This Freak Accident Will Make Sure You Never Look At A Bouncy House The Same Way Again

bouncycastleMost of us have fond memories of bouncy houses from our own childhoods, even if the idea of flopping around in something other kids have almost certainly vomited in turns our adult stomachs. But lately it seems like bouncy houses are terrifying death traps, and my paranoid tendencies don’t want my kid going anywhere near one.

Back in May a bouncy house blew into the air like the house from Up, and two children inside were seriously injured. And yesterday two toddlers were seriously injured–one critically–when a bouncy house in Nashua, N.H., blew away with them in it.

According to CBS, the bouncy house was at the Sullivan Farm Greenhouse and Orchard in Nashua, where visitors were enjoying the orchard but the bounce house was reportedly not in use.

”It was off in a restricted area,” said orchard co-owner Gary Bergeron, who said he bought the bouncy house for a fundraiser. ”It wasn’t supposed to be in operation, and somehow two children got inside it.”

Bergeron said the house had been inflated to dry off from the rain, but was not properly secured to the ground and was supposed to be off-limits. Somehow the three-year-old and two-year-old got inside, however. Then a gust of wind blew the house 50-60 feet in the air and brought it crashing to the ground in a neighboring orchard. Both children have been hospitalized, and the two-year-old is in critical condition.

Even if the bouncy house was not meant to be occupied, leaving an inflated, semi-tethered bounce house around seems dangerous. A bouncy house flying through the air is dangerous even if it does not have children in it, because that has to come down somewhere. It’s extremely sad and scary that something so fun and seemingly innocent can be so dangerous in a freak accident. I’m never going to look at a bouncy house the same way again. I will be circling those things in full helicopter parent mode, counting stakes and measuring tether length. After this story, that doesn’t sound like irrational behavior anymore.

Photo: Shutterstock

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