Gravity at Bluewater pushes the boundaries for Our Kent Family in their latest blog

As anyone who spends time with children will know, you often find yourself torn between encouraging them out of their comfort zones and not wishing to force them into something they don't want to do.

Knowing they would probably utterly LOVE it, if they could just find the courage to give it a little, small, dip-their- toe-into-the-water, teeny-tiny go.

It's the finest but often most frustrating balancing act isn't it? Hovering between firm but gentle encouragement and not wanting to reduce them to tears because they're genuinely frightened. Not to mention being equally wedged against the dilemma of calling in reinforcements with a dose of good old-fashioned bribery!

I think our weekend visit to Bluewater's newest attraction Gravity, which opened at the very end of last year, probably ticked quite a few of those boxes within the first 30 minutes.

Boasting urban indoor climbing, trampolines, dodgeball, slam dunk, tumble tracks, an obstacle course and the giant air bag - leaping out out of your comfort zone is essentially the aim of the game.

And I'd be stretching the truth if I said that Phoebe, 9, Amber, 7, Oscar, 6, and Liv, 4, tore into the state-of-the-art trampoline park with all the confidence and self-belief of Olympic athletes.

But unsurprisingly of course - given half an hour - they did love it. Utterly LOVE IT.

They donned harnesses to climb and scale walls far taller than any playground climbing frame, clambering up free-hanging rope ladders suspended from the ceiling and wooden poles far taller than a phone camera's zoom could competently reach.

They leapt between interconnected trampolines, tackled the obstacle course, bounced along tumble tracks and even the most nervous and littlest amongst them tried out the giant air bag for size.

And this is all of course on a Saturday, when it's busy and noisy and packed full of other more-confident and very often bigger jumpers.

Of a weekend - it's not necessarily an activity for the faint-hearted. Something which I think Gravity more than appreciates with sessions like dedicated parent and toddler jumps held during the week.

Four slightly apprehensive somewhat nervous little people might have walked tentatively into Gravity.

But four immensely proud-of-themselves, brave little people who pushed their comfort zones to the max ran out.

And let's not forget that absolute heart-soaring joy you feel, watching them persevere and crack something you know they were very apprehensive about. The pride - oh the pride!

Five things you might want to know before leaping into Gravity with your family...

1 Be prepared for some waiting around

You'll be asked to arrive 45 minutes before your session to check-in, ensure waivers have been signed and to watch the safety videos. But in reality, although checking in and collecting socks can be quite time consuming, we didn't watch any safety video until just minutes before we jumped and our climbing session didn't start on time. That said, booking is definitely advisable in busy periods.

2 Safety videos and waivers

Now, I'll be honest with you. While utterly essential, and of course entirely necessary for everyone's safety in the park, the introductory safety video on Gravity's dos and dont's on the trampolines may not help your case if you're dealing with nervous children.

Little stick men on a screen warning that you risk life and every limb if not jumping carefully combined with the 'oooo' and 'ouch' soundtrack from much older children in our screening didn't help the first-jump wobbles. (They soon got over it!)

3 Climbers climb alone

Gravity Rocks has plenty of vantage points - but climbers are expected to climb unaccompanied. Parents can take smaller children down but once they are harnessed you will be asked to leave.

Oscar did get halfway up the first wall and come down again professing he couldn't do it. But they climb in small groups, the marshalls are encouraging and soon had him attempting to reach the top.

4 You will lose them (more than once)

Gravity is vast and come the weekend it is heaving. And there is so much to see, do and have a go of. If they're old enough to jump unaccompanied they'll soon be off on their own, but a bright coloured t-shirt or pair of leggings might help you spot them in the sea of jumpers.

5 Trampolining is like swimming

Be prepared - it makes them ravenous.

One hour of jumping later and they will have you believing they've not been fed for a week. Drink, food, sugar, sustenance, fuel of all kinds was being begged and pleaded for.

Gravity does have it's own refreshments but as you're inside Bluewater your options are endless. No prizes for what my tribe convinced us their bravery had earned them...

We have teamed up with Bluewater and Gravity to offer one lucky family the chance to enjoy a fantastic day out.

My Kent Family has four open jump tickets for a session at Gravity up for grabs PLUS £50 of Bluewater vouchers to enjoy some shopping or a meal as part of your trip.

Entering is really easy. To do so, click here.