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Wanna know a secret?
In 50 years I have never jumped on a trampoline.
I’ve had many opportunities. Raising two boys there were many times that we went to homes of friends with various sized trampolines. And even watching my friends jump around, I still refused to get in on the fun. Plus, countless indoor trampoline park birthdays that other parents joined in. That’s why I decided to go to a trampoline park for adults.
I invented stories in my head that held me back, not only from jumping around but from enjoying life, although that’s a whole other topic. When you have a story that allows you to not fully live life, it allows you to not do something as a justifiable escape. When in reality all it does is rob you of joy.
So, one day I decided to change my story.
Can Adults Go to Trampoline Parks with their Kids and Not Look Like Fools?
During COVID, or right around the time when places started to open up, I had a shift in perception and overall look on life. My family and I normally travel 2-3 months out of the year, but with the whole world on lockdown, borders closed, airports shut down, and still no real travel permitted, I realized that adventures don’t have to happen in faraway lands. We can enjoy the smaller, more reachable adventures right there in front of us.
And that’s when it hit me – it’s time to JUMP around!
To camouflage my wanting to go, the desire to do something that was totally unlike myself, I decided to invite my youngest son’s friends to a trampoline park for adults. For no particular reason. Even the parents called, asking, ‘is this a birthday celebration? Or a special gathering?’
And the only thing I said, ‘NOPE, it’s just for fun.’
I gave myself PERMISSION and used my son and his buddy’s day out to get in on the fun.
Are there Trampoline Parks for Adults?
YES, trampoline parks are for adults and kids. For years I thought it was only for kids. And the crazy parents having a blast somehow snuck in until they were kicked out. Or they were professional acrobats practicing.
The day I brought the kids to Sky Zone, I first paid for them to get their equipment, and sent them off to go nuts. Then, shyly came up to the counter telling the girl that I will also need a pair of socks (you can’t go without a pair) and handed over the money. Instead of being looked down upon, the girl was as excited to set me up as I was to be there.
And the fun began.
Have you ever been to an indoor trampoline park and enjoyed it for yourself?
This was my first time.
In the beginning, I felt timid, actually a bit scared. But once I started jumping, and getting over the wooziness that comes with the first wobbly moves, it was one of the most INVIGORATING feelings I ever had.
Plus, an incredible exercise. I was winded after the first 5 minutes. And sweaty!
To take a mini-break, Sky Zone also offered an entire Ninja Warrior obstacle course.
Let’s just say, this was not the way to relax. But I have a newfound respect for Ninja Warriors.
To my delight, my son wanted to join me in the obstacle course. And I have proof of my fears with him videoing me and photographing as I faced my fears and overcame some so that I can put them on my ‘Achievement Wall’.
Stepping out onto a trampoline for adults in the midst of all the kids was just plain odd. Totally out of my element feeling. To me, it was much more than just the trampoline. It was battling and removing the stupid stories that engulfed me from moving forward and pushing past them.
I was so wrapped up in my own bullshit story that everyone is looking at me, and that my son’s friends are going to think I’m a freak and an ‘uncool’ mom. Anyone who is a mom, being the ‘uncool’ mom is definitely NOT what you want for your kid’s friends to think of you.
You know what, the kids didn’t even think it was odd that I’m jumping around side by side with them. Or that I failed to do the obstacle course and jumped off mid-way. They treated it as though it was the most normal thing ever.
The Biggest Take-Aways of Trampoline Parks for Adults
First of all, I believe I was an example for my son and his little friends.
I have a feeling deep down inside, when they get older they won’t have any stupid stories holding them back to try something that’s out of the norm. That they won’t even consider anything out of reach for them and no matter the age to simply dive in and have fun, no matter how stupid you feel or think you look.
There was a moment when my son was taking a video of me where I totally and completely chickened out of doing an obstacle. And you know what, who cares! He still loved that I took him there. That I jumped around. That I enjoyed it as much as him and his buddies. That I was (almost) one of them.
It was a truly special, funnnnn day. And I would do it again.
If you’re reading this and thinking to yourself, ‘Come on, it’s just a trampoline, why are you making such a big deal about it.’
It’s not the trampoline for adults, but the story that I had around it. When you step back and look at many of the stories we tell ourselves that keep us from living fully, we need to reexamine them immediately and rewrite them.
FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Trampoline parks and Ninja Warrior obstacle courses for adults. Are you guys ready to make every day an adventure here? Let’s begin. So here’s a really cool, odd fact about me.
I am almost 50 years old and I have never jumped on a trampoline. That’s right. My kids have been invited to millions of trampoline park birthdays. A lot of my friends have trampolines for adults. And yet I’ve resisted doing all of them all the time.
And during Covet, when there’s only so many things that you could do when you’re sitting at home and when the world finally opens up, it doesn’t open up enough for you to go to any real cool place, like travel wise. All of a sudden all these other really interesting things open up right in front of you. And that’s when I had this kind of an eye opener. Wait, so the Sky Zone in our area is open and I have an eleven year old with his little buddies and they’re getting bored. Why don’t I take them and join in the fun?
And that’s how I ended up in the trampoline park for adults. And also with an added bonus, a Ninja Warrior obstacle course. Let me tell you, first of all, before I arrived there, I was sure that they’re going to be like, you can’t go in here. This is only for kids. But when I said that there’s one of those, they were probably as excited for me to get on that trampoline as I was, which is pretty fun.
Okay, so I’ve never jumped on a trampoline for adults. I know that it could be a good exercise, but wow, what an invigorating thing to do. And I’m not even talking about the actual exercise of it. And yes, I was pretty winded after five minutes, but it just gave me this massive amazing adrenaline rush. I was just amazed how cool the adrenaline rush really was.
It just made me feel liberated and carefree. And at first I was really self conscious that my son and his friends would think that I’m like this weird one, laughing all by myself because I was the only adult, but they were having just as much blast with each other and watching me do it. So then me and my son went off to another part of Sky Zone, which is an entire area for what they call the Ninja Warrior Obstacle course. Obviously it’s nowhere near there, but oh my God, have you been on an obstacle course? Because they are so hard and I can see how it could be an incredible, incredible workout.
And if you have a chance to just go and give it a shot, it is really worth it. And then I obviously had some seriously funny epic fails like Ninja Warrior. At the end, they have to run up this massive kind of wall to get to the top. I mean I barely made it 2ft 3ft off the ground. My son on the other hand went all the way to the top.
They had two levels and he did them both pretty successfully which was really impressive and then there was another area where you get on a trampoline for adults and then you jump or as most of the kids were doing flipping into this huge pool of sponges so I have to say I totally chickened out. I was jumping on the trampoline higher and higher and I just could not bring myself to make the jump. Well, that’s how it goes. It was super fun and if you have a chance to go to the trampoline park for adults first of all it’s such a fun thing to do with your kids like the connection and with their friends it’s just so much fun. Maybe you don’t want to go overboard and start doing it at their birthday party but definitely as like a little sizing or maybe just take a couple of your kids friends along with you to do it or maybe just go with your kids.
It’s so fun and even better you can most definitely even go all the way all on your own. It is a fun thing to do and something that I am so happy that I got a chance to do. So you want to find out some more cool things to do and can’t figure out what kind of everyday adventure list. I’ve got it ready for you just go to make everydayandadventure.com and I’ll hook you up with over 100 different ideas. As a matter of fact I think we’re talking so ready to go and find out some cool things to do just go to make every day an adventure and you’ll be able to get a list and start checking it off yourself.
