Parents trampoline at home?

[pullover]

Do you have one? Do you find it helpful for your gymmie's practice? If so what size do you recommend (our space is limited)? Is your gymmie able to practice things like BHS at home with this? Or is there something better?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

bad idea.

something better=sign up at a gym

 

[MeetDirector]

To the OP -

Do a search on here for trampoline and you will see that it is a topic that generates a lot of discussion, most of it negative. My perspective - no trampoline at home. Gymnastics belongs in a suitable facility with trained coaches. The only thing that can be learned on a home trampoline are bad habits and how to recover from injuries. Don't do it.

 

[cbifoja]

We have one. It has had absolutely zero effect on DD's gymnastics as it was not purchased for that purpose. DD just jumps and flops around on it. Not allowed to do any sort of real skills on it. It makes a great island to avoid bears and wolves. It's also a tree house, a life boat, a house, and was once even a space ship. It's a very versatile trampoline.

 

[Natasha]

My gymnast loves to lie on the trampoline in the sunshine and do her homework Other than that it is for jumps only- mostly used by younger sibling. I've been known to take a nap on it in the sunshine. The dogs like to lie under it in the shade.

 

[txgymfan]

Check to see if your homeowners insurance will allow it. Some policies become void if you have one.

 

[iwannacoach]

....... If so what size do you recommend

Personally speaking, I'd steer you, for safety sake, to a trampoline the size of a wallet. The safest way to experience trampolines is at a gym club with a qualified instructor. The next safest way is to not buy one unless you intend having a qualified instructor present whenever there's a child near your house. The worst way, in my humble opinion, is to take advantage...... errrrr, harumph, I mean to expose your child to recreational trampoline center that features wall to wall trampolines. Really, those places are like........

an orthodontist waiting to happen

an orthopedic surgeon's next trip abroad

and team badmitten played on an ice rink groomed with wesson oil.

 

[Gymsanity]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pediatricians-warn-against-trampoline-use-at-home-citing-injury-risks/

 

[Faolmor]

We have a trampoline - they're quite common in Australian backyards, and most kids aren't using them for training but simply for playing, jumping etc. My DD uses hers to throw her toys around, jump, roll on, and camp under. It gets her outside in the fresh air and sunshine, it's safe for the purpose of happy PLAY (and not for at-home training), and she uses it almost every day. Better than sitting in front of the tv...

 

[cbifoja]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pediatricians-warn-against-trampoline-use-at-home-citing-injury-risks/

From the article:

In 2009, the last year of available data, trampoline injury rates were 70 injuries per 100,000 children ages 0- to 4-years-old and 160 injuries per 100,000 5- to 14-year-olds, for a total of 98,000 injuries that year. Kids in the older age group were more likely to use a bicycle or other unsafe equipment on the trampoline. Between three percent and 14 percent of the injuries require hospitalization.

Well, DUH! You mean my kindergarten child shouldn't ride their bike on the trampoline???? *smacks forehead*

The article has a lot of good points but also is modeling unsafe behavior. The opening picture has an adult jumping on the trampoline with three other kids, one of whom looks to be close to a teenager and one as young as a preschool kid. Too many people and too big of a size discrepancy!

Three-quarters of all trampoline injuries occur when several kids are bouncing at the same time, with the smallest kids 14 times more likely to get injured than their heavier counterparts, due to the added force the bigger kids create by jumping that gets absorbed by the smaller kids.

Which is why if you opt to have a trampoline, you've got to still use your brain! I mean, seriously. Kids have to have supervision and rules have to be in place. That's just good parenting. I have the same approach towards skateboards, bicycles, and the swingset. If a family doesn't have the time to make sure kids are being supervised and taught how to use the equipment and still be safe, then they probably should opt to NOT get a trampoline.

I'm not a coddler but I do have to lay down guidelines with my daredevil on all recreational equipment. I've caught her thinking of ways to ride her skate board down a big hill in our neighborhood and sketching out a ramp so she could jump her bike. She also got a week ban from the swing set at school because she was flipping out of the swing when it would swing forward (makes my blood cold to think about how that could have ended). The tramp is the same way. Very defined rules and parental supervision is necessary for the daredevil children. NO TRICKS!

 

[wnl256]

Well, DUH! You mean my kindergarten child shouldn't ride their bike on the trampoline???? *smacks forehead*

"But Mommy.... you never said I couldn't!"

