Anyone have a backyard trampoline?

[holden]

DH and I are debating whether or not to buy our girls a trampoline for Christmas. We are clueless about brand, price, size, etc. I've looked at a few on Costco, BJs and Sam's, so we'd probably buy one from them.

Do your kids use your trampoline a lot? Are you glad you bought it for them? What about insurance? Does it increase?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Shannalee724]

Our daughter uses ours quite a bit. She has had it for two years. It is a round 15 ft. We also have the enclosure on it. She is competing all-star cheer this year, so I think it gets more use than it would have. She practices tumbling and jumps.

You can catch them on sale right after Thanksgiving, so they are a relatively good purchase. Just keep in mind, they can raise your home owner's insurance depending on the company.

 

[holden]

Thanks for your reply. I was figuring the 15ft. round might be a good size.

 

[happy.family.of.6]

We have one and our 4 kids LOVE it. Best purchase I think we ever made. Their love of it comes in spurts-sometimes gets used 2-3 times a week, sometimes every single day, but it's always loved. Some companies will raise your rates, ours didnt. We got ours at Costco with the enclosure and it's a 15ft too. Perfect purchase! Hope this helps

 

[auralia]

I have one my daughter is only 2.5 but i use it sometimes for exercise too it is very goot exercise but i wouldn't buy anything w/o an enclouser we got ours at kmart onsale pretty good price of 200 bucks for everything if you watch the adds you can get good deals on these.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

We've had ours for 5 years or so and it is slowly falling apart but my 3 kids and their friends love it. I am glad we have it and our insurance never went up. Tip - take down the net every year and store if for winter. We didn't and ours rotted and had got huge holes in it when the kids fell against it.

It's great exercise - the adults have even been on it a time or two and whew - what a work out!!!

 

[barnaby1]

We are just about to move to a flat with a garden and I would like to buy one for our dd 3.5. She absolutely loved visiting a friend with one. I also want one big enough so I can play on it!!!

Glad to hear people didn't regret their purchases.

 

[surfergirl602]

I see everyone that has posted is pro trampoline. I am completely against these big ones. Working in child care, I have seen way too many injuries on these things, even with the safety nets. I just wanted to give you a different point of view, on the negative side, as it happened to my own daughter. Over Labor Day weekend we were visiting relatives and they have a trampoline, one of the big ones. We let our girls play with them, as we were on vcation. No more than a half an hour into their play, we heard a scream. DH was right there watching, and brought my oldest, DD8, into the house. Her ankle was swelling up to a baseball size. She had just been standing there and someone else jumped, and she rolled her ankle and pop!!! She tore through all three of her tendons. MRI's, and surgeries later, she has two more weeks of her leg cast on before we can get another MRI to see how they are healing. She has to have several months of intense physical therapy and may never dance again. My DD is a classically trained ballet dancer and may never had the strength she'll need to go on pointe when she's older because of this injury. The pain and stress and anguish isn't worth the risk, in my opinion. They are too dangerous. Fun, sure, but very dangerous. She had massive blood pooling in her foot and hasn't been able to use her foot for over a month. Not very good pictures, but this is the brusing, the swelling, and the blood that started pooling almost immediately after the accident. Please be careful!

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[happymommy]

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against anyone having them. The danger is so serious. I would not recommend one personally. I know many folks have kids that have fun on them, but I would not ever get one.

 

[clori]

I have to second how dangerous trampolines really are. My dd9 was on a trampoline August 30th. All she was doing was trying to get off. She wasn't running, jumping or anything when she separated the safety net and somehow broke two bones in her left forearm. She was in a cast for two weeks but the breaks were both unstable that she ended up needing surgery to have metal rods placed in both bones. The cast doesn't come off until October 29th then she may need a second surgery and if not will need a splint for a while. I don't know yet about physical therapy.

A few days after dd broke her arm I got a call from my insurance agent about swithing to a cheaper insurance for home/auto. One of the questions he asked me was if I had a trampoline. I don't (the accident was at a coworkers of dh). He told me that if the new insurance company finds out someone has a backyard trampoline even with safety netting they will be told to take it down. They go back again soon after and if the trampoline is still up they will cancel the home owners insurance. Basically if you are okay with having a trampoline I would call your specific insurance company and see what the official policy for trampolines is for your particular plan.

 

[Momvic5]

We had a trampoline for about 6 years. In that time, we had two minor injuries - a sprained ankle and a bruised forehead. We had to take ours down about two years ago because it was showing signs of wear and tear. I will be honest and say that I was somewhat relieved when we took it down. My children absolutely loved it though. It was probably one of the most used items we have ever purchased. They did everything on it. The summertime brought lots of fun because they would hang a sprinkler from the enclosure and enjoy playing in the water while being up off of the grass and out of the ants. Having a place to play up off of the grass was what lured my kids into the trampoline almost daily whether it be for jumping, games, a picnic, sky watching, or whatever else.

We purchased our trampoline from Sam's Club, and it was 15ft in diameter with an enclosure. It was used almost everyday in the six years we had it. Now, my kids are entering into their teenage years, and I would not have one if someone gave it to me for free. I am finding that it is cool among many teenage boys to pull impressive or dangerous stunts. The trampoline would lend itself to too many possibilities....

