Try This Tuesday #11: A Safe Place To Bounce

Written on September 30, 2008 by Trish

This week, Danette from Everyday Adventures shares how she has dealt with the challenge of having 3 little boys who all love to bounce and jump around!

A SAFE PLACE TO BOUNCE
by Danette

All of our boys are sensory-seekers when it comes to movement. They love to be in motion — running, jumping, climbing, bouncing, crashing, hanging upside down, flapping and spinning. Trying to find outlets for all that energy is challenging! In the interest of safety and furniture preservation, finding a safe place for the boys to bounce has been especially important.

Bouncing on the bed was a favorite of theirs no matter how many times we told them to stop. Learning about the 5 little monkeys (you know, “5 little monkeys jumping on the bed…”) didn’t phase them at all. Bouncing on the couch has been another favorite, but it adds years (lots of years) to the appearance of your couch. We bought our couch about 6 yrs ago and it looks about 20 yrs old now.

Getting out of the house and heading for one of those “jumpy” places (with the inflatable bounce houses and slides) can be lots of fun for kids who love to run, climb, and bounce, but that can get expensive. What we really wanted to do was get a trampoline, but our yard is a hill so there’s no flat space to put a trampoline in the yard.

So we opted for a small indoor trampoline.

We were a little nervous at first, worrying they might bounce off of it and hurt themselves, or that they’d fight over it. But so far it has worked out great! We still get the occasional walking on the couch, but for bouncing they go to the trampoline, not the couch or beds. Yay!

And as an added bonus, they can use it anytime, day or night, rain or shine!

Please join in and share the creative solutions YOU have found to your own challenges. For more details on how to participate, click here.

Trish can be found writing here at 5MFSN every Friday in addition to hosting Try This Tuesday. You can also find Trish at her blog, Another Piece of the Puzzle.

Married for over 16 years and mom of a six year old son with autism, I spend most of my time as my Little Guy's case manager/advocate/ cheerleader/everything else.

Trish

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Maddy

September 30, 2008 | 1:27 am

We’d certainly be lost without our trampoline. We started small [one with those handle bar things as I was worried they'd fall off too.] Since then we’ve bought a larger one. It gets lots of use, so much so that I think I should really ‘try’ and make a replacement cover for the edges.
Best wishes

Amazing_Grace

September 30, 2008 | 7:09 am

When my son was in 6th grade, one of his teachers had a hard time keeping him on task. I then compiled a list from various sources and gave it to her which she found extremely helpful.

How To Keep An AS Student On Task

Barbara

September 30, 2008 | 8:13 am

Looks good to me!

Another Piece of the Puzzle » Try This Tuesday/Faces of Autism

September 30, 2008 | 9:10 am

[...] This week, Danette at Everyday Adventures shows us her solution for three little boys who all love to jump and bounce. Read about it at Try This Tuesday: A Safe Place To Bounce. [...]

Jen P

September 30, 2008 | 11:49 am

Looking forward to seeing if any ppl got ideas for my Epsom Salt thingy.

We love our bouncer too. Ours has handles and plays songs and games. Very annoying but keeps them entertained. The Elder follows the rules precisely and The Younger just goes hog wild on it!

Terri

September 30, 2008 | 12:07 pm

We had one of these in our family room for years–enjoyed by my daughter who has Down syndrome, my son who has Non-verbal Learning Disability, AND by all the friends and neighbors who ever came over to play!

Julie

September 30, 2008 | 3:24 pm

I loved the video- that giggling!!! We love the mini trampoline too. (Now I just need to enforce the no jumping on anything except the trampoline!!!!!!)