another Mum telling MY 5yo that she can't play in a soft play area

[confused3331]

cos there were babies in that part is wrong.
There are a few sections to the soft play area. DD is 5 and was playing in 2-5yo section and was told by another Mum that she can't play in there as it's where babies play (there were a few babies in there at the time). DD ignored the Mum, but AIBU in thinking she shouldn't have said that to my child ?

Was she playing rough?

Is it really a big deal?!

I imagine she thought your DD was older than 5, or possibly being too rough.

I don't think it's great that your DD ignored her tbh - she could have said she was 5.

Does your daughter look older than 5?
Where were you whilst the conversation was happening?
YABU BTW and over-reacting.

I must confess to having asked/ reminded older kids not to play in the 'baby' section of our soft play. The little ones really are quite vulnerable with much bigger stronger ( and usually quite excitable) 3/4/5 year olds. Also a lot of five year olds will appear bigger than their true age( certainly true of my eldest son). I would only be annoyed if the Mum was rude or upset you DD. what did you say/ do?

If she's 5 then she's in the right section so YANBU

Maybe the mother thought she was older, in which case she should have spoken to you or a member of staff.

Did you point out to the mum that it was a 2-5 area and the babies shouldn't be in there... I don't think yabu, the babies should be in the baby section :)

Well the woman's comments seem to have been totally ineffectual so she can't have been very direct or forceful. YABU.

Maybe the mum thought she was older or maybe the presence of the younger kids made her think it was for younger kids.

Was she rude? If not then it's not really a big deal to my mind, just a misunderstanding.

A lady told my ds the same thing this week, he ia nearly 5. He came and told me that a lady said he couldnt play there. I was a little irritated but he is big for his age - looks 6/7 so I just said to him to play in the bigger bit as I would be even more stress if he stomped on a crawling baby

If the babies were in danger of being trampled by rough playing 5 year old's you can see her point. Your dd should not have decided for herself to ignore her, though, that's plain rude.

No she doesn't even look 5. She's very small for her age. I don't think she was being rough no. She wasn't actually going near the babies, but it is a very small section.

I didn't say anything. At the time i thought she was telling another child (as well as mine) who i thought was her DD. Then later on i realised it wasn't her DD. I was bit confused by the whole thing tbh.

So you don't really know what happened, or how your child was behaving!

i really don't think DD was being rude. She was playing in the correct section. Age 2-5 years.

don't worry life is too short.

your dd was right to ignore her though or arnt we telling our children not to talk to strangers any more.

I never tell other parents what to do.

When I have been in hell at a soft play, with a baby. I normally move them .

Yes, some children are over excitable. They still might only be 4, 5 or whatever. I always found they would move over to the germ invested climbing area quite quickly anyway! :)

But the 2-5 year olds sections is NOT for babies so the other mother had it the wrong way round.

90% yanbu, depends what your DD was doing.
My 6 & 8yo got shoo'd out of an "under 8s" playground not long back.

Because the 3-4yos might copy them in doing things like climbing & sliding.
Should explain they were both smaller than average 7yos! I was pretty about that.

So what happened OP?

I take it you sent your DD back in there?

well i sat there looking confused cos couldn't quite beleive that they were told to leave, DH said 'but that's 2-5 year old section' to me, so I thought i'd just keep my eye on it and have a word if she said anything again. DD's not great at listening and following instructions (possibly dyspraxic), so i didn't have to tell her it's ok to play in there, cos she just carried on anyway.

DD wasn't in there all the time. She was going in and out. If she does get a bit rowdy i have a word and ask her to be careful of the babies. But on this occasion she wasn't. Been in there loads of times over last 5 years and never been told to stay out of that section.

I ask older children to leave the baby area. They shouldn't be in it

In your case the babies sound like they were in the wrong place rather than your DD but it doesn't sound like a big deal. Maybe she looks older than 5

YABU and over reacting

she's very, very small for her age. looks more like 4.

Well it's no big deal. Next time just say "This is the 2 - 5 area, the baby section is over there"

Doesn't sound like she was rude or unpleasant

'You shouldn't be in here, this section is for 5 and under'

'She's my daughter and she is 5'

Did you have that conversation, or were you too busy being ?

People make incorrect assumptions, so you explain. Problem solved.

I'd be a bit pissed off, since your daughter was in the right section. I have no problem with people telling bigger kids to get out of the baby section or saying watch out for the little ones - I told a girl not to take a chair into the ball pool last week. But adults giving instructions to other people's kids only works if it's a reasonable instruction and this wasn't.