I would pay £1000 to go to soft play today

[Hardbackwriter]

I honestly never thought I'd get to the point where I'd be fantasising about soft play like it's a Caribbean holiday, but here we are. 2.5 year old and 4 week old, neither slept last night, the toddler is being impossibly whiny as a result. The baby cries every time I put him down. It is chucking it down but I know I'll have to get us all wrapped up and out at some point otherwise DS1 will go totally uncontrollably manic. The thought of another trudge in the rain makes me want to cry. I would honestly empty the bank account to go to soft play so that DS1 could run around and use up his energy in the warm, and I could sit and feed the baby with a coffee that would probably be horrible but I wouldn't care because I wouldn't have to make it. DS1 could even eat some food that I neither prepared nor tidied up after. I am honestly misty-eyed at the thought. Anyone else got some properly, properly tragic fantasies?

I'm with you. 3 year old and 3 month old here and I said the other day that I'd happily give an arm to go to the manky local soft play.

A bookshop. A bookshop with a cafe. I'd pay a £1,000 entrance fee just to look at and smell all the books. And I'd pay £50 for a coffee I could drink inside on a big squashy sofa.

Me too. Ds is 15 months old, he would bloody love it now. We went to 1 soft play session when he was about 8 months to try desperately to support the place in staying open but it was futile l, now all the soft play centres around us have closed for good.

I said on another thread recently that I cannot see anyone opening a new soft play centre so I guess all the children near us will now never get to go. It made me quite sad to think he'd probably never be invited to or have a soft play birthday.

A glass of wine and a plate of chips in a pub! I was talking to a colleague yesterday about this yesterday!

Forget soft play, you have to watch them. It's the IKEA crèche I fantasise about. An hour where the little darlings are entertained for free while I can wander around pretending that my house is both enormous and chic enough to buy all the things. Then meatballs in the cafe afterwards with no washing up.

Ooh a bookshop is a good one. And yes, sinking into a big squishy sofa that isn't mine with a coffee sounds like bliss

I can sit on the squashy sofa in my coffee shop and drink coffee every day, only downside is a have to get up to serve takeaway customers!

I want to pick dd up from ballet and have to hang around in the corridor because they’re late again, chatting with the other ballet mums. I can’t believe I’m missing the experience of waiting around because someone else is running late, surrounded by the smell of feet and with nowhere to sit. Utterly tragic.

@AmazingBouncingFerret

I can sit on the squashy sofa in my coffee shop and drink coffee every day, only downside is a have to get up to serve takeaway customers!

Ah but presumably that also means you have to clean up afterwards? We have a very fancy coffee machine (the most extravagant thing in our house) so I can have nice coffee - a million times nicer than the coffee at soft play! - and our sofa is squishy but I want it in a place and a cup that someone else cleans!

Yeah bunging it in the dishwasher is so taxing! 😂

I know the feeling about cleaning up though, takeaways are all well and good but we still have to throw the containers away and load the dishwasher afterwards.

My trouble with soft play is that both my DSs are mobile now (4.5 and 1.5) but the older one is still very cautious and they both constantly want to go in different directions, so I never actually get to sit still and enjoy my shit coffee. I'd still pay well over the odds just to give it a try right now though! Today I am actually excited that we are all going to the DENTIST. And might go to Greggs afterwards.

What I miss most is the village hall playgroup we used to have on a Tuesday. £2.50 for the family, I get to sit with a cup of cheap tea and a biscuit while they charge around some fairly old tatty toys and I can chat to my friends. Total bargain!

I said this a few weeks ago one rainy weekend! My six and three year old need a good few hours at soft play so I can sit and read for a bit before I go crazy! My house is a constant tip with toys it would do us the world of good to have a change of scenery.

I would pay any money to eat a jacket potato with coleslaw, cheese and beans in my mum's lounge. My ultimate comfort food but only if mum makes it.

Local coffee shop with play area where we used to have fortnightly meet ups. Loved that. The toddlers/babies could play and we could have a natter.

Swimming! I am missing swimming so much and DS2 really wants to go and we can't :(

I'd love to have a coffee and cake and chat with my friend in a cafe. A weekly thing we did before covid

I also would play an unconscionable sum of money for soft play. My 3yo needs a place where he can charge headfirst at everything in peace. And I can ignore him.

This made me laugh because a few weeks ago I asked my DP what he would pay to rent a soft play for the day just for us.
He said £50 and I was absolutely shocked. I said I'd pay £500- he did not understand 🤣

I want to go to our local mahoosive shopping centre, think Bluewater/Westfield/Trafford Centre etc. I want to wander around the shops and look at all the things, pop into Waterstones and have a look and smell of the books, maybe try on some shoes or go to a make-up counter. Then lunch in one of the restaurants in the giant food court. Happy days indeed!

@ijokeijoke

This made me laugh because a few weeks ago I asked my DP what he would pay to rent a soft play for the day just for us. He said £50 and I was absolutely shocked. I said I'd pay £500- he did not understand 🤣

He doesn't fo the bulk of the childcare does he. My DH is the same. Meanwhile I'd genuinely be open to selling body parts if it would buy me a few hours of sole use of a soft play centre.

Absolutely! My 3 year old has an absolutely insane amount of energy to burn off every day and I’m so bored of the local parks/playgrounds. It’s sunny here today but there have been some rainy weekends when I’d have taken out a second mortgage to be able to take her swimming or to soft play instead of trudging around in the rain yet again.

Playgroups and soft play are an absolute lifeline for parents; they saved my life when my children were little. I completely get where you're coming from OP. They should be free of charge and paid for by the government - long term they would reap the rewards. I know they're closed now due to Covid but many mums can't afford them when they're open. The worst thing these despicable Tory shits in government have done is close down the children's centres.

@Same4Walls nope, I'm a SAHM. Send help 🤣

Same. My DC have their birthday today and last year's party was supposed to be in one of those softplay/trampolining places. They were very excited and then very sad when we had to cancel. This time, I promised we'd do a double one, if allowed. And here we are... They' ve turned 11 today, so chances are they won't be able to have their party with their school friends anymore. Never thought I'd feel sad about not bringing ten bouncy boys to one of those silos of depression.

[quote ijokeijoke]@Same4Walls nope, I'm a SAHM. Send help 🤣[/quote]
Yep it was obvious. I too am a SAHM thanks to covid. I cannot send help sadly instesd free of charge you can totally have my 15 month old.

I'd give any one of my organs for a trip to the local zoo. Bought yearly passes at the beginning of last year, haven't had the chance to use them. 3 year old can run around gazing at the animals and I can walk leisurely behind her with an overpriced take away coffee, bliss. I even miss the inevitable tantrum negotiation of what she can and can't have from the gift shop.