Our son hangs on the handle and has used the handle to bounce the trampoline off the ground a bit, but we have taught him that the trampoline needs to stay on the ground and to watch his balance. You definitely won't want to leave him unsupervised with it until you are really comfortable that he knows whathe is doing and is safe on it. When he was smaller and still figuring things out, I'd keep within reaching distance and put my foot on the frame iif I felt he was getting too much air -- but we've had this one since he was one.