 

[ktlm]

I had absolutely no idea how dangerous trampolines were until several years ago through work I was involved in a trampoline injury case and did research on trampoline injuries. After that, I would never in a million years buy one, and I cringe to think of my daughter ever getting on one.

If you get a trampoline, please never let more than one child at a time on it and institute a no flip rule. If those rules are broken- take it down or get rid of it. The net may prevent falls off the tramp, but it won't prevent injuries. Most serious injuries on trampolines are not caused by falling off the tramp, but by how you come down on the mat. Most parents have no idea how dangerous trampolines are. You can come down on the mat wrong and have all kinds of injuries including breaking your neck and being paralyzed and in a wheelchair the rest of your life (that's usually from trying to do a flip and landing on the mat on your head instead of on your feet). You don't even have to be doing anything wild to get horribly hurt. In our case, the kid was just jumping straight up and down, but another kid was on the tramp at the same time also jumping straight up and down. That is a major danger as if more than one person is on a tramp the tension of the mat will be wrong when people come down. If the mat is taut when you hit it, you can do serious damage. It's kind of like jumping off a roof and hitting the solid ground. The kid in our case broke his leg at the growth plate and his legs will likely never be the same length. There is case after case out there of kids breaking bones just because they came down wrong, or at the wrong time, when they weren't doing anything wild or unusual. Almost every trampoline you see will either have a booklet or a tag on it warning that only one person should be on it at a time, and that is to avoid liability for these type injuries. Also be prepared as some homeowner's insurance companies will cancel your insurance policy if they find out you have a trampoline. There are many cases where parents have sued other parents or neighbors for not properly supervising their visiting children after their kids were injured on a trampoline.

I would not have thought twice about letting my daughter get on a trampoline before that case. We won't ever have a trampoline and I really hope my daughter is never on one (although I know she probably will be at some point, but if I ever see her on it at the same time as another person, I can't even tell you how much trouble she will be in).

 

[tavettava]

Check with your insurance company. I know our's (State Farm) will drop anyone who has one because of liability.

 

[3doodlebugsmom]

We have Amica insurance, they won't insure if you have a trampoline. My kids have finally stopped asking for one.

 

[holden]

Thanks for all of the replies. I was particularly interested in the negative ones. The risk of injury (for our kids and the neighbors' kids) was bothering me, and after reading your posts, I think we'll pass on the trampoline. I guess I just needed to hear some personal experiences to make a decision.

Thanks again. You really did help me. I was on the fence about it, but you helped me make up my mind.

 

[RMulieri]

Nope and though my DD has asked, she will never, ever have one...I work in a local ED, seen far to many trampoline injuries...from life threatening to minor...not gonna happen.I have seen broken bones, necks, traumatic brain injuries...That was a heartbreaker too.A 4 yr old came down on her head, and was brain dead...So not worth it.

 

[dhardawa]

We had one and it was really fun. Unfortunately, it quickly wore out (the pad covering the springs tore apart, the foam came out, the metal rusted, etc.) and the cost to get replacement parts was higher than buying a new trampoline.

My biggest issue was that it was a neighborhood kid magnet. Kids would come out of nowhere to "play with Emily" but then they would completely ignore her and jump on the trampoline. Many times, I'd look outside and there would be 10 kids around my trampoline and Emily would be on the swingset. When I told everyone that was enough time on the trampoline (I just knew someone would get hurt) they would all just leave. No one was there to see Emily, they were just there to play with her toys. We gave it away on Freecycle this spring and I'm glad to have it gone. It was an eyesore too.

 

[surfgirl]

OP, I'm glad that you've decided against it.

Our dd had a broken arm (not on a trampoline) and at the end, I thanked the ortho dr. and told him that I hoped not to see him professionally again.

He remarked, "get a trampoline. they keep me in business."

that was the nail in the coffin and I knew never at my house.

 

[holden]

I'm glad we've decided not to get one too. It was one of those "hey, this would be a great gift" moments that passed after I had time to think about it and read the posts here. Glad I'm not an impulse buyer!

 

[5 for WDW]

My daughter just got out of a Cam walker (Boot/brace) from fracturing her ankle on the neighbor's trampoline. She is 5. She fractured it July 15th. Spent 3 weeks in a regular cast and was in the boot until 2 weeks ago. She fell the right/wrong way and fractured the growth plate. It was not a very pleasant summer, to say the least. We even had a week in WDW in the boot.

Our son, now 9, broke his ankle on the same neighbor's trampoline (believe it or not!!) when he was 3. He was in a full cast for 8 weeks also in the middle of summer. July 4th weekend. He went to jump and just fell the wrong way.

The trampoline is in the ground. They tried to make it as safe as possible. You just can't prevent injuries on them. My oldest son's good friend broke his neck on their trampoline last school year. He went to flip and hit, of all things, the safety bar that held up the safety net. He had surgery and spent 8 weeks in a Halo. Thank goodness, he fully recovered.

Our children are banned from any trampoline use. We have told all of our friends that have them. All of the parents have been told. We learned our lesson the hard way. We are just thankful we only had 2 injured ankles and not worse. Its just not worth the risk.

I hope this did not sound as harsh as I think it does. As you can tell, this is a touchy subject for me.