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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to think IKEA is a top parenting hack?

338 replies

Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 13:26

DS2 is 3 and we went to IKEA yesterday not because we needed anything but just to get out of the house (and tbh I couldn’t face soft play).

He ran around loads, looked at all the rooms, climbed on the sofas and beds and I didn’t need to be on red alert every second like I am at the park.

I don’t know why I’d never considered it as a day out before! I think when it’s too busy it’s prob not great but we went at opening time and it was great. Also obvs helps that there’s something in it for me - I get to mooch, get ideas and pretend I’m being productive.

Ofc ended up buying a few bits and pieces and hotdogs in the end but I feel like I’ve provided an enriching outing, even though I mostly just walked in circles looking at storage 😅

Any other unexpected places that are actually fun for kids AND adults (and don’t cost the earth) that I might not have considered?

OP posts:
ABeerInTheSunshineMakesMeHappy · 18/01/2026 20:16

ClaraThePigeon · 18/01/2026 17:51

Crèches used to be be very common when I was a child.(I’m 41) It wasn’t unusual for larger supermarkets and department stores, among other places, to have one. This one only closed in 2002.

https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/13985152.parents-outrage-as-store-closes-creche/

Edited
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Ah, probably in between the time of my own childhood and that of my DC then.

SnoopyPajamas · 18/01/2026 19:41

We used to love going to IKEA and playing with the big cuddly snakes. That was top entertainment when I was a kid!

Vivi0 · 18/01/2026 19:37

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Ah, so this is how it feels to bask in the glory of someone who can control their children.

Thank you so much for gracing us with your magnificence.

Sometimessmiling · 18/01/2026 19:22

Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 13:48

Tbf we went at opening time and it wasn’t busy (which I was shocked at cos I thought it would be). I expected we would leave quickly as it would get too much but I was surprised at how fine it was actually so probs a lot of caveats needed ha

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I like the idea of it and have no problems with kids at all as long as parents are mindful of serious shoppers and kids are not damaging stuff.

billiongulls · 18/01/2026 19:13

I used to take ds to ikea, give him lunch, sign him into the creche, read my book with a coffee while he played, and go home. I lived nearby so did it a lot.

Needmorelego · 18/01/2026 19:00

Remember those pre COVID days when you could leave your kids playing on a iPad in the Apple Store......

ChillingWithMySnowmies · 18/01/2026 18:59

Pricelessadvice · 18/01/2026 18:38

I remember days out used to involve going to Manchester airport to watch the planes taking off 😅

Do kids not get bored in IKEA? I know I do!

my DS used to love being in the observation lounge at birmingham airport.

As an adult i've booked to stay with a plane spotter friend in a hotel next to E.mids airport that has runway facing rooms to watch the planes landing/taking off one weekend, was fun actually!

ChillingWithMySnowmies · 18/01/2026 18:57

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oh calm down dear.

SingedSoul · 18/01/2026 18:55

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Stop being a silly sausage, no one thinks you are better than them.

Dragonflytamer · 18/01/2026 18:54

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Not superior no - just a boring parent! You need to give Ikea hide and seek ago.

FromTheBlock · 18/01/2026 18:53

When mine were small and we had nothing to do I’d take them on the train. Just walked down to the train station and got on the first train that came along, and would go a stop or two wherever it was going. It may not have been anywhere exciting but they loved exploring somewhere different, going to a park that wasn’t their usual one, maybe getting an ice cream then going back home. Just being on the train was an adventure for them. So not completely free but would only cost a few pounds.

Dragonflytamer · 18/01/2026 18:51

Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 18:20

Just don’t run / climb / speak. Maybe don’t even touch anything. If you must take kids, put them in a blue IKEA bag with a couple of meatballs

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We put the kids in the trolleys - that will make some posters here have a heart attack from clutching their pearls so hard!

ChillingWithMySnowmies · 18/01/2026 18:51

Needmorelego · 18/01/2026 17:06

Ok apologies....missed that.
But it doesn't mean in a dangerous way.
No more than some of the adults in the way they manically push the trolleys around or ram them into other people.
Some adults need to learn better behaviour in shops before I'm going to get annoyed by a happy toddler.

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myself and another poster bought up that we use crutches, and in our respective IKEA, both of us have experienced been run into by small children running riot.

I wasn't having a go at the OP, i was simply mentioning that i wish there was less 'running around' between the displays. There are a few parents in these places who do not give a fuck, don't control their kids, and make it a hazard for people like me.

I'm not generally being run over by people with trolleys, adults on a whole will also apologise if they do accidentally catch my crutches don't spot them when i'm standing there leaning on them while the person i'm with is looking at something.. kids don't... and nor do their parents.

Original poster
Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 18:48

Come on everyone. Let’s all agree to disagree and talk about the funny things that keep kids entertained or something

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OP posts:
CountFucula · 18/01/2026 18:45

This thread is taking a turn…

flopsyrabbit8 · 18/01/2026 18:43

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If coming on an anonymous forum to try and convince yourself you are superior to strangers on the internet helps you to sleep at night, crack on. What a sad little life, Jane.

SingedSoul · 18/01/2026 18:40

ClaraThePigeon · 18/01/2026 13:31

YABVU for allowing him to climb on the furniture. It always amazes me when I see parents allowing their children to do that and generally run riot in shops. Surely common sense and common decency and consideration for others makes it obvious that you shouldn’t?

Edited

Miserable

WirelessInternet · 18/01/2026 18:39

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Pricelessadvice · 18/01/2026 18:38

I remember days out used to involve going to Manchester airport to watch the planes taking off 😅

Do kids not get bored in IKEA? I know I do!

TheNightingalesStarling · 18/01/2026 18:37

A sitcom called IKEA Heights was filmed without permission or knowledge by a group of aspiring filmmakers in an open IKEA.

You were an amateur OP... there's whole levels of IKEA craziness above you.

Needmorelego · 18/01/2026 18:33

Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 18:29

Not near the furniture I HOPE

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There was a photo attached of some swans in the bags.... Mumsnet photo filter is taking it's time today.

Original poster
Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 18:29

Needmorelego · 18/01/2026 18:27

Did you know when swan handlers need to move swans they put them in IKEA bags....

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Not near the furniture I HOPE

OP posts:
Needmorelego · 18/01/2026 18:27

Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 18:20

Just don’t run / climb / speak. Maybe don’t even touch anything. If you must take kids, put them in a blue IKEA bag with a couple of meatballs

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Did you know when swan handlers need to move swans they put them in IKEA bags....

AIBU to think IKEA is a top parenting hack?
Clafoutie · 18/01/2026 18:23

Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 18:10

Noted. I’ll rewrite and cross examine all my posts going forward. My ‘running around and climbing’ was meant in the normal parent shorthand way, not ‘security called’ way. It was actually a really lovely day.

I’m sorry your visit to FV didn’t go well. Thoughts and prayers.

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To be fair, your original post was open to misinterpretation, and you subsequently clarified what you meant, which is also fair. Not so fair then to mock other posters who had a different opinion, based on what you ( literally) first wrote, which is why they were being ‘so literal’!

Original poster
Wallasey123 · 18/01/2026 18:23

FERAL tourists 😂😂😂

OP posts:
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