Trampolines

I bought the 12 foot at walmart which sounds like what you are buying.
After 2 years and 3 months, the mat around the edge has disinegrated and we have to get a new one. Also, several springs are broken. The net ripped in many places, but we bougt cable ties and hooked it back together.

If we had the money back then, I would have bought the one that Costco sells for $900 that has no springs. Two of my neighbors have had them for over 5 years and they look brand new. They have white bent poles holding up the net. Rainbow used to sell them.

One kid at a time please...I broke a bone on a trampoline with multiple kids jumping at once...so one at a time...

This is my absolute FAVORITE tramp site http://www.trampolinesafety.com/

They build them, jump them, rate them, crash test them... and have dozens of tips and tricks for maintenance and overall safety. We're saving up for the AlleyOop VariableBounce, which is their #2 rated trampoline.

Oh go for it!!! we had sooo much fun on ours! we used to put a sprinkler under it and water jump, slept on it in the summer (not so safe any more...) all our friends used to use it... for everyone telling you it's not safe, or telling you of people who got injured, just think of how many kids get hurt at playgrounds or on swing sets? as long as they don't rough house (too much) and you are supervising them, let them go to town! When my little cousin was 3, I watched him every day, and he used to LOVE jumping on it with me... as long as I was gentle he had a blast... We used to have about 6 kids at a time on our friends, and never had ANY serious injuries. I think the worst one was when my little brother pinched his foot in a spring, but all that needed was a band-aid. No safety net, and no spring covers (for over 10 years they have been the "neighborhood play place" with all the kids playing on it, and still no injuries) Heck, that's how we met them. We wanted to play on it when we were new to the neighborhood, so my mom went and met the family, then took us over for a play date. We are all still great friends.. Not to mention, it's great exercise! If you are worried about other kids getting injured and getting sued, you could write up a permission form stating that kids will jump AT THEIR OWN RISK and make sure their parents sign it before you allow them to jump. Just to cover your butt. lol.

I loved my trampoline as a child -with absolutely NO safety guards whatsoever -and my kids love them now. I think all of the new ones have the safety net guards and the springs are on the outside. My parents got one for their yard for my oldest a few years ago, and now we're moving it up to our house. My oldest likes them pretty well, but my youngest is a jumping NUT! I certainly don't think they're any more dangerous than bikes, skateboards, jumping out of swings or climbing trees -all of which I heartily encourage. I'm definitely NOT one of the "safety police" mothers though -I believe in common sense and having a few scars to talk about when you reach adulthood.

As far as the pool -our pool growing up wasn't near the trampoline, and I LONGED for it to be! I knew that would be great fun! However, now it's a non-issue for you, because they can't jump over or through the safety netting to try and get to the pool.

Just make sure that big kids don't jump with little kids. This drives me crazy-my neighbors all let this go on and all it takes is one of those 150 lb 8th graders accidently falling on top of a 4 year old for a tragedy to occur.

Make sure your home owners insurance covers it. It will most likely go up if they do.
My daughter broke her leg on the next door neighbors tramp this summer. And the girl 2 doors down broke her arm on hers, so bad she had to have 2 surgeries.
My cousins child broke her arm on a neighbors and their medical insurance wouldnt cover it and told them to go straight after the neighbors home owners insurance company. Luckily we had heard this story and all the problems it caused in the neighborhood so we didnt tell our dr's whose house it happened at, we just said it happened on the trampoline, so there were no further questions asked. As far as we know our insurance covered it, but I was sweatin bullets for awhile worried about it starting a neighborhood fight.

I am going to assume you googled safety issues with trampolines and have read the story of the mom who was standing by the trampoline and heard her son's neck break as he died. I am going to assume you have read the American Pediatrics Association reports that say home trampolines are the cause of over 100,000 injuries to kids and teens each year and they would like to ban selling them to individuals. I am also going to assume you have called your home insurance to find out how much your insurance will go up with a trampoline on the property, or if they even allow one at all.

The nets can cause teeth to be yanked out, fingers to be broken, all kinds of pull injuries to appendages that get caught, the nets are not safe, they are more dangerous than not having a surround at all.

