1. Manufacturer
If you buy a trampoline, you can expect a card that they suggest you attach to your trampoline with several warnings on it, such as only one person on it at a time, make sure an adult inspects it before every use and make sure that adult is mature.

Here is my favorite statement on this card:

Always make sure you land no more than one foot away from the cross-marked center of the jump mat. If you find yourself off center, “Stop the jump”*

I can imagine an overly jittery Dad panicking when his 8 year old daughter steps TWO feet from the center. “FLING YOURSELF DOWN!”

2.  The American Academy of Pediatrics have a slightly more extreme take on the subject:

Adult supervision will not adequately prevent injuries on home trampolines. Trampolines should be used only in supervised training programs for gymnastics, diving or other competitive sports. A professional trained in trampoline safety always should supervise the use of trampolines.

Don’t risk it! Find out if your children’s friends have trampolines before sending them over to play. Children and teenagers should never use trampolines at their home or another person’s home, in routine gym classes or on the playground!

Seriously, have nothing to do with someone who owns a trampoline. You don’t want that kind of influence on your kids! Those parents hope your kid breaks his neck. Don’t ask why, they just don’t like you for some reason.


Okay, I added that last paragraph.

3. Or you could just do what the Jamsco Household does.

. . . not perfectly in the center

. . . and I don\'t see a trained monitor . . .

nor does this look like a \'supervised training excersize\'

We are heading out later to Historic Fort Snelling as a part of the 150 year of Minnesota Statehood commemoration. Happy Memorial Day!

* Yes, complete with wrongly placed double quotation marks. I love those!