Moms with trampolines for your lo's... a question

[GG]

I read in a couple of threads that some of you have a trampoline for your lo's as a way of letting off some energy and I thought it was a great idea. I suggested it to my mom, who found one for ds for his b-day. Here's the question:

Are you ALWAYS with your lo's while they jump? Do you hold their hand? How do you ensure that they don't go flying off?    DS will be turning 3 but dd is 21 mo. There's no way I can keep her off if her big brother is jumping so I'll have to be doubly careful with her.

Please help me figure this out!  TIA!

[Deb_in_oz]

we have a big one with no enclosure/netting. we have had it since alex was about 2 or so.  When they were younger we were always there with them and just "spotted" them - especially Olivia.  we always reminded them (over and over while they were on it) to stay on the black part (the mat) and not to ever go on the blue pads (the outer edge is fully covered in pads).  we woudl shout out "back to the middle" etc.

now at 3 and 4 1/2 they are totally unsupervised (please no one comment on this as they are able to climb on and off it easily as dh dug a trench so it is lower to the ground) and i think i hear them on it now in the backyard.  Friends's kids as young as a year old bounce on it all the time and everyone who has space goes out and gets one - a great investment and a great energy burner.

with your 2 they could take turns or what we did was sometimes one woudl stand and bounce while the other sat and got bounced up and down that way. they can hold hands and do little jumps together etc - it is a great activity to do together and as long as you are there i believe it to be safe (i know there are VERY mixed opinions on the safety of trampolines)

[jennyh]

we have just gone from the baby ones with a handle,to a one like debra`s.
we do have a net that zips,we have black matting underneath too.my 2 dd`s love it ,but i make sure i am there when dd2 is on it.
certainly gets rid of excess energy!

[Caroline-Charlies Mummy]

We have this one, usually in the living room b/c of our lovely weather here .

Tbh, at the age ds was when we bought it (2nd birthday) I wouldn't have been happy with one w/o the safety net. He's a typical rambunctious boy, and throws himself around in it, so I could see many, many injuries happening w/o that net to stop him. Also, he's not allowed on it w/o someone in the room, and someone needs to be there to do the clip and the velcro on the net.

Other than that, we've found it fantastic - a real life saver on windy/wet days to get some excersize and burn off some energy. It's also GREAT fun. The good thing about being in the living room is that we'll put one of the music channels on and dance/bounce around like lunatics - getting excersize w/o even noticing

[KathyM]

We have this one in our playroom:

kid trampoline

It's been great and my ds loves it. My dd even tries to climb on and jump. My ds I let jump unsupervised, but obviously not my dd.

[em_here]

Hi there, we have a tigger one which is pretty small with a handle to hold onto to bounce on.  Jack loves it and has played safely on it since Christmas 2007 when he was 18 months old, it is a very low trampoline, and he has always played on it, on the grass independantly.  He hasnt ever fell as yet (knocking on wood!) hth, we got it from ASDA, have no clue where you could get one from though xxxxx

[GG]

Okay, so in my naivety I bought a regular one with no nets and nothing to hold on to.   That's why I was wondering how the lo's do it without bouncing off. *LOL* (laughing at myself there) DS loves to jump in his crib (hasn't been transitioned to a bed yet), which is good because he can go bouncing around when it's closed and I have no worries!

Maybe I should return this one (or use it for myself ) and look into one of the others. I've only ever seen KathyM's version, though. Maybe I can find the surrounding net attachment sold separately. Hmmm... that's an idea.

 

Thank you SO much ladies!!

[Deb_in_oz]

Georgia i don't think you were naive and i think you will be fine.  he is almost 3 and trust me soon he will be hopping on it and then doing bouncing tricks etc (he woudl outgrow the individual ones).  those are great for when they are younger or for places with bad weather as they can go in a house and on a rainy day you need soemthing to burn off the energy even more.  i think you can buy net enclosures from sports suppliers independent of the trampoline.

 My friend who has a big round tramp with an enclosure told me that she did not think she was better off/safer than me because until they are older (her kids are now 6 and 10) you have to supervise the net one too since you can get a false sense of security.  she warned me that if the net is not closed properly (need adult to come out and set it securely and such) a kid can go through there when bouncing around.  so they both have pros and cons and levels of supervision required when kids are younger but at 3+ i think you will soon find he is ok on his own and in the  meantime you will be supervising Lena primarily and him as well.  your kids are close in age like mine - they will have a ball on there together for many years to come - and with the big one you can get oon too.  dh used to go on with both girls when they were Foti and Lena's ages (great exercise) and they woudl lay down and he woudl jump up and down.

[GG]

and with the big one you can get oon too.  dh used to go on with both girls when they were Foti and Lena's ages (great exercise) and they woudl lay down and he woudl jump up and down.

Well, I can't really buy a big one. My sister has been pestering me for a couple of years to buy a big trampoline since we have such a large backyard but I've been nixing the idea and I've told her I will NEVER buy one of them.   Think I may be eating my words one day? *LOL*  (btw, are they easy to put away because, considering the amount of snow we've gotten this year, I don't know if it would last very long out there).

[Deb_in_oz]

do you have a garage? when we moved up to brisbane we rented a townhouse for 6 months with no backyard (but a big tandem garage LOL) so we just had it on its side against the wall.  when dh woudl mow the lawn in sydney we just lifted it and moved it elsewhere - it is a 2 person job  but easy enough. and if you were putting it away for all winter you could remove the legs so they dont even stick out in the garage etc.