Big Trampoline for the garden...thumbs up or thumbs down?

[TinyGang]

Do you have one? Has it been great or do you regret the whole thing?

My children would love one - I would only consider it with a safety net. But are they a flash in the pan or are they worth it? The safety aspect worries me a bit it's true - but then I can be an old fuss pot sometimes.

I'd welcome your thoughts before wearing dh down. He just mumbles and mooches off.

Tia

yes yes yes. its in use more than the climbing frame!

My 4 love ours.
Not easy to keep them all happy at the same time though as they dont like taking turns.They use it loads.

not used much in the winter but used several times a week in the summer. I like it too!

Ooo interesting What happens in the winter though? Can they stay up all year round?

Sorry mousie - X'd with you there. I take it they stay up all year then. Do you all have nets?

yes they can stay up - the mat is UV proof - I have a cover on mine. I recommend getting all the extras - cover, ladder and net. Worth the money! They do tend to dominate your garden unless you have a huge garden...our garden is more of a playground than a restful nature paradise!

if you sink it into the ground you may not need a net but I think it is a lot safer with a net - and remember paediatricians HATE trampolines

We don't have one but my friend does and her children and visiting children do use it a lot so it's well used. It's a large one and does have a net. I have to say that although I am NOT cautious at all generally wrt safety - I am the woman who let visiting children slide down the stairs on a mattress - trampolines do scare me a bit. No logic to it, they just make me more anxious that swings or almost any other play equipment (other than 100ft high slides, which I used to DETEST when ds was only 3 and wanted to go on them).

on it all the time (LO's not me! - although have been known
have mine sunken into ground so its at the same level as grass and really pleased we did it that way as no net needed so far !

that's interesting mousie re paeds, how do you know that (genuinely curious and interested to know if my gut anxiety has any basis in fact!)

on the mumsnet homepage not long ago it had something like 4 out of 10 accidents from trampolines end in an operation.

a lot of the accidents are caused by more than one child/person on at the same time

I work in a hospital! And our trampoline teacher thinks home trampolines are dangerous too.

Zippi is right, more than one person at a time is dangerous and the trampoline will come with instructions saying this is not allowed. But in practice it will happen a lot as kids have more fun with 2 on the trampoline than by themselves...

The trampoline comes with a list of dos and don'ts and if you obey these you are less likely to have an accident. But nobody does obey them because it is all the most fun stuff they advise not to do. Any advanced moves need close supervision to master - eg front drops, back drops etc and home trampolines encourage folk to try these moves without tuition...not to mention other made up moves. Even landing on your knees is not recommended by teachers.

I heard from someone that works in A&E that trampolines are the biggest cause of injuries in children attending casualty depts. (second is apparently bunk beds!)

Oh so it wasn't just my instinct then, thanks for those figures.

I noticed in our A&E triage room there was a poster reminding the nurses to fill out the specific trampoline injury form. Must have anough injuries if they feel the need to collate information.

Need very close supervision which is a problem as kids at home tend to get a free run of them. I would like one if we had the room but I would have to enforce very strict rules. I think I would rather go for a climbing thing.