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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be worried about the DC going to trampoline parks?

50 replies

PippaFawcett · 14/03/2017 23:16

There is one in Milton Keynes that the DC have been asking to go to and DS has got a party coming up at one, but this story today has made me worry.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39266683

Anyone else concerned, or should I just think that everything comes with risks?

OP posts:

BadTasteFlump · 15/03/2017 13:40

Nobody said it was news

The point is that now these new trampoline parks are popping up everywhere, it's becoming much more accessible - causing lots more accidents. IMO the parks are even more dangerous than garden trampolines.

Kentnurse2015 · 15/03/2017 13:44

We are gettin one opening up in our local town. I work in our local A&E department and see quite enough trampoline accidents as it is. We're all dreading the opening of it!

Bundesliga · 15/03/2017 13:47

They are popping up everywhere- I keep mine away from them simply because we spend enough time in hospital as it is.

They only go for birthday parties and school trips. That's enough risk.

Meeep · 15/03/2017 13:50

I don't go to them due to the risk.

multivac · 15/03/2017 13:51

Regarding garden trampolines: when our older son broke his wrist after trying a forward flip on ours (it was enclosed, he just fell awkwardly) I spent the first few hours in A&E apologising profusely to everyone for bringing in yet another trampoline-based injury. Eventually, the consultant who reset his arm told me not to be so silly; that his own children had one; that bones can be broken in all manner of ways; and that if a trampoline is encouraging outdoors, physical exercise that's a good thing (as long as basic safety principles are observed). Sure enough, a few months later our younger son broke his wrist, climbing over the 2.5ft fence surrounding our local playground.

Regarding trampoline parks: the staff and safety measures at our local one are excellent. I have no problem with letting the boys go there, although I do, of course, realise there are risks.

shirleycartersaidso · 15/03/2017 13:52

I think they're a terrible idea and won't take my children.

I have learnt through work that a number of councils are no reconsidering granting them planning in the first place due to the number of injuries.

shirleycartersaidso · 15/03/2017 13:53

FFS - are no longer considering granting...

MrsGotobed · 15/03/2017 13:54

I have worried when my DC have occasionally gone to a trampoline park but we do also have one in the garden so I have tried to drum into them how to use them safely (as much as you can with children anyway) and hope that they wouldn't do obviously silly things.

I realise that there is a risk involved but if you stop your children going on a trampoline do you also stop them going horse-riding, playing football, doing gymnastics too, as these are all activities that either my children or friends children have had serious injuries and breaks from.

Fintress · 15/03/2017 13:56

Personally I wouldn't want my child going to one. My husband was a competitive trampolinist and he suffered his fair share of injuries. I also worked with someone who was paralysed from the neck down after a trampolining accident at school. I think it's quite worrying the rate these parks are springing up.

FreckledLeopard · 15/03/2017 14:00

I'd screwed up my ankle on a trampoline we had in our garden (ripped all the ligaments and it took a year to go back to normal). DD had always been fine on it. So, I was fairly skeptical of going anywhere near a trampoline ever again. However, I was persuaded to go to a Flip Out park a few weeks ago with my friend and her young children. Frankly it appeared to be a recipe for disaster.

My friend's DD landed awkwardly on her head (thank God didn't give herself any injuries) and I was wincing the entire time I was there. No staff around, no supervision and the whole place was an accident waiting to happen. I wouldn't go back and wouldn't be keen for DD to do so.

Private trampolining lessons, fine. Trampoline parks, nope.

egosumquisum1 · 15/03/2017 14:03

DS likes one - they have a safety video at the start people have to watch along with the sound of broken bones...

GuiltyPleasure · 15/03/2017 22:20

We had a horrendous experience at one for DS's 12th birthday. The more confident boys were egged on by the party supervisor, who was only about 18, to do unsafe moves e.g double somersaults. One of the boys was too close to the edge and smashed his head on the side, resulting in a 2 inch wide gash that ended up seeing him stretchered out on a body board & the injury required plastic surgery. Luckily there was no long term damage. The place denied responsibility because all the children's parents had signed an accident waiver. I argued that I totally accepted that accidents happen, but the party leader had actively encouraged the boys to act unsafely & what was the point of the safety video if their own staff failed to follow it. The place offered me & the boy's parents free vouchers for another jump. We've funnily enough never taken them up on the offer. The paramedics that attended said they were always being called to attend to injuries, luckily most of them less serious than my DS's friend.

