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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think that DCs should be supervised on bouncy castle slide

63 replies

motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 00:02

Went to a fete today. DS (3.5) went on a bouncy castle slide thing.

We paid, and he came down it once, all smiles, then ran round the back again. He didn't appear again for ages, so I went round the back to see if he needed help.

I wasn't prepared for the absolute carnage that I saw! There were about 20 children trying to get up the two ladders. The ladders were both quite difficult to manage and many of the children were struggling. It was pandemonium! DCs of all ages were pushing each other out of the way, falling down, trampling other DCs. One toddler (maybe 2.5 or 3) in particular kept getting knocked back and pushed off the slide, and fallen on by older DCs. I was worried his neck was going to get hurt. Another mum turned up and between us we restored some sanity, picked the little ones up, told them not to push each other, helped them up the ladders.

I found the young guy we'd paid (£1.80) and said there should be someone round the back to supervise. He said that there was a guy, but he was away right now. I said it was dangerous, he went and got him (the boss I think). I told him that it had been getting dangerous. He said "there's no blood, it's all fine" Hmm

10 minutes later, the "boss" was off round the front again, chatting on his mobile. A little boy was struggling at the top, his dad was standing on the bottom of the bouncy castle to give him a hand up. When the boss came back, he had a go at the guy for standing on the bouncy castle. He said "I was helping my son". The "boss" was really arsey and said he'd have to pay him if he broke it. The dad said, incredulously, "what about my son's safety?!"

I said there really needed to be an adult to supervise, that it wasn't safe. He was getting visibly annoyed with me, but I can't believe he though it was fine to let so many kids be unsupervised! It was round the back, where no adults could see them. There seemed to be no time limits (or age restrictions) they just kept piling kids on, and it was getting really crowded. If parents are meant to supervise that should be made clear.

Sorry that was an essay, but had to get it off my chest!
WABU to expect the guy to actually supervise his bouncy castle slide?

OP posts:
MrsKeithRichards · 30/07/2012 00:03

Sounds like a shambles!

NunTheWiser · 30/07/2012 00:08

I'd contact the organisers of the fete and let them know your concerns. Sounds appallingly managed.

Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 00:14

I think I should complain. It was the guy's attitude that was the main problem.

I said to him "there should be someone here at all times" he said "no there doesn't, not all the time". This is when he was getting annoyed. His attitude on the surface was all jolly, but scratch the surface and he really wasn't a jolly person, not at all!

The thing is from the front you would get no inkling of the chaos going on behind!

It's a shame as the rest of the fete was lovely, it was a great day.

OP posts:
overthehurdles · 30/07/2012 00:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lisaro · 30/07/2012 03:46

Yanbu. I'd contact the organisers of the fete ang get his details. Then report him to trading standards, HSE, environmental health and the bloody pope if need be. That's actually quite scary.

sagesponsoredbymacdonalds · 30/07/2012 04:19

YANBU-I have taken my 4yo DS to a few places where they have these and it is almost always carnage-DS was pushed from the top of a really big one (probably 7-10m high, not sure) and was imo really lucky to not have broken his neck-he didn't even touch the slide part, just clean fell all the way to the bottom. People screamed when they saw him drop I swore

The 'ladder' side is just as dangerous when there are loads of children on there at once.

nailak · 30/07/2012 04:46

I had this with my 2 year old, the organisers were trying to get parents out of the bouncy castle silde type thing, but there was a covered section in the middle, i saw some kids stuck in there and crying, i went to try and coak my 2 year old to go down the slide, and the organiser told me I had to move as kids were running and it was dangerous.

I said no, look there are kids crying and getting squashed over there, I am not just leaving them, he said "is that your child" (child was different race) So I told him no, and just carried on talking to the child until I saw someone that looked like it could be his mum and called her over, and it was his mum.

Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 09:40

Thanks lisaro i was wondering who I should complain to. (Not so sure about the pope as not Catholic but guess I could give it a try Wink)

I'm still annoyed about this today. It was the guy's attitude more than anything, he was arsey while disagreeing that the kids should be supervised.

It is an accident waiting to happen IMO.

OP posts:
Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 09:41

sage that's really scary. Was he OK afterwards?

OP posts:
Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 09:49

nailak, poor thing, it's lucky you were there for her.

If you find you're having to step in to protect random children then they're not doing their job properly!

It should be safe, first and foremost.

And the fact that he had a go at you rather than thinking about the needs of the child speaks volumes IMO.

You see bouncy castles for sale in the small ads all the time. I'm sure there are lots of lovely people running bouncy castles. But I'm sure there are those who just got into it because they thought it would be an easy way to make money, and aren't really that clued up / bothered about safety.

