To think of you leave toys on the floor at soft play you can't expect other children not to play with them

[IShallCallYouSquishy]

At a soft play place with my SIL, DNephew (5.3) and DD (14.5months)

DN found some toys on the floor right next to the toddler play area and brought them over to my DD saying "Aunty Squishy I thought DD might like to play with these" They looked like toys someone may have brought with them though there's no way I would expect a 5 year old to realise that. I said to him "that's very kind of you DN, thank you very much, but I think they might belong to a little boy or girl so I think we should put them back just incase. He was good as gold about it and gave them straight to me so I could put them back. I reiterated how kind and thoughtful it was to think of DD and bring them over to her, as I wanted to acknowledge his thoughtfulness.

As I walking out of the toddler play bit a woman saw me with the toys and snapped "I think you'll find they're ours"
I responded with "my nephew found them and..." I was cut off before I got chance to explain what he said/I was doing with them with "well it would be a good idea to teach him not to take things that aren't his"
Feeling a bit defensive for what was a very innocent misunderstanding by a young child, I said "well a 5 year old found toys on the floor of a play area there's no way you can expect children who are here to play not to play with them of they're left lying around around"

She just "hmphed" and walked off toys in hand

Surely she couldn't expect toys in a soft play area not to be picked up? An adult could tell they didn't belong to the soft play centre but how can you expect a child to? My DN overheard this woman and said to me "I'm sorry aunty Squishy" I told him he didn't need to be sorry, he thought he was doing something kind and he wasn't to know they toys weren't to be played with.

So, over reaction from this woman? I thought I was doing the right thing taking them back.

This is why I also hate soft play

[pjmama]

She humph-ed because she knew you were right.

[Idocrazythings]

Rude stupid woman

[diddl]

I think she maybe thought she'd caught you in the act of making off with them!

Sounds as if she was cross with herslf though & getting defensive!

[IShallCallYouSquishy]

Good point diddl (please say your NN is after a mouse character I loved in Germany?!)

Maybe she saw me give my DD one of my chips when we had lunch (promptly refused by the fussy madam of course) and concluded I was the kind of parent to pinch toys

[HooverFairy]

She sounds precious. Why on earth do people insist on taking their own toys to soft play? It only creates situations such as these. I had a similar situation at a baby group when I gathered a few toys up and put them in front of DS, I was getting a few funny looks for ages until snack time when we all moved, cue the mum across the room proclaiming "oh now you can have your toys back that the lady took away, we'll not bring these next week don't worry". I apologised straight away and explained that I didn't realise that they were toys she'd brought but she kept saying "no need to apologise" over and over in a really loud voice as if I was being unreasonable. Awful.

I hope you don't have any further encounters with that woman, what an arse.

[Thepowerof3]

That woman sounds like a wanker HooverFairy, I never let my DCs bring their own toys into toddler groups as other toddlers would naturally want to play with them surely

[rainrainandmorerain]

Of course she was being silly (and rude).

If you have to take toys with you, say you're going on somewhere else afterwards and need them, then shove them in a bag and hide them, so they aren't 'on display.'

If it's a special toy they like to take everywhere with them, even more reason to hide it, small children can get v upset if they think another child has run off with Special Flopsy Bunny or whatever.

I do think there are a lot of people, parents included, who just have very little idea of what a shared space or activity involves.

[Thepowerof3]

I'd agree with that Rain

[MissDuke]

I would never let my kids bring their own toys there - if they harp on I tell them they will have to share them with other children, and they could get lost or broken. They always leave them in the car!

[WhispersOfWickedness]

YANBU. We were at a soft play last week and a kid left a woody (from toy story) doll on the slide. My kids wanted to play with it but I told them they couldn't as it was someone else's. It stayed there for ages though. Those things are £30+, who would leave it for someone to potentially walk off with?? Well, a child obviously, but you've got to wonder why the parents let them bring it in in the first place.

[diddl]

Yes, <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=banket-hendricksen.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/12-Diddl1.jpg&imgrefurl=banket-hendricksen.nl/producten/logo-taarten/&h=1132&w=1188&sz=147&tbnid=Wft0zF_-gxzw1M:&tbnh=90&tbnw=94&zoom=1&usg=__loBdHjNj9nPIWmN9YDvyMWKmrNg=&docid=z-n15XgoShEJNM&sa=X&ei=a3MHUs8Mxcg5o-SBwAY&ved=0CC0Q9QEwAA&dur=39" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">this is me

[Whothefuckfarted]

She was being entirely silly and rude. The exact same thing happened to me at the library in the children's section.

I took a good few toys for my 15 month old to play with and one little boy about 3-4 years old had made off with one to show his mum, She had it on her table and I went over and said, 'can I have the xxxx it's my daughters'
with a grin and she replied 'oh he found it on the floor.' I said 'no problem at all my fault thank you'

That should have been her response!