[blindkid] never stands still

Richard Holloway rholloway at gopbc.org
Wed Jun 16 03:53:52 UTC 2010


Sorry you've had so many things fall apart. It does seem all too  
common; we've seen lots of that as well.

I ended up taping foam back together so much on some of the older  
trampolines that the pads ended up more shiny with electrical tape  
than looking like foam. If you're appearance-concerned, get the good  
3M tape electrical in bright colors from places like Home Depot (it is  
good tape as well as "pretty") and you may find a fairly close match.  
(If you're wondering why anything like electrical tape would be made  
in colors, it is mainly for "flagging", or marking a color code on  
wires to make it easier to trace wiring.)

Alternatively, you can try what we ultimately switched to-- on the  
last trampoline, I finally wrapped every bit of the pads for the bars  
in so-called "Gaf Tape", or Gaffer's Tape, intended for utility work  
with things like TV production, theatrical use, etc. (We use it to  
tape cables a lot.) It is usually black, but can be found in nice  
colors if you look around. It has a nicer cloth finish and comes in  
rolls up to 5 or 6 inches wide which can be very handy.

If you are wondering if these are safe tapes for kids should the chew  
on them, I cannot say more than they never caused us a problem, and I  
tend to assume that foam is not so good to get in your mouth either.  
Bits of foam are certainly a choke hazard and remember too that  
without the foam (taped or not) the hard metal poles offer yet another  
hazard... I would avoid cheap electrical tape though-- the black stuff  
for 99 cents a roll slides and oozes and makes a big gummy mess.

Richard

On Jun 15, 2010, at 11:18 PM, Heather wrote:

> That may be, although it sounds like their daughter has a huge  
> amount of opertunities for many types of physical activity, far more  
> than I had, and hopefully I can find that many for Jeremy.  I am  
> willing to venture that most children's products are just not built  
> to last, whether we are talking about barbies or tonka trucks,  
> trampolines or tricycles, art supplies or board games.  The older  
> heavy duty toys of wood and metal are sort of extinct, and new  
> materials just aren't as strong.  I have wooden building blocks, tin  
> soldiers and horses, an India rubber ball and some cloth dolls that  
> have been in my family for years, but almost all of my plastic toys  
> from dolls to out-door toys have long sense cracked, broken,  
> discoloured, etc.  I am finding that my lofty ideas of "It's worth  
> it to buy the $200.00 highchair because if I have 4 children it will  
> only be $50.00 per child." or "I can use all of the same baby toys  
> for future children, so it's ok to buy a jumper, bouncer, toddler  
> rocker, tummy time gym and excersaucer, to see which he likes  
> best."  Um, no, that was a bust.  His toddler rocker kept falling  
> apart, his bouncer broke, the musical component of his jumper died  
> two weeks after setting it up and never worked fully to begin with,  
> many of the toys on his excersaucer look quite sad and on the verge  
> of colapse, his infant car seat is worn shiney in places from  
> movement and rubbing and the cushioning of the material part, not  
> the styrophome part is warn very thin and squashed down, his  
> highchair  tray is already scratched and stained, and I take good  
> care of his things gald darnet.  I read instructions, follow care  
> tips and buy "quality" products, but my child wares the heck out of  
> them.  The trampoline I complained to Richard about and asked for  
> recommendations for a better one, has only been here for a few  
> months, Jeremy only jumps a total of 30 to 60 minutes on it per day,  
> and it is already torking the frame, chunks are coming out of the  
> handal padding, the bounce is turning into sag and there is a tare  
> in the protective padding cover.
>
> Not always, but often, I believe that kids get short changed, and  
> products made for adults, especially clothing and sports equipment  
> is of a much higher quality in workmanship and materials being used,  
> than those products made for kids.  It's sick, but true.




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