zlacker

Generally throwing kids around (within reason) is absolutely safe, specially at +2yrs. Rough play is very much part of development for all mammals including us.

Perhaps something to help you cope with this is that our brain although fragile has a lot of redundancy around it.

On a fall or bounce our neck will decelerate our fall/bounce, there is no need to be an athlete, our muscles have a contraction reflex if they are violently streched (myotatic reflex), less so for very young babies with weak neck muscles (think less than 6/9 months).

Then our skull is filled with fluid which has inertia so the force on the skull is not directly transmitted to the brain. You have to slush the liquid around quite a bit before your brain experiences any meaningful force.

Effectively it is only with some extreme force or internal bleeding compressing the brain that brain damage would occur.

>>DoingI+(OP)
My kids love it when they come running toward me and I pick them up and in one swoop throw them on to my (big) bed. I'm always holding back because I see their head snap back to land on the mattress, it's that "violent" head-moving-back thing that gives me the fear, so I stopped.

>>stef25+gc
a core part of my son and i's relationship is me yeeting him on soft pieces of furniture (he's 3)! He is very physical and likes to roughhouse - he injuries himself a lot! Little kids really are made of rubber