This Leads to Many Emergency Room Visits

For years the American Academy of Pediatrics has advised against using them. I can't even imagine how insurance companies react to them. Yet I am also guilty of having put my kids and their friends in the path of peril.

Trampolines. Many families have one in their backyard despite the fact they lead to an estimated 90,000 emergency room trips each year, according to a report in the Star Tribune. It was nearly 20 years ago that the warning came out.

Personally, we have had two over the years and never had a significant mishap that led to an injury. The first one wore out. The second got blown into our neighbor's deck and got destroyed. We took that as a message that we should be done with trampolines.

Our daughter broke her arm in grade school falling off her friend's jungle gym. Our son suffered a broken toe in Tae Kwon Do. But we made it through the trampoline years uneventfully.

We did not follow the safety recommendations too well, either. We allowed multiple jumpers. In fact, the kids loved it when bigger jumpers, like their dad, would catapult them super high. You shouldn't do flips. Oops. We allowed that too. At least we put up a net around the outside of the trampoline.

Please use caution with these and other potentially dangerous games and activities. Plus adult supervision is always a good idea.

Read this too: Hy-Vee Foods makes a voluntary recall of a spring pasta salad.

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