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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Aibu to hate soft play

108 replies

EmmaandJacob · 20/05/2012 20:55

I hate soft play, don't know why just can't stand the germ filled horrid places!!!
I am not a germaphope in any way, and I don't mind lots of kids running around, I would just rather go to the park, play in the garden or play games inside if rainy. I have a 2.5 ds and a 3 month old ds, my mum friends make comments implying I ama being selfish and need to get over it, not in so may words just comments like but those places are for the children and 2.5 can run around enjoying himself while you concentrate on ds2 have been a few times now and just can't learn to love the place!
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OP posts:

TalHotBlond · 21/05/2012 15:06

My ds loves them, I cannot stand the places. And you can't even drink through it.

BrainSurgeon · 21/05/2012 15:25

Those places are for rainy days only, but NOT during school holidays and NOT if it can be avoided (as in do something else with the kids - garden centre, playdate - anyting!)

cakeismysaviour · 21/05/2012 15:38

My kids won't even know what these places are if I get my way.

Rainydayagain · 21/05/2012 16:13

Never go to them,devils work!

A Walk in the woods is far more entertaining.

At a party someone was appaled my ds had never been to one, really appaled. Until i eplained all the putdoor stuff we do....then she back tracked we come when it rains. Of course you do.

fruitybread · 21/05/2012 16:48

YANBU - but they vary so much, and if you find one that suits then they can be great. Local council ones near me (ie soft play sessions where things get put out then tidied away each time) are pretty good, small and friendly - the couple of purpose built barns I've been to were just gruesome (dirty, stinky, expensive, crap food and drink).

IME what makes any soft play/playcentre unbearable are parents who turn up, empty child out of buggy, then sit on their arses drinking coffee/reading mags/texting etc while their kids go into Lord of the Flies mode. I don't expect helicopter parenting - but I don't expect parents to shrug off all responsibility. It's like 'we're not at home - I don't give a shit what they do.' Ugh.

oranges123 · 21/05/2012 19:35

A new one has just opened near us. It is brand spanking new (with prices to match) but that didn't stop one set of parents giving their barely walking son a cake to eat as he wandered round the equipment spraying crumbs as he went and finally abandoning the remainder of it at the bottom of the big slide to get trodden in. And people wonder why those places end up dirty.

My DD is too small to get round the frame by herself but she is 2.5 going on 14 so she refuses point blank to stick to the toddler stuff. It's a good workout for me at least...

oranges123 · 21/05/2012 19:38

Oh and being fat on a soft play frame with a toddler is quite interesting, particularly when you have to squeeze through rollers to get to her. I went from a FF to a AA in one fell swoop.

MrTumblesCrackWhore · 21/05/2012 20:33

YANBU but they allowed me to leave the house with ds1 when dd2 was a baby. A safe place where I know he couldn't run off when I was feeding dd2 and I got to see some of my mates to stop me from going crazy.

In essence, I hate them, and as soon as dd2 grows out of them I shall rejoice, but they have given us variety to our days (we love the park but I can't go there EVERY day) and at least allowed me to buy nice cake.

I'm a bit of a soft play snob though and only go to two or three clean, nice, independent ones. I'm lucky enough to have a farm with a soft play area nearby, another one at a gym which has a lovely grown up cafe attached to it and one at a nice garden centre.

FamiliesShareGerms · 21/05/2012 20:35

I am so glad so many people agree with me that they are completely loathsome places. I thought that there was something about them that I just didn't get!

I used to take DS from time to time, but I decided a while ago to Just Say No to queuing to get in the car park; queuing to get into a smelly, dark industrial unit; paying a small fortune (our closest even charges for adults!); sitting in a migraine inducing noise cave while semi-feral children scarper around; never quite deciding whether to let DS scarper on his own, or try to clamber after him on the play frame; being stung for extortionately priced poor quality food and drink... Funnily enough, he has managed to survive this deprivation so far.

ThisIsMummyPig · 21/05/2012 21:09

I can't believe you all. If it wasn't for soft play I would have exploded by now. We go to the park about 3 times a week, and soft play about once a fortnight, but sometimes it really does rain all week, and where else can you go with a baby, or a toddler who falls over all the time, and an older child.

I can honestly say my youngest learned to walk using their push alongs, and learned to scoot using their scooters. All indoors, on sticky carpet. However, mine are still able to go during the term. Both my kids are very active, and rainy day activities just don't cut it for more than an hour. The oldest (4) rarely watches TV. I love love love soft play.

Oh, and my kids are hardly ever ill.

BillyBollyBandy · 21/05/2012 21:49

There is a machine that cleans the balls by the way. How often it is used is another matter of course...

We go to 2 - 1 is bright and breezy and clean but fairly busy
1 is clean and very quiet as it is a bit dingy.