Elphame · 15/03/2017 22:42

My cousin broke her neck on a trampoline so no way would I let my children go. (She was very lucky - it was under the supervision of qualified staff who knew what to do and importantly what NOT to do)

Quodlibet · 15/03/2017 22:48

I've got a friend who is a professional acrobat/stuntman/ex-gymnast and his strong opinion is that they are lethal. Trampolines are powerful bits of kit and untrained people shouldn't be flinging themselves all over them.

mymatemax · 15/03/2017 22:56

No more dangerous than cycling, or scooters or skateboards. We can't wrap them in cotton wool forever.

Helentad · 15/03/2017 22:57

I live near the the flip out mentioned and it's not the actual trampoline part that's the problem but a tower jump where you jump into a pit of foam blocks. Every activity has an inherent danger to it and you would be very bored if you stoped doing things because they might be dangerous. Been to a local trampoline park (not the aforementioned one) tonight with my two boys and they had a safety video before they were able to get on the park.

Willow2017 · 15/03/2017 23:19

There was an article on a tv programme recently about indoor trampoline parks. They filmed inside several places and it was horrifying! There was supposed to be only one child per trampoline, no running etc and kids were bouncing from one trampoline to the other, running around like maniacs between and over the trampolines where people were bouncing and the staff never moved! Despite all the safetly 'rules' plastered all over the place nobody enforced them except for in one place I think.

No way would I let my kids go to one of them, I am all for risk taking but they are not getting injured cos staff cant enforce basic safety rules in a place like that.

wickerlampshade · 16/03/2017 10:44

Despite all the safetly 'rules' plastered all over the place nobody enforced them except for in one place I think.

I won't go to those ones. megajump in borehamwood is fantastic - staff are everywhere, you have a wristband. If you misbehave they mark your wristband and you get a telling off. second offence you have to come off for 5 minutes and watch the video again and they tell your parents. third offence - out.

oxygen freejump is a free for all and I'm much less confident there.

TheWoodlander · 16/03/2017 10:49

Omg, I had no idea. I took DD to a party at one of these (the Lakeside one) just a few months ago. Didn't bat an eyelid. Didn't see anything that concerned me either, and I'm normally a safety worry-wort.

NotCitrus · 16/03/2017 11:08

I took 8 and 5yo to one (Wandsworth) recently. They had a whale of a time and I was nearby.

However - they were just bouncing on simple rectangles, plus ds hurling himself into a bouncy wall next to his, dd jumping off a springboard into the foam pit. The areas set up like a skateboarding park for older kids looked much more dangerous and the staff were concentrating on those, telling kids off frequently.

If I thought my child might want to try a somersault, then I don't think I'd want them doing that without a qualified teacher (not just me) supervising.

My advice is if you go, do not try copying small kids by jumping into the foam pit from the springboard, as adult weight squashes the foam so much you can't step on them to get out, so there were loads of adults stranded like beached whales until other parents helped drag them out! Dd managed to queue up again and jump and get out before I got out once, and it was exhausting!

We'll go again, but I won't take dn too as he would immediately try to somersault and is the kind of kid that invariably is bleeding within a minute of getting on a bouncy castle.

ICancelledTheCheque · 16/03/2017 11:18

My friend is a paediatric nurse with 15 years experience and says she has seen numerous horrendous accidents involving paralysis, so I don't like them either.

However, DD loves going. She knows to be sensible. I don't encourage it but I don't ban her from parties and social gatherings.

That said we did witness an unpleasant accident - a boy jumped off a high platform onto a gigantic inflatable bag below, but the bag malfunctioned and burst - hopefully he was fine and some of the impact was absorbed but he was taken away on a spinal board by paramedics, and it wasn't pleasant to see.

reallyanotherone · 16/03/2017 12:09

No more dangerous than cycling, or scooters or skateboards. We can't wrap them in cotton wool forever.

It's far more dangerous. If you fall off a cycle or a scooter you aren't 5 or 6 feet up. The floor may be hard but your head can't whiplash and break your neck as you rebound.

You don't have adults twice your weight stepping near you and flipping you to a height you can't control. You don't have other people falling on you from a full height jump.

Normal activities like cycling or scootering are done within physical capabilities. You don't put beginners on an olympic cross country track and expect them to be ok.

c3pu · 16/03/2017 12:27

I'm too lazy to do the maths but 17 call outs in 100 days when they have 200,000 jumpers a year doesn't seem that high?

One ambulance per 3223.2 visitors.

Original poster

PippaFawcett · 16/03/2017 19:44

Well, the responses have made me think that it isn't unfounded to be concerned. I think I will give it a miss for now. I can see the appeal but I'm not convinced that it is a risk that is managed well enough.

OP posts:

mymatemax · 18/03/2017 10:06

Reallyanotherone have you been to a skatepark. They do some amazing things on boards & scooters with no supervision, they are just open public spaces. Thankfully my boys are more football & rugby fans but a number of their friends have had broken bones & one of them in particular a Nast head injury

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