Kids love to have fun, and a lot of the time, that involved jumping around, bouncing up and down, and doing a lot of things some parents might nervously classify as reckless.
You’d think, then, that something like a trampoline – or a trampoline park – would be perfect for this, especially since these activities can be done indoors, where parents can keep an eye on things.
Unfortunately, as it turns out, these parks have their dangers too – and sadly, these parents found that out the hard way.
When Sarah Villanueva and Jesse Charbonneau decided to bring their daughter to a trampoline park for a fun weekend as a pre-kindergarten treat, they were expecting it to be a harmless and happy event.
Maddie, being just four years old, was very excited to have fun at the park!
The family, from Vancouver, Canada, headed over to New Westminster to visit the Extreme Air Park.
At first, everything seemed fine. Maddie was bouncing happily and eagerly near her dad.
But then, on one of her jumps, she bounced badly and fell.
Suddenly, she began to scream at the top of her voice and was unable to get up at all. She had to be rushed to a nearby hospital.
Maddie was in a lot of pain and had broken her ankle in two places.
She even had to be given morphine and ketamine in order to help ease the overwhelming pain.
Surgery was performed on her, and now she will have to use a wheelchair for several weeks.
Villanueva, Maddie’s mother, will be wheeling her around, and she notes that although Maddie is in a lot of pain, she is trying to be strong.
Meanwhile, Maddie’s father, Charbonneau, isn’t too happy with the way the park handled the incident.
He explained that staff did not respond very quickly when the accident happened, and that no trained members of staff did eventually show up.
There was no first-aid kit to hand, either.
Extreme Air Parks, however, denies these claims completely.
According to them, a review of CCTV footage reveals that the broken ankle was caused by Charbonneau’s own carelessness.
In fact, in an email, the company states that their main rule is that no double bouncing is allowed, but Charbonneau broke this rule and therefore failed to exercise caution near his daughter and is responsible for breaking her leg.
Villanueva herself does not consider the company to be at fault for the situation and doesn’t believe they should be blamed.
Still, she thinks they should have done better at handling the situation.
She notes that it’s fairly normal for children to get injured as they go through life and recognizes that the blame isn’t on the park, but dislikes how the company has failed to be helpful or even offer a small apology.
She hopes that there will be better park regulation in the future for things like this – especially since this is far from the first incident of this kind.
In fact, just around one week prior, Ravi Gill-Douglas’ son, who is three years old, dropped 6 feet through a trampoline’s springs and down their equipment at a different park.
Staff were very poorly equipped to handle the situation and she had to painstakingly track down employees for help, and she has yet to hear any follow-up from that company thus far.
The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that many pediatricians discourage children from using trampolines recreationally due to the huge amount of injuries that occur on them.
So if you’re planning to take your kids to one of these parks, maybe swap that out for a different activity instead!
SEE ALSO:
Toddler Nearly Paralyzed By Freak Accident Involving Drinking Glass
