A Farewell to Bouncy Castles
May 22, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
The bouncy castle.
How often have we beheld one rising in its multicolored puffy glory, tethered to the tramped-on grass with cords and a machine with a fan running loud and hot to keep the bounce in the castle?
Charlie would stare wide-eyed and he’d walk over quickly, his hand in Jim’s. This being a couple of years ago, he was still learning the concept of “waiting” and walked right to the front of the line—-at the entrance of the castle—-and would not budge. (So we had some explaining to do.) When it was finally his turn, Charlie was ecstatic for maybe a minute after he climbed into the castle, and then lines of puzzlement crept into his face: Charlie would inevitably lose his balance quickly and end up on his knees, and the workers would call out to him to get up as other children might jump on him. All those chiding words directed at him (and Jim and me trying to call out instructions through the narrow entrance) brought consternation to Charlie’s face even as he was reveling in the sensory experience of it all.
Charlie always had a hard time leaving—a major transition between that bouncy, warm-aired, world and the sad atmosphere of a carnival closing down for the day. He has not been in a bouncy castle in years; sometimes the transition away was too hard. As it is, we haven’t seen one of them in years and, if we do, Jim and I say “you’re too old! you’ve grown up!” And Charlie looks at the colorful, swaying structure, sighs, looks back. Understands.
My friend Hsien over at Cottontimer comments on the dangers of bouncy castles—which leads me to think, it’s been very well to say “no” and “bye” to the bouncy castle. But Charlie more than enjoyed a trip to a mattress store last weekend—–nothing like a top-grade king-size mattress to bounce on.
Yes, the tramp-bed-oline was always my favorite. Bouncy castles, if I remember them correctly, were too soft, and also hard to breathe in. One of those things that seemed like it would be great, but really wasn’t so great at all.
I have rented bounce-houses for my NT son’s last two birthdays and Pete has really enjoyed them — at home, there’s no lines and only people around who understand when Pete wants to lie down against the seam face-down…nobody steps on him either!
@Bev, I’m wondering if that’s what happens for Charlie—it looks like so much fun, but once inside, a different story.
@Karen, No yard space for a rental bounce-house—-but a private one, hmmmm…….
My NT and ASD sons love the small one we own at home. It’s about 9 feet square, with an inflated slide on one side (highly preferable to the ones without a slide – they invent lots of gross motor games and contests involving the slide). Cost about $200 at Toys R Us, and comes with a patch kit. We have never patched it, and have had it for about 3 years. It is kinda squishy now – I”m just too lazy to patch it.
ANyway, we’ve loved it. Definitely worth the cost. We have mostly NT kids who visit, and everyone has fun with this TOGETHER (unlike with most other toys and games).
Hmm. Well, we just bought a private one for our daughter’s upcoming 4th birthday. She adores bouncy houses, and has never shown any hesitation once inside — though getting her out can be a trick sometimes. It says up to 3 kids can jump, but we’ll probably limit it to 2 at a shot. And no teenagers, that’s for sure! It’s helpful to hear about the potential accidents, though. We’ll supervise carefully.
We’re psyched about our purchase, though we’ve yet to try it out. It feels like party entertainment, therapy, and a neighborhood playdate magnet all rolled up into one happy package.
M would never step foot into one of those bouncy things. They terrified her. I guess considering her balance problems it is understandable. I have never heard people talk about them being dangerous. I can see where they would be.