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Parents: Don’t let your kids play in the bouncy castle ever again

Parents, listen up!

Remember when WEB WATCH TOLD YOU ABOUT POO in the BALL PIT?  Or when we mentioned other PLAYGROUND INJURIES that you need to be aware of when your kids go out to play?

Well, guess what?  There’s anotherPLAYGROUND DANGERthat Web Watch needs to share with you:

Blast Zone Magic Castle Inflatable Bouncer
Bouncy Castle – you know, for kids!

It’s the friendly-looking BOUNCY CASTLE… of DOOM!

“Of Doom”?  Really?

Yes – really.

Those safe-looking inflatable bouncy houses, inflated slides, inflated obstacle courses, and other inflated torture devices fun activities are now ready to be lumped together with TRAMPOLINES and PUBLIC BALL PITS that will likely begin their slow, insurance-liablity death march to Never Never (Never Be Seen Again) Land.

It’s all because over-protective parents (and over-sugared kids) have found that Bouncy Houses are basically injury factories, with a 15-times increase in bounce castle-related injuries in the years between 1995-2010… with the sharpest rise coming at the end of the study between 2008 and 2010.

The doctors who reported the increase in playtime activity-related injuries say that the increase in injuries is likely due to the larger number of bounce activities that have become available in recent years, such as from party rental companies or warehouse-based Jumping Gyms with cute, animal sounding names that rhyme with “Kangaroo” or “Monkey”.

The more opportunities to bounce – and bounce wrongly – there are, the more broken bones, scrapes, and bruises are likely to come out of it.  How panicked should parents be?  Probably not that much — only about 15 injuries per 100,000 children are reported… and trampolines offer more danger than a bouncy castle does (again, according to the doctor’s report on the injury rate linked above).

So what should you do if your child wants to play in the Bounce House?  To be safe, doctors recommend the following:

  • Don’t place the bouncy castle on concrete. Place it on a softer surface.
  • No flips, no matter how much fun they may look to do.
  • Bouncy houses are only for older kids, ages 6 and up.  Smaller children are more prone to injury since they’re, well, smaller.
  • And just like billiard balls, only let children of the same height/weight/size play in the bouncy room at the same time.  If you need to know why, then consult your local physics teacher for an answer