Worth It: A Backyard Trampoline

A lot of people have asked about our trampoline, but they typically ask the same three questions:

1) Does it ruin the grass?
2) Does it take up the whole backyard?  
3) Is it worth the money?

The answer, for all three—for us—is yes. 

Yes, there is a ring of dead grass hiding underneath the trampoline. Yes, it takes up half of our very small backyard. Yes, it was absolutely worth the money. 

Every afternoon around 4 or 5, I throw the kids in there and zip them up like monkeys in a cage. They jump for an hour, sometimes more, with little supervision. You can see the trampoline from our kitchen and master bedroom so I'm usually floating between the two rooms—working, cooking, cleaning, folding laundry, listening to Voxes. Sometimes they bring their "babies" with them (i.e. stuffed Paw Patrol characters) but usually it's just them and a few soft soccer balls/basketballs. They invent games. They do "flips" (Everett can actually do a flip, Carson just somersaults and calls it a flip). They run, chase each other and jump their brains out until the soles of their feet are black and sweat is dripping off their heads, at which point they go straight into the bath, and then it's time for dinner and bed.

Voila! We just killed the afternoon. 

Honestly, I do not love the look of a trampoline in our backyard, but entertaining my children > aesthetics. Anything that helps us survive 4-6 p.m. in this house is worth its weight in gold. We've had this trampoline for over two years now and it's bought us approximately 400 hours of entertainment. Sold!

Do you have a trampoline? Was it worth the money / hassle to set it up?