To not be decided about how unsafe trampolines are?

[whatthewhatthewhat]

Dd really wants one. I 'gut feeling' think they are unsafe. But, I don't know... EVERYONE ELSE seems to have one???

Aibu? Are they safe? Too risky?

I've got a permanent injury from one at a proper club when I was about 10, not a chance we're having one.

We have one. Safety net,zip always up,very rarely a second child in it and then they take turns. No injuries,but the trouble is when/if they do happen it can go really bad. DD loves it,and for now I believe it's safe enough. I'm more terrified of her going on the zip lines at the parks tbh.

Stand in the children's section of A&E in the summer holidays and look around you! Seriously, they are very dangerous. On the other hand they're fantastic at wearing out the little darlings, lots of fun and a great way or keeping them active out in the fresh air instead of slumped on ipads.

I would get on eon the following conditions:

It's spring free
It's sunken or has a safety net
No more than one bouncing at a time
No flips

But that's just me. You can't never let your children take risks, but you can at least minimize the chances of injury. I saw a child come off a trampoline a couple of years back and the screaming still haunts me!

And then you have to try to stop them getting on trampolines on other people's houses - good luck with that rule!

We’ve had a trampoline for 11 yrs & nobody has ever had an accident on it. On the other hand, in the last 8 yrs, my eldest has broken his elbow playing football, his wrist leapfrogging & his coccyx playing in a river. I have also broken both my legs, at separate times, doing the school run. Our trampoline has kept numerous children/teens very happy & busy for a long time.

I broke my arm 3 times, fractured 3 ribs and dislocated (I think??) a clavicle when I was younger. I don’t have kids yet but mine will never be allowed one

My cousin broke her neck on a supervised one at a sports centre. My children were never allowed on one.

Do all the banners stop their kids from trying them at secondary school?

Do all the banners stop their kids from trying them at secondary school

In school they are fully supervised, trained and have spotters. The trampolines are proper elastic and have proper bumpers and mats. It is not the same as having the garden ones.

Yet Elphame’s cousin broke her neck on s supervises trampoline and my kids frequently reported that the kids in their teams who were supposed to be guarding them, did not pay attention to potential falls and they didn’t feel safe at school compared to fully netted at home.

With a safety net they’re fine, my DS knows to zip it up and you can also clip it closed. No way to one without a net unless it’s one of those toddler ones.

We see loads of kids with trampoline related fractures. However at least one of our consultant orthopaedic surgeons had one in his garden! Contrary to popular belief. Nets do not make them same.

I trained in trampolining as a child / teen and my brother was national champion as a kid. I’ve been around a lot of trampolines, with people using them entirely safely at all times, no messing about, with crash mats, harnesses, spotters and a highly qualified coach watching intensely at all times.

I severely broke my arm in two places.
One of the kids in my team fractured their neck.
There was one serious head injury, and more smaller injuries / fractures than I can count.

Never in a million years would I put one in a garden and expect excited kids to use them safely. All their mates will want to come and play but you cannot have two kids on a trampoline safely at the same time, even with the usual nonsense of weighing the same etc (if they get out of sync and hit the bed at the same time, they will get hurt).

The net is really not the safety miracle people think. All bar one or two of the injuries I saw were from landing badly on the bed itself. If you can guarantee your kids will use it one at a time, stand exactly in the centre and only jump straight up and down, maybe but where’s the fun in that? (Oh and I hurt my ankle doing exactly that after an hour of learning to do back somersaults - in a harness, naturally)

My BIL is an orthopaedic surgeon specialising in rare cases and the number of trampoline related life changing accidents he has treated is astonishing. When my kids are in the garden I want them to have unsupervised fun. If I have to stand there barking orders and making sure all the rules are followed it’s not a great deal of fun for anyone.

I used to work for an insurance company, and we wouldn't insure a home that had one. That put me off.

Dh wouldn't let us get one. His childhood friend was left quadraplegic after a trampoline accident. Shame, I love them.

“only a certain number of people at a time etc.”

That certain number would be ONE surely?

This seems to be the most crucial rule and the one routinely broken because the kids want to go on together and waiting while everyone has their turn is frustrating and causes whining and rows.

Ours has a safety net but it did not stop DD1 pushing DD2 down the steps and breaking her collarbone.

Every doctor I see mutters about trampolines, but we have had worse injuries from pony riding, and from slipping on ice while walking to school. I think they are good for coordination. Ours is staying.

We have a huge one and the DC love it. No accidents in 8 years, no near-misses or any kind of issues at all. Our dog loves it, too, and each morning barrels out of the back door and leaps about like a drunk gazelle on the thing.

Both DC have had broken bones from sports (football, rugby and cricket), both have had accidents and near-misses, but neither has ever played dangerously on the trampoline and I don't think they would. Obviously there are no guarantees in life but for us the reward has outweighed the risk.

It is how they are used that is the problem.
Next door kids were leaping around on theirs with a visiting toddler being bounced around in the middle.
I was ready to go round there when the toddler's screams brought an adult out into the garden.
A child near me was left quadraplegic after he was landed on. Too many kids on at once.
Ditto bouncy castles.

I used to bounce for a club and landed on my neck whilst a move I'd done a hundred times correctly in the past. I was very, very lucky my injury wasn't serious. DS can have one when hell freezes over.

The problem with them is that when it goes wrong, it goes very wrong.

I think this is the problem.

I've let mine on them at sport centre when there was a supervising instructor.
I've let them over their friends’ houses only to find they have one and my kids have been on.

Not sure about the school having them - though I've family who worked in private school and they listed some serious rugby injuries across their working life - and the kids play rugby in school – I feel we have to trust them somewhat to mitigate potential harm.

I still haven’t put one in our garden as I feel it’s too unsafe even with a net.

We have a small one in our garden (6 foot one I think it is). Size of it limits the potential stupidity to be fair - you couldn't do anything more than star jumps on it and 90% of the time the kids use it to have tea parties or build a den on these days. Works off DD1's temper a treat when she's starting to lose the plot though - it's a case of "go out there and come back after you've done 100 bounces" - by the time she gets past bounce number 10 she's usually just giggling instead.