failing to warn of the dangers or to supervise, specifically for not standing out in the back yard and preventing more than one child from being on it at a time. In my research, I found case after case of absolutely horrific injuries. I saw several cases where kids became paraplegic or quadripeglic simply from trying to do one flip and landing on their head or neck. I also discovered that you are NEVER to have more than ONE person at at time on a trampoline, or else there is a very high injury risk. (If you look at the manuals that come with the trampoline, most, if not all, contain a warning that only 1 person should jump (as well as a warning never to attempt a flip)). The problem is with the tension in the mat. They are designed for give and take with one person. If two people jump alternating, when one goes up it can create the situation where the mat is taut when the other person comes down on it (the same thing can happen when one person is at the bottom of their landing right before it springs back). This makes it basically like coming down on concrete for the other person. In our case 2 boys were simply jumping up and down alternating, the neighbor apparently hit the mat when it was up taut which was what snapped his leg. We found case after case of leg and ankle sprains, strains, torn ligaments, and breaks caused by this issue. Even if you try to jump exactly together, if you are a little bit off, the same thing can happen. People think that most trampoline injuries happen because someone falls or bounces off. That isn't the case. One thing I've learned through being an attorney, people never think that sort of thing is going to happen to them...until it does.

There is another thread on here somewhere where someone was thinking about getting a trampoline and several people posted whose kids had gotten some pretty significant injuries on them (breaks, bad sprains, surgical etc)

You definitely need to check with your homeowner's insurer before purchasing one. Many will flat out cancel you if they find out you have a trampoline. Once you have been cancelled by one insurer, it can be hard to find coverage other places.

 

[Bell30012]

I wonder what my insurer would say if they knew I still had a set of these:

 

[ktlm]

I wonder what my insurer would say if they knew I still had a set of these:

Oh my gosh- lawn darts!!!! I used to love those things. Haven't seen a set in close to 20 years. I worked at a resort hotel on a lake and even after they stopped selling them due to the injuries, the resort would still schedule lawn darts in the afternoons for the guests. It was the employees' responsibility to make sure no one stood anywhere near the throwing area and to push guests out of the way if one was coming anywhere near them.

 

[Colleen27]

See,I'm one of those old fashioned 'bad' moms and I let my kids climb trees,make jumps,build fires (have to learn sometime),use pocketknives out in the woods, swing on ropes,fish in creeks...etc.
I don;t have a trampoline b/c our yard isn't fenced,the neighbor kids always come around when we're not home,and I refuse to be held liable. How relaxed I am doesn't matter in todays lawsuit happy world.

That's why we don't have one. Our yard is fenced, but the fence is only chain link and we're on a corner lot so anything we put in the yard is, as they say, an "attractive nuisance". It is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion that the laws are written/interpreted in such a way that we could be sued for the consequences of someone's trespassing on our property, but I don't see that changing so the kids will just have to cope without a trampoline or swimming pool.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'm an attorney, and I probably wouldn't have thought twice about letting DD get on a trampoline if I hadn't defended a trampoline case several years back. Now, I don't want to ever see her get on one and we will never in a million years have one at our house. I had no idea how horribly dangerous trampolines were until I did research connected to that case. In that case, my clients were the parents of two boys. Their yard was fenced. A neighbor boy came over to play, and broke his leg merely jumping up and down on the trampoline (no tricks). The break was in the growth plate, so his legs may very well not be the same length when he is an adult. The homeowners were sued for failing to warn of the dangers or to supervise, specifically for not standing out in the back yard and preventing more than one child from being on it at a time. In my research, I found case after case of absolutely horrific injuries. I saw several cases where kids became paraplegic or quadripeglic simply from trying to do one flip and landing on their head or neck. I also discovered that you are NEVER to have more than ONE person at at time on a trampoline, or else there is a very high injury risk. (If you look at the manuals that come with the trampoline, most, if not all, contain a warning that only 1 person should jump (as well as a warning never to attempt a flip)). The problem is with the tension in the mat. They are designed for give and take with one person. If two people jump alternating, when one goes up it can create the situation where the mat is taut when the other person comes down on it (the same thing can happen when one person is at the bottom of their landing right before it springs back). This makes it basically like coming down on concrete for the other person. In our case 2 boys were simply jumping up and down alternating, the neighbor apparently hit the mat when it was up taut which was what snapped his leg. We found case after case of leg and ankle sprains, strains, torn ligaments, and breaks caused by this issue. Even if you try to jump exactly together, if you are a little bit off, the same thing can happen. People think that most trampoline injuries happen because someone falls or bounces off. That isn't the case. One thing I've learned through being an attorney, people never think that sort of thing is going to happen to them...until it does.

There is another thread on here somewhere where someone was thinking about getting a trampoline and several people posted whose kids had gotten some pretty significant injuries on them (breaks, bad sprains, surgical etc)

You definitely need to check with your homeowner's insurer before purchasing one. Many will flat out cancel you if they find out you have a trampoline. Once you have been cancelled by one insurer, it can be hard to find coverage other places.

I'm not disagreeing with you but I work in xray at a large teaching hospital in Philly that is also a trauma center and the regional spinal cord injury center. (Been there almost 20 yrs)
I have seen soooo many fluke accidents that cause paraplegia/quadriplegia: from a 60-something yr old man body surfing at the shore, multiple diving accidents, car accidents, people flipping their ride-on lawn mowers on hills, etc. Never saw a horseriding injury but look at Christopher Reeve's story. Would you say never ride horses again?
If you truly avoided everything that could cause paralysis, you would have to just sit in your house and never do anything. Seriously.

