Parents not watching their children at soft play centres.

You'll find it's the parents of the worst behaved kids who are not watching them.

If they do see their children punch other children then they don't have to deal with it- so they sit furthest away and hope nothing is brought to their attention.

Most people want to go to soft play and abandon their kid and have a cup of coffee.

Yep agree with this, so many are horrified when it turns out the responsible thing to do is actually keep an eye on their children.

Yes and no. My 5yr old DS is sensible and tells other kids off when they're not behaving well. I didn't let him loose until he was 4ish though, and still keep a distant eye on him.
Agree with babies/toddlers, it's a risk of them getting hurt!

It drives me nuts. I usually take my 3 yr old grandson every tuesday where he plays with two little friends, and I..and the other two mums, follow the children everywhere... it's just as well I'm a relatively fit Granny because I go through tunnels, down slides, on trampolines...., not just for his safety but because I need to ensure he is playing nicely, not bumping into babies etc.. he's a sweet child but he's 3 so he's supervised.
We never go in the holidays because there will always be feral older ones. The 'holiday play scheme' means there will be kids up to about 11 being 'supervised' by a couple of bored teen employees. Most of the kids are lovely, but the ones that aren't are a menace.
Some of the childminders are also a it lax.. I get that they want to socialise but if they have several children in there they should be in there too! Ours is a lovely big area so plenty of space for adults to be with their kids!

I think it depends on the size of the softplay and age of the children.
In a small softplay my 2 happily go around themselves (2 & 5) I watch them from the table and will call them if anything is happening.
A big softplay one of us goes in for the younger one but the older one is very capable of going around on his own.

YANBU
I always used to end up watching other people's children for them and had to go and find a mum once because her baby looked around, couldn't see her and started panicking/crying. She was happily chatting and drinking coffee and had just plonked her child in a ball bit and walked off.
I have a nearly 8 year old who I wouldn't feel the need to watch any more, because I trust him to behave, but people should watch under 5's

Most people want to go to soft play and abandon their kid and have a cup of coffee. But you can only really do this if they are older and sensible ie a proven non biter. I see parents of babies who expect to throw their baby in the baby bit then go off and have a coffee tutting and glaring at the toddlers for having the audacity to also exist in that space. But the younger and more vulnerable your kid is the more the onus is on you to watch them, otherwise they will get their head trod on.

Quite a lot of soft plays have areas for bigger children that parents can't see into every bit of and you also get parents of babies and toddlers going in and following their toddler around then scolding the other kids who are running around. These parents are a huge PITA and cause hazards rather than prevent them.

So, in short. I keep an eye on my three year old in case somebody steals her or she breaks her arm but I'll also look at my phone and drink my coffee. My seven year old can get on with it.

In our local softplay I have rarely seen unaccompanied young children, but we have the parents leaving their teens in the baby areas, and (usually dads) chasing around their 8 years olds throwing balls etc in the soft play without paying any attention to the younger kids they push out of their way...

Soft play is a special place that turns children into monsters, and parents into idiots...