[blindkid] never stands still

Sat Jun 12 10:27:09 UTC 2010

Richard,

The Reebok trampoline I have does have a handle and fabric over the metal springs.  I do not recommend getting the one for the adult.  Addie has gone through 3 of those before we found the one she has.  The handle is connected to one of the legs of the trampoline and in a few short month(s) the leg detaches from the base of the trampoline.  Very poorly made in my opinion.  If it is meant for a 300lb person and my 37lb daughter can destroy it and 2 others in no time, I would worry about your daughters safety.

Kathy

________________________________
From: Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sat, June 12, 2010 12:22:05 AM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still

Does the Reebok happen to have both a handle or net surround and traditional (metal) springs? There must be more around that are better built than I have found. Many of the trampolines for kids have some sort of bungee solution for the springs and those all give up after a while.

What I really want is basically what I have except with springs that hook to (or around with some sort of mount) the frame in a non-self-destructive way. I only went searching hard for a design with real springs that looked stronger once we broke our fourth unit with bungees (well, the first was really with elastic straps).

I have seen one unit on-line that is rated for a 300 pound adult and has a handle to hold as you jump, but none like what we have that is small with a surround that looks any stronger than ours. The nice thing with the surround netting is Kendra can be relatively safe jumping without holding a handle. It gives her more options and I suspect also helps develop more lateral stability and control than with having to hold onto a bar to jump (or risk flying off to one side).

Richard

On Jun 11, 2010, at 8:16 PM, Kathy B wrote:

> We got our trampoline from ToysRUs for about $60.00.  It's a Reebok.  The only problem we've had with it is my daughter jumps so hard we had to attach weights to it.  Once we did that it's been wonderful.
> 
> Kathy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Richard Holloway <rholloway at gopbc.org>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Fri, June 11, 2010 1:38:11 AM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still
> 
> Sure,
> 
> The best we've found so far (our fifth small trampoline) has been our Bazoongi 55" Junior Combo Trampoline with Teclon Pad. (That's the official name on the web site.) I mention this with some reservation because we have had some problems with it, but it  has been better than our first four... All of these small units seem to be within a foot or less from the floor.
> 
> It has steel springs which I thought would solve everything over our previous elastic and bungee "springs". Well, the springs mount into little slots in the frame. Jump enough and the edge of the punched slot and the hook of the spring rub one another. The holes get longer while the springs get thinner. After about six months, springs began to break. (The hook ends simply snap off.) They sent replacements but then I realized the frame was getting damaged (slots tearing to the center of the frame, my oversight-- could not see that before I took it apart to add the springs though). They sent a new frame but then I realized they sent the wrong frame (too small, their mistake). They sent another frame but then I realized we were short on springs from the first batch (also their mistake). Finally they sent 40 more springs and I replaced every one again. All this took several weeks and I expect to have springs failing again this fall sometime and suspect the
> frame could be getting unsafe a few months after that. People at Bazoongi were very nice and polite and all parts and shipping to date have been free but the hassle factor is still pretty high.
> 
> Bottom line is that any of these $100-range products simply seem not to be designed to last for a terribly long time.
> 
> The Intex Jump-O-Lene (I assume that's the one?) looks fun, but my first reaction is the sides look low enough that a jumper could vault over the side. Also, ultimately most of these blow-up units spring leaks and deflate. This becomes a huge pain, re-inflating over and again until the leaks are so fast that you can't use them anymore. Adult weight may also pop them if you have to crawl in to rescue a child with a "boo-boo", for example. Usually patch kits are included but these often fail to stop the leaks properly. The trampoline above has about 6 feet of surround netting so there's no chance of that, though you can fall out the door if the netting tears up or the "door" is not closed.
> 
> For something smaller than the Bazoongi we have, I'd probably look on their same page at the 48"  Bazoongi® Bouncer. (Comes in pink or orange camo.) This one is $100. (The next one up is only $7 more.) The key difference is that the 55" unit has no actual handle but tall sides with netting while the 48" has no surround netting but does have a padded, "inverted-U" handle. Smaller kids could probably do better with the handle, but if they do let go, there is no safety net so think of that when you set it up. All of these small units (like the 48" and the 55") seem to be within a foot or less from the floor. Carpet with a pad is better than a hard floor. Pillows around it might help, but put them out far enough to catch a rebounding child.
> 
> Here is the Bazoongi page:
> http://www.bazoongi.com/trampoline.htm
> 
> You could also go in the inflatable bounce house direction of you have enough space and can tolerate the noise of the blower. Honestly, I'd want a basement room to use these inside but they are great to softly stop a fall and the surround nets are strong. However they'd completely fill most of our living rooms, especially when you factor in the blower that has to run all the time it is up. Better for most of us to find outdoor space but then you have winter snow and summer mosquitos to factor in or whatever local frustrations mother nature will throw your way.
> 
> I hope that helps a bit.
> 
> If anyone else has some better recommendations, please jump in with them. I know of more durable solutions but they are in the larger trampoline and bounce house realm. They require a chunk of outdoor space and are from several hundred dollars to up in the $1000-plus range for even the lower end offerings in that arena.
> 
> Richard
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 10, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Heather wrote:
> 
>> Richard, this might be off topic, but since you brought it up, could you please recommend a good quality small toddler trampoline and then maybe one for slightly larger kids?  We baught Jeremy one when he out grew his baby jumper at around 12 months old, but the one we got was a pain to set up, has very little bounce, is very small considering the amount of space it takes up and is already showing signs of ware and tare and Jeremy only jumps about thirty to forty minutes a day.  It's funny that you mention all that your daughter does on hers.  Jeremy loves to watch TV, listen to the radeo, sing, talk to himself, or his checkered towel, his version of a security blanket, even look at books or pet the cat who has learned that for pats he needs to stand on the table where Jeremy's bouncing hand will pat, but not hit him while meowing up a storm to go with the toddler babble.  I am always having to stop him from bringing his sippy cup or finger food snack
> up there with him.  In a pinch for time with Jeremy in a pissy mood I have even managed diaper changes and clothing changes while he jumped lightly.  lol  He never jumps for more than five minutes at a time, but he will do it through out the day, and if thwarted by time constraints, it is clear that his mood and receptiveness to learning suffers if he can't jump.  His other thing, that I will post about and ask some thing about later is going up and down and up and down our stairs for up to an hour and forty minutes with various games and make-believe employed while doing it.  So, second the trampoline recommendation, add the recommendation for something called a jumpaline, a mini bounce house for the living room that Jeremy also recommends, as he has one of those at Jim's house and the trampoline at mine, , and request recommendations for spacific trampolines that pass the Kendra ceal of approval.
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
>> To: <empwrn at bellsouth.net>; "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 2:18 PM
>> Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still
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