Archived Forums

Well it's rated red for my child with a bleeding disorder, also at the same red level: bmx racing, boxing, competitive diving, football, all sorts of hockey, lacrosse, power lifting, motorcycling, motor cross, rock climbing, rodeo, rugby, scooter, snow mobiling, weight lifting, wrestling. Would you put your child on a rodeo horse? Yet everyone appears to think that trampolining is quite safe.

Truthfully, yes my child has ridden a mechanical bull (Very proud mummy) and ridden numerous ponies (not all well behaved) but no I will not send him trampolining. It's not just the trampoline parks themselves, it's the behaviour of some of the thuggish children who do not abide by the rules.

Both mine have been trampolining, mainly on a domestic trampoline that was going cheap when Woolworths closed down. But younger one did go to a trampoline park once, and chose his trampoline carefully to avoid the nuisances. Eldest rode on a mechanical rodeo horse at a fair. Both have had football, and rugby at school regularly. And last week they went sledging. So far both are still in one piece. But then neither of mine has a bleeding disorder, that would be a game changer I think.

To be honest I never realised how dangerous trampolining is until I adopted that child and injuries need to be prevented. It is not about the fact that children can not jump, most will be fine. It was my own amazement that for example boxing is as dangerous or rodeo (what's a form of animal abuse in my books) as jumping on a trampoline. It is a game changer as the concequence of poor decisions can result in lifelong disability or worse. Think of internal bleeds in the brain, abdomen etc. A plaster is no good there :-$

So he swims that's safe and sails in the summer and is cross he has to wear a helmet with sailing. Than shows me a dent in the helmet! no nothing will ever happen silly boy, you don't need a helmet :-/

And I am still waiting for a list with how to make the smileys (or better a pop up smiley menu so I can properly choose not guess) as they're not 100% what I invisioned.

We have lots of people do sailing around here and I have never noticed a helmet !! (maybe its under the rain hoods (west coast Scotland does rain a lot) but I never noticed any helmets in the Lake District last year either. Maybe I'm just lacking in observation. it was the rugby that worried me,especially eldest as he played for an external team. But he loved it and it helped him a lot in his teen years in other ways. He's a big built lad and very strong but eventually he gave it up himself as various minor injuries were causing him to be absent too much from school and he wanted to do well in his exams. Youngest in not keen on rugby, but (like most boys in Scotland) loves football which at his level is not dangerous. There has been debate here about banning heading the ball, but at school level I have never seen the ball go above foot level much. Its a heavy ball and kids ca'nt really get it in the air easily. The rodeo we saw was a mechanical one, I trampolined when I was in guides and loved it. Sensibly done (we were trained and supervised by a qualified instructor) it is not dangerous if reasonably fit. And home trampolines usually have a guard on them. I think the big centres might be more vulnerable but depends on the age and size and vulnerability of the child I did post a list a while back on how to do some of the smileys but its probably lost way back in the archives !

No pingu it's rare to wear a helmet when sailing but when you have a bleeding disorder you better do as you can get a bleed in the brain if the gig hits your head hard. My son had a dent in his helmet, obviously he's a bit slow to react at times..... Bleeding disorder means that his blood is very slow to cloth and the crust stays weak and comes off easily. That's on the outside, inside bleeds are more serious as they don't stop either without intervention. He can for example hurt his ankle and that's it you think, well it can be sort of oke for a few hours than it start to swell and becomes very painfull as bleed start to fill up inside his ankle very slowly. Obviously pressure builds up and he needs extra factor. If this happens in his head it's very serious for obvious reasons. The child self thinks helmets are a waist of time, nobody wears them etc, etc, the usual teenage stuff.

I understand now, thanks Pluto. I do know about bleeding disorders as I was a nurse when I was younger, but I didn't realise your son wore a helmet when sailing for that reason. It's obviously essential in his case. I totally get the teenage stuff, last weeks snow finally convinced my 14 yr old that mum was right about wearing a hat in winter.! Best Wishes Pingu

We had my DD’s last birthday party at a trampoline centre with 20 of her friends. They do seem to bring out the inner thug in some children. My son was punched in the face by an older boy who thought he was in the way. It was the party event of the year as far as they were concerned and there has been four others from DDs class there since. When we were in placement, a SW came to see the children and caught sight of a large picture on the wall I took of the family on the London Eye. She was horrified and asked if I had contacted her department to have a risk assessment carried out beforehand. I thought I had better not let her into the dining room where the wall art featured a picture of my son and daughter flying over Ben Nevis in my aeroplane.

I put my son on my pony a few weeks into placement, he fell off and broke his leg! What a stupid sw, you can't jump out of the London eye, even if you tried? can you? My sw did not blink an eyelid when his leg was in plaster, and he was no longer welcome in school because he hit children with the crutches, lol.

What a reaction to taking children on the London Eye! - not "how lovely for them what a great experience" - I've never been on myself (though my children have - with school - who would have done a risk assessment - though presumably that would be more about the journey and behaviour etc)

Thousands of people go on the London Eye every day. Only danger is from dying of boredom waiting in line! Was the sw thinking of Mount Everest?

I know, strange isn’t it. Our placing LA was big on risk assessments and H&S in general. They are from an area with a low number of children in care and adoption is a bit of an event for them. They have the space to do things other LAs would be far too busy to bother with. I wish I could tell you about the Irn Bru scandal but it’ll give away my identity if anyone from SS reads it. They had a great time on the London Eye and on the South Bank in general, there’s so much to do.

There's a lovely playground near the London Eye, lots to climb on and swing on. Probably more dangerous than actually going on the Eye though!

Did she think they might be afraid and of course not be able to get out? Or just going up to London seemed a big ask? And I suppose it depends as well how long the children had been with you. I do agree its strange though. We've been on the Eye. DH booked a pod for my 50th. I don't like heights and I wasn't sure how I would cope myself but as I thought it was more like looking out the window of a high building than anything more risky. I was also worried Dash would want the loo (even although of course I would make sure he'd 'been' beforehand....nerves made him want to wee when he was younger) But it was wonderful. And we didn't have to queue. But I wonder if it might be able to skip the queue if potential difficulties are explained in advance? Or if child has a yellow card.

Three months into placement by youngest, then 3, fell down the stairs and broke her collarbone. It was all pretty traumatic (for me, as much as her ;) ) - the fall was counted as unwitnessed and I was terrified that all three girls would be taken away. Anyway, talking about what she could and couldn't do after the accident I innocently asked when she'd be able to go on the trampoline again, which was all three girls absolute favourite thing to do. The A+E doctor told me in no uncertain terms just how dangerous she thought trampolines were. And over the course of the children's primary careers a high proportion of breaks and sprains that other children had were from trampoline accidents. Fortunately our children never had a trampoline accident (and, touch wood, have never broken another bone). And, despite the risks, in terms of hours of use, exercise value, de-stressing etc. that trampoline was by far the best play-thing we ever bought our children, and would be my top recommendation for people having children placed. (Different of course for children with some underlying medical condition which would make bleeding or broken bones a particular risk.)