OP posts:
carycach · 30/07/2012 09:58

Do you mean one of those slldes that are about the height of a upstairs window?
I think maybe that parents shouldn't send 2 and 3 yr olds on it without an older child to look out fr them.
Maybe there needs to be a minimum height resriction for parents who have o no common sense?

gordyslovesheep · 30/07/2012 10:08

I agree it should be - sounds mad.

That said parents need to supervise as well - My old mum was on the bouncy castle (staffing not bouncing!) at the church Jubilee party - it was free and she was volunteering

The older kids where vile - we tried to have 2 separate sessions in rotation - tots and then older kids - it was chaos and the parents of this big tweens who where banging into the little ones just stood and watched - she walked away and left them too it - had a cake and a nice cup of tea!

ObviouslyItsTheOlympics · 30/07/2012 10:08

I dealt with exactly the same at a fete on Saturday (I'm an EHO). I was shocked at the attitude of the bouncy castle/slide providers. It was only pegged at each corner and there was only one guy both supervising and controlling numbers from the gate. We stopped anyone using it until all or concerns were addressed. Please call your local EH department with all details and they can investigate.

ObviouslyItsTheOlympics · 30/07/2012 10:09

*our concerns

Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 10:10

carycach no it wasn't one of those massive ones. (You can see the kids going up those ones usually can't you?)

The height was about ceiling height of an average room I guess.

ObviouslyItsTheOlympics as far as I could tell they didn't seem to be controlling numbers at all! There was no time limit.

OP posts:
ObviouslyItsTheOlympics · 30/07/2012 10:17

Taken from industry best practice guidance

"The operator and attendants should watch the activity on the inflatable constantly. They should use a whistle or other signal and take action at the first sign of any misbehaviour. Somersaults and rough play should not be allowed.

It is the operator?s responsibility to ensure that the equipment is not overloaded with users. Larger, more boisterous users should be separated from smaller ones. The number of users at any one time should be limited to allow each user enough room to play safely."

carycach · 30/07/2012 11:07

They are potentially dangerous and sadly all the operators seem to care about is taking as much money as possible regardless of the number and age of the children.the ones I have seen have mostly been at fairs.If the worst happened and a child got injured I doubt you'd have much joy trying to sue and get money out of them

ObviouslyItsTheOlympics · 30/07/2012 11:15

They are, like all inflatables that people get into, potentially lethal. I would expect any operator to have public liability insurance.

Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 11:40

ObviouslyItsTheOlympics thanks for that link, I'll definitely use that in the complaint.

OP posts:
Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 11:46

The other thing that worried me was that if the kids stood up at the top of the slide, it was dangerous as they could potentially fall off the side, onto the floor.

They were shouting at any DC who did stand up to sit down, because of the danger.

I wondered why they hadn't put crash mats at the bottom of that potential fall - one on either side - if they knew it was a hazard.
Should they have done this?

Of course the DCs should listen to the instructions but if the slide owners know it's a hazard, and they're letting really little ones on, wouldn't it be a good idea to use crash mats just in case?

OP posts:
Original poster
motherofallhangovers · 30/07/2012 11:50

gordyslovesheep i did supervise my LO when he was on the more traditional bouncy castle next to it, I could see him at all times.

But the way this slide was, the Dcs ran round the back to climb up it, so you couldn't see them from the front. It didn't occur to me to supervise as I could see there were lots of DCs much smaller than DS on it already, and I just expected him to be a short time climbing up. I was standing at the front watching and waiting for his head to pop over the top.

I didn't expect it to be nearly so dangerous round there! Lesson learnt, I will check this kind of thing out next time.

OP posts:
nailak · 30/07/2012 13:07

And they were trying to prevent me from supervising because of health and safety.

ObviouslyItsTheOlympics · 30/07/2012 13:18

Well Nailak I would prefer 'official', trained supervision in accordance with their risk assessment and method statement. However if this is not available or up to scratch then obviously parents should supervise and intervene where necessary.

nailak · 30/07/2012 14:11

Yes their risk assessment said no parents around slide as obstruction for running kids. One man at front one at back, but no one in covered middle section.

ILikeMagicMike · 30/07/2012 14:38

Thank goodness it's not just me!

I often think I am looked at as some sort of "helicopter parent" when I hover underneath my ds on these sort of things - what happened to sage's ds is exactly the sort of incident that I fear happening. (Hope he was ok?)

When my ds went on one of these, my DH insisted on going on with him (DS was only 2 I think), as like this story, it was absolute carnage.

I am always very wary of bouncy castles/slides etc, as the men in charge never seem like they give a shit.