Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school 3yo needs so. much. input.

amen to the trampoline. we have one too.

My ex got the trampoline in our divorce and I miss it. I have 2 and they're so incredibly exhausting, though each on their own may be slightly less stubborn. I look at people who's children stand quietly in lines at the grocery store and I think, How do you do that? I have no idea. Appleblossom, it sounds like you might get some comfort out of testing, but only if he'd cooperate with the tests, of course. My 5yo DS did not, and it ended up being mostly a waste of time because of that. My daughter wasn't particularly cooperative at around age 5 either but we did get reliable solid scores at age 8. It's a long time to wonder, though.

What kind of trampoline do all of you own? We live in a small loft, but I'm starting to think it might be worthwhile to sacrifice our downstairs bathroom to trampoline storage as DS is always running, jumping, and climbing.

We have a small fitness trampoline with a padded handle and a 150 lb weight limit. It is roughly 3 feet in diameter and worth every square inch it takes in my house. My husband and I often joke that we wish we had one in every room.

We never put it away. It is always out and used several times daily. It takes up most of the floor space in the room. On the bright side, pretty sure it is extending the life of my couch, which just can't handle so much bouncing as he has gotten bigger.

If you do get one, definitely get one with a handle.

Aquinas, this is the one we have: http://www.amazon.com/Stamina-36-in...id=1432136885&sr=8-6&keywords=trampoline

It doesn't have a handle, but we haven't seen too much of an issue there - sure there are some tumbles, but the thing is so low to the ground thats it's not really any different than falling off of anything else. I figure it will teach them balance. Or how to fall gracefully? Maybe not. :P

Basically, it's inexpensive, not very big...easy to shove in the garage or under a table (or against the wall) if we need to be rid of it for some occasion. But it pretty much always stays out in our living room

Thanks ladies! I've been looking into a few folding trampolines with handles, but they all have negative reviews about the trampolines flipping! I'll take a look at your suggestions.

We have a Bazoongi 48" one. It has been worth every penny and more.

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.

LOL - we have ours in the living room (no other place for it really) my DS7 bounces from the trampoline to the sofa, to the ottoman and back again!

I've (mostly) given up on trying to save the sofa.

Ours doesn't fold - it's out pretty much all the time. But if we need it out of the way we can lean it against a wall.
Purchased it at a store that sells fitness items.

We also use one of these:

http://shop.fitnessdepot.ca/Bosu-Ball-Home-Balance-Trainer--P79.aspx#.VV8oqEbMKcM

I apparently like to come back every year to update this thread, hehe.

I finally got our kid a trampoline after seeing the raves here. I really hesitated, because we live in such a small big-city apartment, but it has been GREAT. I'd recommend it to anyone. Totally worth sacrificing the space.

Thanks for the trampoline tips! Really helpful.