Living Arrows 15/53: The Benefits of Trampolining…

Hi all, I can’t believe it’s the 15th Monday of 2018 already. Where has the time gone?! Well this week Daddy has been off work. We planned to go on lots of adventures but the weather was not on our side. Instead we had a movie day (watched the new Star Wars), visited soft play (torture), went to the local park and had garden time.

J was very excited as his new trampoline had arrived. The instructions said it would take 30 minutes for 2 people to put up. Well that was a loud of cr*p…2 and a half hours later and we had to abandon plans as we couldn’t get the net to fit. Thankfully Argos were very helpful and got a new net for us which fit perfectly.

J had his first bounce on it as soon as we had a ‘rain free’ day. He LOVED it! I chose a small trampoline that is for 3-6 years olds. This is because I was worried he’d hurt himself on a bigger one. This has been the perfect size and fits nicely in our garden.

The benefits of the trampoline will hopefully not only be fun for J but help him in areas of his autism that he struggles with. J is a sensory seeker for vestibular movements (basically means he likes to feel things like spinning, dizziness, rocking etc). J uses this for enjoyment and as a coping mechanism when he is stressed or struggling with something going on around him. The trampoline will offer him a safe way to get his ‘fix’ and calm him ready for going out somewhere, bedtime after a stressful day or just to release some energy.

I also hope it will help J to strengthen his muscles and coordination. Despite his extremely high confidence and lack of fear when playing on equipment he is not the most stable child. The trampoline will give him opportunity to build these skills.

I love watching J jumping and then doing dramatic falls where he sits on the ‘bed’ looking exhausted before jumping ok. Shame it’s too small for me to have a go, haha.

LIVING ARROWS: The project originally took it’s name from a poem by Kahlil Gibran, “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth” and every Monday we share a moment from our week and invite others to do the same as part of this linky. (hosted by ‘What The Redhead Said’)