 

[Bell30012]

It is truly amazing that us kids lived though our childhood. Riding horse, bicycles, motorcycles, three-whelers (we all know how unsafe they were), swimming in unapproved swimming holes, climbing trees, climbing rocks, climbing water towers (statute of limitation has expired for those trespassing charges), crawling under bridges to get across to the other side, walking on railroad tracks and much, much more.

When I fell out of the tree and broke my arm, no one wanted to sue anyone. When my best friend realized that our barn door was not tall enough to ride in at a full gallop... no one contacted a lawyer.

Where did we, Americans make this sue happy turn? I would never have been thinking about making parents sign waivers of liability before allowing them to swing, fish, jump or play on our property.

 

[Seahunt]

I'm an attorney

Can you give some legal advice re the waivers posters have talked about above - is it true that those actually give you no real defense in that people can't sign away their right to sue for negligence? (Because of course the people suing will be complaining of your negligence for having a trampoline )

Also, if you are being sued, and your insurance policy has a trampoline waiver buried in it, those costs and fees would be all yours right?

I agree, you must check your insurance coverage before you buy one, or you could lose everything

 

[clori]

My dd9 (now 10) is one of the kids who did break her arm on a trampoline. She was using it properly - just trying to get off. She was the only one on it when somehow she managed to get the force of the safety net just right on her arm as she tried to separate the net to get off that she broke two bones in her forearm. It was just a fluke accident.

The trampoline was at dh's coworkers house for an office end of summer gathering. The coworker asked everyone ahead of time if it was okay if their kids used the trampoline. I did know and give permission and honestly felt it was just an accident. I never once even thought about suing the homeowner a since it was an accident and b I have decent health insurance.
However within a short time I received phone calls and a letter from the insurance company basically requesting the homeowner's insurance info so that the medical insurance company could go after the homeowner's insurance rather than paying the medical bills.

It did take a few weeks but in the end I guess my insistance that it was just a fluke accident and perhaps the hospital report agreeing with that but in the end the health insurance did cover it. However it did start to seem like legally we couldn't stop the health insurance from going after the homeowners insurance. The cost of everything - two ers, 1 hour ambulance ride, two surgeries, 1 overnight stay, orthopedic surgeon, countless xrays/radiologists,5 casts, brace, anesthesia etc came to over $25,000 that the was billed to the insurance. While I ended up just having to pay a few hundred out of pocket I can see someone who has different insurance needing financial help to pay the bills.

My yard is not level or anything so I never considered a trampoline but I never thought it was as dangerous as it can be. However I every year I do get questioned by my homeowners insurance for updates and one question is do you have a trampoline.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It is truly amazing that us kids lived though our childhood. Riding horse, bicycles, motorcycles, three-whelers (we all know how unsafe they were), swimming in unapproved swimming holes, climbing trees, climbing rocks, climbing water towers (statute of limitation has expired for those trespassing charges), crawling under bridges to get across to the other side, walking on railroad tracks and much, much more.

When I fell out of the tree and broke my arm, no one wanted to sue anyone. When my best friend realized that our barn door was not tall enough to ride in at a full gallop... no one contacted a lawyer.

Where did we, Americans make this sue happy turn? I would never have been thinking about making parents sign waivers of liability before allowing them to swing, fish, jump or play on our property.

I just returned from our swim club and was chatting with our neighbor, a police officer in our town. He said they have to be completely wired with audio and video. They get written up for hurting someone's feelings during a traffic stop. Ridiculous!

 

[ktlm]

Can you give some legal advice re the waivers posters have talked about above - is it true that those actually give you no real defense in that people can't sign away their right to sue for negligence? (Because of course the people suing will be complaining of your negligence for having a trampoline )

Also, if you are being sued, and your insurance policy has a trampoline waiver buried in it, those costs and fees would be all yours right?

I agree, you must check your insurance coverage before you buy one, or you could lose everything

I wish I could help you, but I'm afraid I can't. Every state has different laws, and I can't give advice outside of my state. I can tell you that in some states those waivers might very well be valid, while other states will strike them down and they won't make any difference, especially if it is a child that was injured. I can also tell you that if an insurance company has put a trampoline exclusion in your policy, then you likely would not be covered for any claim related to a trampoline, nor would the insurance company pay your attorneys' fees and costs if you got sued. I haven't seen many trampoline exclusions in our state (yet), but I have seen insurance companies cancel people if they find a trampoline in their yard, or refuse to write coverage for people who have trampolines. You also must be honest if you get an insurance application that asks if you have a trampoline, because if you don't tell the truth, there is a possibility based on whatever the laws are in your state that it could wipe out your entire insurance policy.

Here is just a brief idea of a little bit of the literature that is out there on the dangers of trampolines:

http://www.cpsc.gov/library/foia/foia97/os/os2.pdf

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;103/5/1053.pdf

http://www.epi.alaska.gov/bulletins/docs/b1993_20.htm

http://content.karger.com/ProdukteD...lNr=000028929&Ausgabe=226508&ProduktNr=224273

http://www.shoulder1.com/news/mainstory.cfm/104

http://journals.lww.com/pedorthopaedics/Abstract/2007/10000/Pediatric_Trampoline_Injuries.2.aspx