Everyone who loves to have fun knows how cool a trampoline is to jump on. No matter if you are at an amusement park, event or in the backyard, soaring up in the air with family and friends in an amazing thing to experience. Best thing about this is that when you land, you have a soft surface to support you so you know you’re safe doing your flips and tricks.
But sadly, this feeling of safety doesn’t necessarily apply to all of us. In particular, young kids.
It’s a harmless mistake, letting your child bounce on a trampoline, it seems like something fun that most little kids do. However, in reality, it could be extremely dangerous for your kids. A perfect example of the real-life dangers of trampolines is three-year-old Colton, whose mom took to Facebook to tell his sad story.
Mom Kait writes:
As hard as it is to relive the past 12 days, we feel compelled to make other parents aware of the danger associated with indoor trampoline parks.
Colton fell and broke his femur, the strongest bone in his body, while innocently jumping alongside his dad and I.
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. We had no idea and were shocked to find this out from our pediatric orthopedic surgeon during Colton’s hospital stay.
Our lives have been turned upside down since Colton’s accident and every day is a struggle for his sweet 3-year-old self as he adjusts to life in a hip spica cast for the next 6 weeks.
We share this with you today to spread awareness that these facilities are specifically advertising for Toddler Time, when in fact toddlers should be nowhere near trampolines.
We hope by sharing his story it will prevent a child and their family from experiencing the trauma and heartbreak associated with trampoline injuries in young children. Please help us by sharing this story!
As unfortunate as Colton’s injury was, it was kind of this mom to share his story with other parents. While you might look at an isolated trampoline in a backyard (especially one without a netting around it) and see something that could be dangerous for a young child, trampoline parks seem like they would be less difficult to fall and get injured in.
However, as Kait mentions in her Facebook post, Colton didn’t fall and break his leg – simply the repetitive pressure from jumping up and down was enough to break the strongest bone in this toddlers’ body.
Kait has since updated her status to include the following sentiment:
*UPDATE: We are overwhelmed by the love and support from everyone. We did want to make one thing clear…we were NOT bouncing in the same square as Colton when the injury occurred. We were in the squares right next to him.*
Parents, take note of the dangers of this “harmless” activity and make sure to keep your kids off trampolines until age 6. For more information from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, check out this statement.
