to worry about trampoline with nets being safe ?

[Babieseverywhere]

My parents have very kindly offered to buy our children a garden trampoline with a safety net as a joint birthday gift.

But I am worried that these trampoline look very dangerous, no facts or horrible RL stories to base my opinion on, I just think they must be dangerous...AIBU

My DH thinks I am silly for worrying and points out the children love their indoor small, low trampoline and bounce on it for hours (when it is not in the utility room as it takes up so much space in the house when it is being used.)

Our garden is totally paved if that makes a difference to the safety factor.

So what is the Mumsnet verdict on trampolines ?

Gumps - getting hurt bouncing on a trampoline, with someone else at 21 and another drunk adult hurting themselves is hardly relevant to getting a trampoline for 2 under fives...???

Strandedatsea - it does make you wonder how we survived doesn't it - I am constantly grateful to have grown up when I did!!

Accidents can happen when riding bikes, playing football, playing on the climbing frame or walking down the street - a lot of accidents happen on trampolines because there are now lots of them!! To my way of thinking it is better to get it when they are young and they grow up with it, get used to it etc - suddenly getting one when they are older is surely going to cause them to be testing the limits in a more dangerous way.

lucysmum How did she break her leg? Was it from landing funny or falling off? ]

I like the idea of climbing frame/monkey bars when DS is older. Did your friend have to put any special surfacing down or is it just on grass?

My dd1 cracked her head open falling off a chair in our living room on to the coffee table.

Should we get rid of all chairs and tables?

wow I cant beleive how scared of stuff some
of you are

we have an 8 ft trampoline with a safety net

the kids love it
we have had ot for about 3 years now and its always used when they are in the garden

either under it as a den
laying on it to sunbathe or have picnics, toy tea parties
but mainly to bounce around wildly

they all go on together and me sometimes

dd1 can do frontflips
dd2 can do butt bounces

bloody brilliant thing!!

could I ask if the 'one at a time' or no trampoline at all for safety reason posters let their kids climb trees?

genuinely wondering

A friend of mine took her 8 year old to A&E after he fell on his neck while bouncing. The first thing the nurse said when they got to A&E with him clutching his neck? 'let me guess, you have a trampoline...'

I also read an article about how it massively multiplies the risk of later pelvic floor issues in girls. I'm all for dangerous play, but all the same I'm not intending to buy one for my DD any time soon!

trinity - seriously doubt it

trampolines are great but need to be used sensibly.
And proper nets are a must - I probably wouldn't have thought this a few years ago but then I went to a friend's party and some of the rather inebriated types were having a go on it. One bloke fell off and landed in a flower bed, knocked himself out - woke up, didn't want to go to hospital but hostess insisted - just as well as he'd fractured his neck!! He was fine but needed a collar of course.

I guess the non-trampoliners won't be letting their DC ride horses either...

lol chipping

we've just got back from an hour long trek with the dog along the shore

dd1 (just 10) climbs the same particular tree along this route every time

I reckon she is about 30ft up

she loves it
I alwasy remember climbing trees as a kid

Trinity - trees, knives, fires etc - no problem! I guess we all have our blind spots. Actually it's the pelvic floor thing that really put me off.

nappyaddict - she broke her leg landing oddly - not a serious break, in plaster for about 3 weeks I think. The point I was making about the climbing frame (not very clearly!) was my friend bought it instead of a trampoline thinking there was less chance of an accident. She has it on grass so no other safety surface underneath.

libelulle - in what medical journal was this write up regarding the pelvic floor?

As for going into A&E with a sore neck - trampoline was a fairly obvious choice, if he'd done it landing badly on concrete, the floor etc - he would have most likely been in a much worse state!!

An hour long trek along the shore sounds great Tree climbing OH. MY. GOD. - before you know it, you'll be letting her play out in the street - it's a slippery slope you know

when i bounce on our trampoline it definitely affects my pelvic floor....! On a similar note I was going to try one of those power plate gym machines that wobble but a friend told me it was awful for her pelvic floor and she had 2 caeasareans. No hope for me after 3 normal deliveries....

defensive or what, trampoline fans?

my paed consultant pal would never get one, he says after seeing what they get coming through a&e it's not worth it. it's not that the kids risk of injury is increased, more that their risk of neck-snapping, paralysing injury is increased.

