We’ve all heard the warnings about how dangerous trampolines are for kids. I remember growing up, my pediatrician knew that my family had a trampoline. Every time one of us kids had to go to the doctor, he’d look my mom in the eye and ask, “Still have that death trap in your backyard?”
Unfortunately, trampolines are dangerous for the very reason they’re fun: The forces and movements that make trampolines the spring boards that they are, are the same forces and movements the lead to unique injuries and/or patterns for injury.
Yet, people still own them, and indoor trampoline parks are rapidly popping up across the country.
One mother this week has a desperate plea for parents considering a “fun” afternoon at the trampoline park, after learning that “toddler time” is NOT all that it’s cracked up to be.
As Kait Ellen detailed in a Facebook warning this week:
“We feel compelled to make other parents aware of the danger associated with indoor trampoline parks. “
While jumping in a different square than his parents at the trampoline park, 3-year-old Colton fell and broke his femur—the strongest bone in his tiny little body.
“Come to find out, according to the America Academy of Pediatrics and the America Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons ‘children under the age of 6 should never use a trampoline.’ This is due to the fact that their fragile bones are not meant to withstand the repetitive pressure from jumping.”
The trampoline park has no warnings for kids under six, and in fact promotes just the opposite—“toddler time”—which is designed specifically for you guessed it: TODDLERS.