If you do decide to have one then always make sure the kids only jump up and down, no tricks whatsoever. it only takes them turning their head one way or another. It only takes 1 fall to break a leg, or the trampoline cover to bounce against the bottom of their foot wrong to break the growth plate into pieces.

Just keep googling trampolines and trust your heart.

Well we had a trampoline for our twin girls when they were 6 or 7.....they NEVER use it!!!! It was a total waste of time and money to get the darn thing! They always complained they were too hot which might have been the case during summer but it just didn't get used as much as we thought......also supposedly you are supposed to report it to your home owners insurance and I heard it does make the rate increase. We never personally did report it and I don't know how true that is. Another thing to consider is just because an adult is outside supervising doesn't prevent a child from falling and hurting themselves and hopefully it wouldn't be serious but if it happened be prepared to get slapped with a lawsuit. It doesn't matter if you got permission from the parent or not-honestly get it in writing not that would escape you from a lawsuit but if you say "well the parent told me they could" its their word against yours. If you already have the pool then the concern of insurance may not bother you and you might already have that "rule" in place but it doesn't protect you from a lawsuit......just my two cents. Good luck in your decision. I never allowed ANY neighborhood kids on our trampoline regardless. Sometimes I would have to call my kids back inside to get some kids to go home and go away because their mother doesn't give two craps where they are or what they are doing...but you better believe if her kids got hurt on MY property I would have a lawsuit on my hands. Don't think "Oh they won't be that type to do something like that to us" don't be so niave about it....its different when someone actually gets hurt-then its always a different tune.

We had one also; they were on that thing every day! Yes mom was on it too. Great exercise!!! No problems, but a lot of rules. Only limited of 2 children at a time, parent supervision at all times, and we bought a cover for ours. We also took it apart and stored over the winter. Be warned - neighborhood children will be asking to come over. And my dog used it as a sun shade in the summer!!

A friend of our au pair is an au pair for 6 kids- they have a huge trampoline. She (at 19 yrs old) was bouncing with one of the boys (10 yr old I think) and they clocked heads. Both got concussions and the au pair was puking and couldn't drive for over a week....just something to consider when you say you want one that more than 1 person can jump on at a time -- maybe consider a 1 person at a time rule with a timer or time limit. I wouldn't advise against them altogether because we used to play on one when we were kids and it was fun :)

I have no opinion either way but I suggest you check with your insurance company. I know some will increase your rate.

We had one growing up, and loved it - no safety net either. I did get seriously injured on it doing a double front flip. I was a gymnast, so I was trying the outrageous tricks. I landed on my neck and messed up my back. That was the only major incident in the 15 years we had it. Yes we occassionally fell off, but no real harm came to us. One thing my mom did though was made every parent of our friends sign a release form. Not that it probably would have held up in court, but it at least let the parents know that their child was jumping at their own risk. We had one parent that wouldn't sign it so her daughter didn't get to jump on it. Just something to consider if your kids friends are going to be over jumping on it. Over all though, it was a tremendous help for my gymnastics and cheerleading skills!

We have one and my kids love it! and so do I :) it's great exercise! We have the safety net and a stool so its easy to get on and off. We've set the rules from day one and have had only minor injuries. It's a great way to jump off some energy! We put it in the shop in the winter and they occasionally will go out there and jump if they need to get out of the house. We lay under the stars, make objects out of the clouds, have picnics and sometimes we even jump!!
When we were kids our neighbors had a trampoline and we'd go over daily and jump. No safety nets and yes, we all had our turn at falling off. But if I remember correctly there was only one broken bone.

there's not a toy out there that can't injure SOMEONE, SOMEHOW, kids are going to get cuts and bruises, ache's and pain's.

go for the trampoline, i would't worry about a protective netting, either, myabe a pad to keep the kids from getting severly pinched by the springs, but my brother and i had one, jumped off it all the time, he even used to climb up onto the roof and jump from there (dangerous-but fun)

i like the "jump at own risk" permission slip idea....that way someone can't be so quick to sue you and people create injuries JUST for the money.

