Please Help Us! Play Fort vs. Trampoline
Monday, January 7, 2008
So now that spring is just around the corner (and the backyard is finally finished), we are debating what we should put in our backyard for the kids to play on. The two big options are a Play Fort or a Trampoline. We can see different advantages to both, but we wonder which the kids would play on/with the most.
Does anyone have one or both and how do your kids do with either? Even if you don't have either, what would you do?
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10 comments:
i vote for the play fort. we have one one & it's used a ton! expect trips to the er with a tramp even with the safety nets. jmo! :)
I vote trampoline!
Not because I have one now (my yards not big enough!), but I did as a child and we LOVED it. Your children could easily get their excercise daily and from what I can remember as a child it never got old. I have many friends who have trampolines with the safety nets and their kids jump on them every day (or so they say). No injuries yet, but they are firm believers that if you monitor the number of kids allowed on it then it will be a safer environment.
Hope this helps!!
Shannon has both and they definitely use the trampoline more. As the kids have gotten older, the swing set (slide) has become more of an apparatus on which to build contraptions. While there is nothing wrong with that, if you have it for exercise, it might miss the mark. Older kids and younger kids both enjoy the tramp so as your kids grow, it will still be useful. And I am not quite sure, but so far, I don't think Shannon has had her kids at the ER for any trampoline related injuries and they got it a year ago. Miss you guys, your Christmas card was lovely.
Go for the trampoline, they can play "fort" in their play room. :)
oh, and the harts have both too. Same story.
Hey Lisa,
Cute blog!!! It's so fun to see your family - it's been FOREVER since I've even seen you! You can check out my blog too at: http://liferachel.blogspot.com/ I added you to my blog friends list!
I vote fort - my dad never let us have a tramp because of all the ER visits he saw with kids having injuries on them. I know, you could fall off a fort and have just as many injuries, but that's just how I grew up, so it has stuck with me. BTW, my kids would love a tramp, but meany mom says "no".
Wow! Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Our backyard isn't very big so having both isn't really a reasonable option - unless we completely cover the new grass we just put it.
Another question...would any of you refuse to let your kids jump on the tramp if your neighbors had one? We don't want to alienate the new neighbors!
Ezra and Lisa
As someone who DID break my arm on our trampoline as a child, I still bought one for my kids. It gets far more use then the playstructure (Nate and his friends are the most frequent users of the trampoline and I haven't seen him on the swing set in months) and although there are minor injuries (bonked heads) the kids are always quick to get back on.
Brent was TOTALLY hesistant to get a trampoline. To help my cause, I asked Debbie Clark (x-ray technician) if she saw lots of trampoline injuries, and she said by far the most broken bones come from kids falling off the monkey bars at school. You can't prevent your kids from every possible danger - hey, we used to drive in cars without seatbelts and we survived! And some of my most favorite memories are of summer night sleepovers on the trampoline. I haven't figured out how to make that work with the police helicopters that patrol Lakewood Blvd, but hopefully at some time we'll live somewhere where we can let the kids do that.
And I'd never refuse to let my kids jump on a neighbors trampoline. They might even thank you for providing one for their kids without having to buy one themselves! As a kid, our house always had all the neighborhood kids over because we had all the fun stuff. I'm still trying to figure out how we can get a pool and pinball machine to work in our house!!
Trampoline for sure, they are good for business.
Patrick
Familiy Orthopedist in Az
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