The Trampoline
Last year my friend moved house and her children's trampoline wouldn't fit in the new garden. As it was almost new she offered it to me for my girls and I gladly accepted. My husband was horrified!
Ten years ago we bought a trampoline for our children. Of course, we wanted them to be safe when using it so made sure it had a mat around it to cover the springs and a net to stop them falling off while jumping. And to protect the children and trampoline from the scorching sun, (we obviously didn't live in England at the time!) it was placed under the carport. Despite our precautions, one day our middle daughter, who was about 3yrs old, finished bouncing, unzipped the safety net and fell head-first off the trampoline onto the tiled patio. Fortunately she only suffered a small bruise and a few days later was asking to be allowed to use it again.
A few years and many happy hours of bouncing later, one hot spring day I attached the garden hose to the top of the safety net and turned the water on, as I had so many times previously. All four children played noisily under the cool sprinkler until my husband arrived home for lunch. He took one look, commented that water and trampolines were an accident waiting to happen and turned the tap off. He told the children to get off the trampoline and wait until it dried, which they did (those were the days when they did as they were told). Middle daughter, however, jumped one last time. She landed badly and snapped her ankle!
My husband and I debated whether we should dismantle the trampoline; over the years the children had loved playing on it, individually and together, but there had also been occasional bumps and collisions. Was it safe? Maybe for the older children, but middle daughter had been seriously hurt. She wouldn't be able to use it for a long time and keeping it felt like a cruel reminder of her injuries and limitations. For a while no-one was allowed to use it - we'd been careless and were determined to take better care of our children - but soon we realised that the trampoline wasn’t the problem, it was the way we'd allowed it to be used. Middle daughter would heal and eventually the trampoline would help her strengthen her muscles. In the the meantime, keeping it up while she was injured reminded her, and her siblings, to be more careful.
The trampoline could stay but the rules needed to change.
Were we wrong to keep it? Well, that trampoline eventually succumbed to heat and humidity, but not before helping strengthen the previously injured leg. And the new trampoline, despite my husband’s concerns and the frequent rain-related ban on use (because we know better now), has been worth its weight in gold, particularly during the period of lockdown. Even the dog has joined in.
I remembered this as I gazed out at the rain-soaked garden (and the trampoline) yesterday, pondering news of statues being removed around the UK. Sometimes the thing that hurt us is the most powerful reminder not to repeat past mistakes.