We have one and my kids LOVE it. We have had it for 4 years now. We got the 15ft one from BJ's with the netting and the mat over the springs that are on the outside of the netting. It can still be something to worry about, but of course the kids are never on it when an adult is not with them. They have SO much fun on it. More often then not that play games like duck duck goose on there. The little bounce just makes it more fun. Yes, if your child is going buck wild they may get hurt, so use your best judgement :).

BTW - my parents did not let us have one growing up and I was on every friend's trampoline that I can think of!! IMO, I think it's better to let your kids experiment with things than to have them go out when you arent there and try them :).

Go for it! I didn't have any problem with insurance with ours. We demand a written note from any child who wants to jump stating that we are not held responsible fro injuries etc. signed by the parent. No child is allowed to jump when we (the adults) are not around. The children only jump when my children are jumping, it helps with 'rules'. we have no more than 2 kids on it at once, of course common sense rules which sounds like you are ready for. One caution, when the kids get older the safety net is more dangerous, we didn't have any problems but I have seen kids actually get caught in the net or the top of the net (frame).

Have fun! It is great excercise for all of you! :)

my daughter had one for a couple years. she loved it, and never "really" got hurt........ but i swear every time she jumped on it i heard some bone crack or pop! LOL it scared me.

I haven't read through the other responses, but after careful consideration, we too, purchased a trampoline for our kids (& husband :)
We purchased the 14' one with the safety net from Sam's Club. My husband and 2 daughters (6,3) jumped just about every day, all summer long. There was never an injury and it never tipped over with all the jumping and flips. There obviously has to be rules that the kiddos follow, which sounds like you already have, so get one, enjoy, and happy jumping!

We had one growing up and my parents were really strict about limiting the number of people on it at a time and we weren't allowed on it when they weren't home (we were in middle school when they bought it). It was fun, but I would be a little nervous with a small child!

I won't let Emily get one because of all the horror stories I've heard. But then again, I'm on the paranoid side.. haha..
How about a blow up bounce house instead? As you know, thats what we have....and thats all they're gettin outta me! lol
I agree about the insurance thing, check with them first. My insurance company did ask if we had one during the list of questions when i recently had them rewrite the policy for a better rate...
:)

My 12 yo daughter seriously sprained her ankle jumping on the trampoline with adult supervision. The doctor suggested that only one child at a time should do high jumps on the trampoline. What happened is that several kids were jumping and so the trampoline wasn't appropriately responsive to her coming down on it. Her foot landed off balance and over she went on the ankle.

We kept the trampoline after that but limited it's use to one child at a time.

If two people are going to jump on it, and I think under controlled conditions that is OK. Only 2. They need to be close to the same size. When on is heavier the bed dips further down and the lighter one can slide into the larger one.

I think that with small children doing small jumps having more than one on it at a time would be OK. Be sure that they're B. foot so that their feet don't slide. Some kids want to wear socks and that was not allowed.

HI there I bought a great 15 foot round from walmart (Sky-something) for ~300$ this summer. It takes time to put it together and it comes with a net. It was fabulous.... My son is also 5 and he has a ball with it....

I would say as long as there is adult supervision and you lay down the rules then a trampoline is no more dangerous than riding a bike or climbing a tree or anything else kids do!

Getting some safety rules is a great idea. Big kids should not jump with little kids, no more than a few kids at a time and I would not allow flips. Most kids don't know how to flip so they do it wrong and end up flipping OFF the trampoline, landing on their neck or spraining a wrist or ankle. It's common for kids to want to put their hand in back when coming out of a front flip and that can seriously break a wrist or elbow! Especially if there are other kids jumping at the same time. The other bad thing about flips is if they ever want to get into gymnastics they have to re-learn how to do it correctly. There are a lot of kids who come into our gymnastics classes who think they can do flips because they have a trampoline and they end up having a harder time re-learning how to do it.

Trampolines can be great for releasing energy! Just be safe. If you watch American's Funniest Home Videos, there are tons of them that start with a trampoline! There's a reason for that!

I'm an insurance agent in AZ. Most insurance companies will not issue a home insurance policy if there is a trampoline. The reason is all the neighborhood kids that go over and use it, get hurt, then the parents sue you! Don't ever think your friends/family won't sue you...I can tell you stories! Anyway, check with your insurance company and see what they say. Good luck!