Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Urban Jungle ... Urban Trampoline?

By Jane Bracken

As adults we all have fond childhood memories. A large portion have one in common, and that is spending endless hours bouncing along on the trampoline. Some of us had a huge trampoline that all the neighborhood kids would come and jump on that was just perfect. But then again, was it really perfect?

Now as the adult you must consider a lot of things when you decide you want your family to enjoy a trampoline as well. When you look into the urban trampolines you have to factor in your income, your room, and what size you really think is best for your family.

Ask any kid, bigger is better. They want to bounce the highest, and the more trampoline there is under their feet, the higher they go. Ask most protective parents, and trampolines are bad. So what really is the right size for a child?

In most cases, I agree with the kids. The one exception is that very young children should not be on trampolines at all. As they get older, they can handle it as long as there is a net to protect them from falling off. The problem is that the net costs almost as much as a trampoline!

So you may think the solution to the urban trampoline fiasco is to wait till the children get older and buy a smaller trampoline so they can avoid collision injuries and falling off. Kids would seem safer jumping solo on a trampoline as to having multiple on it at the same time.

WRONG! I tried it! My kids scream and kick and fight, and I've tended more bumps and scrapes from them shoving each other off the small trampoline than I have from most other sports injuries combined. If they could jump together, chances are they'd bump, but no one would be angry about it.

So do not fear the flaws in trampolines, instead find a way around them. A big trampoline provides adequate jumping room along with the sturdiest and most stable base. This means it will not collapse as easily as a tiny trampoline. An added bonus to larger trampolines is the net. This protects all of the children no matter how big from flying off of the side.

Instead of chaos to get onto the trampoline, the net practically acts like a fence in case you have large numbers of children who want to jump. Send them in as groups and relax as your kids have fun on an urban trampoline; something that you fondly remember as a favorite childhood memory. - 15438

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