We have a trampoline. Purchased before DD got deeply involved in gymnastics. It's for recreational purposes, not for practicing skills. Does she still do back handsprings on it? Sure.

 

[iwannacoach]

Well, DUH! You mean my kindergarten child shouldn't ride their bike on the trampoline???? *smacks forehead*

Parental supervision based on trampoline "don'ts" will only work as often as you are there to say don't, and can use common sense to limit the trampoline use to bouncing, camping, rafting the high seas, and other fun that doesn't include jumping.

I think a good guideline offer to parents that makes a trampoline as safe as possible, other than burying it, is to think back through your own lifetime to recall every childhood accident you experience first hand, saw happen, or heard retold. Add 30 inches of height to recognize the height of the trampoline, then add another 30 inches for the height for a common bounce. Take a mental moment to add the 30 to 60 inches fall to each of the accidents you've had, seen, or heard of throughout your life and cringe at the thought.

That, and imagining a trampoline as an intoxicant is the approach you should take while supervising these backyard trampolines.

 

[xpink-princessx]

Yes we do but only for bouncing
My daughter wanted to do trampoline lessons so I spoke to her coach who said no don't do it as the timings and landings are different and will mess up her gymnastics and make it harder x

 

[Rapunzel]

Biggest lesson for my 2 was snapping my ligaments and over extending my Achilles' tendon and spending a month on crutches/3months physio after a few minutes on the garden trampoline. They know - one child at a time, just jump and don't put anything on it! (And they don't ask me on anymore)

 

[juststartingout]

We have a trampoline, we bought it long before we had a gymnast. My daughter uses it for her jumps and more basic tumbling. We also have a built in pool so my kids are never in the yard unattended, there is always an adult out there making sure they don't do anything they shouldn't. They like to jump till they are nice and sweaty and then jump in the pool. Whatever you do if you get a trampoline make sure it has a good safety net. My sister's dog ate their trampoline net and she still lets her kids jump and flip on the trampoline. It makes me a nervous wreck and whenever we are there I have to be the bad guy and tell my kids they can't get on. That is one reason there is so many injuries on trampolines. Oh by the way one of the little girls in my daughters training group (7yo) fractured her growth plate handspringing on the trampoline in the gym under a coaches supervision, so it can happen anywhere.

 

[raenndrops]

put the trampoline IN the inground pool... have cross braces to keep the legs locked out... fill remaining area inside the pool with soft fluff (under the tramp about 1/2 the depth of the tramp height) and padding- nice thck L3 vault stack type... fill the area outside the trampoline with more padding - 30 feet on all sides should be good (dig down 1-2 feet and fill the padding to ground level). Then allow light bouncing only... one at a time... in the very center of the tramp... with adult supervision. Bonus is much less grass to mow

 

[iwannacoach]

put the trampoline IN the inground pool... have cross braces to keep the legs locked out... fill remaining area inside the pool with soft fluff (under the tramp about 1/2 the depth of the tramp height) and padding- nice thck L3 vault stack type... fill the area outside the trampoline with more padding - 30 feet on all sides should be good (dig down 1-2 feet and fill the padding to ground level). Then allow light bouncing only... one at a time... in the very center of the tramp... with adult supervision. Bonus is much less grass to mow

Also known as "How to enshrine futility"......

By golly raenndrops!! I think you just nailed it in epic style.

 

[Dr Maleficent]

@ Raenndrops - You forgot "first put the child in at least 5 layers of cotton wool, layered over wrist braces, ankle braces, a crash helmet, a back support and one of those sumo-wrestling inflatable thingys. Ensure that no part of the child can bend. Keep all sharp objects over 1 mile from trampoline. Also ensure child is kept over 1 mile from trampoline, in opposite direction from the sharp objects. In fact, ensure child never leaves house, that no large trees surround house, that house is nowhere near a busy road, that electricity supply to house is cut off, that all use of taps is supervised at all times....."

Seriously though, I am all for safety nets - use of a trampoline without these is just unnecessarily dangerous - gymmie kids do loads of dangerous stuff and there is no need to enhance the danger. As with all these things a bit of common sense goes a along way....

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I wrote a blog post on this a couple years back: http://apextechcorner.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/gymnastics-at-home-part-1/

 

[Gymsanity]

I wrote a blog post on this a couple years back: http://apextechcorner.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/gymnastics-at-home-part-1/

Enjoyed that, along with several other blogs of yours. You are very well written.