Don't eat in either of them though, but I am quite tight thrifty

QueenMaeve · 21/05/2012 21:57

detest them with a passion. far rather go to a park. they are always smelly and some of mine always end up bawling.

vj32 · 21/05/2012 22:01

Don't get why loads of people are saying they would rather go to the park.

Of course anyone would rather go to the park, but in the lovely weather we have had recently that has frequently not been an option, or at least not with a just walking dc. A good soft play place is for burning off steam when they can't run in the park!!

MrsBucketxx · 21/05/2012 22:48

i have never been to one i was thinking about it i won't be going now though.

naughtymummy · 22/05/2012 07:29

Total last resort on a rainy day, would rather do anything.else. Havent set foot in one for 18 months now. Swimming is our preferedrainy day activity now :)

MrsBucketxx · 22/05/2012 08:03

do they clean the equipment with an anti bac wipe etc after?

JugglingWithTangentialOranges · 22/05/2012 09:00

I used to love going to several near us when mine were small for a nice, peaceful
and a fun, stress-free run around for the DCs

especially good in winter when park can get a bit chilly

JugglingWithTangentialOranges · 22/05/2012 09:04

Some were more peaceful than others mind you - one of them the seating was squashed right up against the play/ climbing area and the noise was deafening !

Shimbo · 22/05/2012 09:21

I think it depends where you go. I love mine, we have a couple of cleanish ones where they regularly come round and hoover up crumbs etc, and the equipment is all in good condition. I can't imagine not going when the weather is crappy with my toddlers, I would be driven mad otherwise, and go either on my own (cuppa and a sit down) or with friends for a good chat. I do keep a close eye on my DCs though!

InelegantlyWasted · 22/05/2012 09:27

YANBU

Soft play centres are the seventh circle of hell. I don't like them now and I don't think I would have liked them if they had been invented in the dim, distant past when I was a chld.

However, DS enjoys them and I let him have his birthday party at one last month as the thought of having ten 4yr olds in my house was even worse than spending 2hrs in soft play hell!

WopBopALooBop · 22/05/2012 09:37

I don't have kids but HATED soft play the rare times I went as a child and I don't see the appeal now either. The feeling of drowing in the ball pool... how is that fun?? And now I'm aware of germs etc, soft play just seems gross. Ew.

severnofnine · 22/05/2012 10:21

YABU

does noone else actually enjoy going in and having a go??? am i the only one? I think i'll be sad when ds3 no longer wants me to go and play with him. the slides are amazing and i enjoy climbing through the tunnels/ playing in the ball pit. I cant be the only one surely. tis much better exercise than the gym
and the dc always completely tire themselves out..... without me having to stand in a freezing park.

maybe i'm biased as the 2 near us are quite new and shiny still. and both serve good tea and nice cakes. can imagine some can be grim but the ones near us are lovely if a bit noisy

DesperatelySeekingSedatives · 22/05/2012 10:55

My sister once told me about when my lovely nephew dived into the ballpit and came out covered in poo. Someone else's poo Someone's little darling had clearly had a (major) accident and hadn't reported it. Lovely. Luckily another mum took pity on my sister and nephew and let him have her son's spare t shirt (my sister only had trousers incase he wet them. I guess she didn't expect him to get covered from chest to knees in poo).

Ever since then I have been deeply mistrustful of softplay especially ballpits. So has my nephew.

Even before that however I didn't like softplay much. Honestly I got fed up with my DD getting picked on our local one where we used to live. So many parents seemed to turn a blind eye to bad behaviour at soft play. I don't personally know anyone who would watch their child headbutt another on purpose and say nothing to them.

The park is much more fun

RecipeJunkie · 22/05/2012 11:09

I don't particularly like them - would much prefer to go to the park. The local one to us is a house of pain, very closed in because they have filled the 'top' up with party rooms so there is no natural light, too loud etc. I never take mine normally, and only went a few times when they were little at the suggestion of others, but they have their place I think. A few weekends ago I was staying with my mum, with my 2 kids(8 and 6) and my brother was there with his kids - 3 and 1 - who live normally in Tanzania and had never seen anything like it. We went because it was completely pissing down and we had already destroyed the house. Was amazing to watch the Tanzania contingent just totally having a ball. It was a nice clean airy one though. They do exist - usually when they're far away from a bus route and houses. This one was on a trading estate outside a small Yorkshire market town. very 'yummy'.

LieInsAreRarerThanTigers · 22/05/2012 11:52

I neither love nor hate them , thought of them as a necessary evil I suppose, some visits more tiresome than others (the worst one when I lost my car keys in the ball pool - permanently!)
I can honestly say I think I witnessed more pushing/fighting incidents at the park than softplay, but maybe because I went there more often?

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