Babieseverywhere How about one of those airflow bouncy castles instead? I don't know if I'm correct in saying this but my own personal feeling is that they are safer because you can't bounce as hard on them so less chance of accidents happening?

My reason for being anti-trampolines (and before you ask, yes the children have a climbing frame, yes they are allowed to climb trees, yes they are allowed to play in the street, yes they are allowed on bikes/scooters, though we are militant about helmets) is that trampolines magnify injuries.

If you fall off a trampoline, you don't just 'fall off' - you fly off, propelled by the bounce. If 2 or more children are on there then you can bang heads etc. And the sorts of injuries possible are the catastrophic kind - head injuries, neck injuries, spinal injuries.

Tbh, I just don't think it's worth risking those serious injuries just for a bit of jumping around - and they do trampolining in a safe environment once a week at gym anyway. As I said earlier, the safety precautions they take there were enough to convince me that it's not a safe 'unsupervised toy' even before I was at the x-ray dept and saw all the medical literature warning of their dangers.

haven't read all thread
we have a trampoline, 8ft, and it is the BEST thing we have ever bought for the DDs. (and garden is small).

they are out there now, walking on it, having a chat, making up a story. it has become their place. picnics, chats on it etc...

now they are getting bigger (6 and 4)and jumping higher they have to take turns and bounce one at a time. no near misses [touch wood]. when they were smaller they all used to bounce together, but when i say bounce, they used to jump about 2 inches high!

lucysmum - i do a powerplate class every week, no problems with my pelvic floor on it (and i cannot jump on the trampoline, 3 bounces and i HAVE to go to the toilet)

what does your friend mean it is bad for it? damages it or makes you wee?

I am rather surprised at the 'anti-trampoline' revolution on here!

My parents bought one without an enclosure for dd when she was almost 2, which was frankly ridiculous and we gave back (swapped for a climbing frame), but we now have one with an enclosure (ovalpod from jumpking) which is very popular with dd (4) and her friends, and which ds (almost 18 months) likes to wander around on too.

As long as the children are old enough to remember to zip it up whilst inside, and you don't have multiple children bouncing on it at once, then I can't understand what all the hoo-haa is about.

I can only speak from our experience but we've had one with a net for just over 3 years now. I have 5 children and never has one them had a serious accident on it. They only go on 2 at a time and there has been the occasional bump when they've bumped into each other but never anything serious. Two of my children have had accidents at the park...and some of the heights of the slides at our local park are ridiculous.
I have a son with ASD and hypermobility and the trampoline has greatly helped his muscle tone improve.

It's for each of us to decide as parents ofcourse but even after reading some of the negatives on here we wouldn't be without ours. Its like the whole is it safe to let kids climb tree's, play conkers etc. I did all kinds of stuff that would these days be frowned upon when i was a child, and i used to horse ride and figure skate, 2 pretty dangerous sports.

My kids are pretty sensible though and do obey rules so we decided a trampoline would be ok for them and i'm glad we did {smile]

SiL is a doctor (GP) - her vote was that she used to see kids that had hurt themselves falling out of trees - now she sees kids that have hurt themselves falling off trampolines. She says - kids are just going to damage themselves one way or another regardless, and better that they are outside getting exercise than sitting indoors setting themselves up for heart disease/obesity.

Mind you - I have seen HER on their trampoline just as much if not more as their ds - which may have influenced her views

who said something about not meant to bounce in knees

can you link me something thats says this is bad.

most the moves we were shown in trampoline instruction in the school gym as a teenager involved knee bouncing of some sort.

as i youngster i fell out trees, fell off horse, got run over by a quad a fell off,was forever standing on nails climbing over wooden piles

have to admit though. did land wrong once on a trampoline was a bit a cracking pain at the time, but being so used to injuring myself i never mentionned to anyone and continued on bouncing.

there is a warning actually on the trampoline - do not land or bounce on your knees or head!

er..It was me who said about the knees originally and as amidaiwish said it's printed on the safety instructions ON the trampoline. And I also said 'apparently' . And I've got one so don't try and flame me for being a killjoy who doesn't believe that kids can do dangerous stuff. Each to their own, kids and adults can have accidents anywhere.

My stepdaughter ripped all the tendons in her forearm landing badly on a trampoline at school under qualified supervision but I still let my kids have one at home...

or maybe that was ligaments..but you get the picture