jump around

As I begin this blog post, House of Pain’s Jump Around is in my head…but I digress…

Today’s safety topic is backyard trampolines. Recently I received a phone call from a mom who was trying to find a way to convince her husband that they didn’t need a trampoline in their backyard this summer.

While I’m generally not in the business of getting into marital “discussions,” this mother’s concerns were real. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates that in 2010 there were 92,159 hospital emergency room-treated injuries associated with trampolines. The risks are so great that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents never purchase a home trampoline or allow children to use home trampolines. I shared this information with that mother – I hope that it helped deter this particular purchase.

On the heels of this phone call, the CPSC then issued a recall regarding a backyard trampoline.

Why are trampolines so dangerous? They can be a huge fall hazard – which is a main reason that children become injured. In addition, many children (even when they are told not to) will jump with multiple kids on the trampoline – causing collisions and only increasing the chance for injury. Even the trampolines with “walls” are dangerous. As summer begins this would be one activity I would avoid.