To think if a soft play area has a large fantastic area for u3s they should be banned from the over 3 section

[Christmastightarse]

Took my 8yo to a fantastic new play area yesterday that had thought about the areas the u3 section was half the place and had so much to do. Signs everywhere saying no one allowed over 3 in those parts. Brilliant.
But the other half of the play area was overrun with toddlers and crawling babies. We left after half an hour due to my ds getting fed up of the little ones under foot so he couldn't use the zip wire for example for fear of hurting them.

AIBU to suggest to the play place the same way they have banned over 3s from using half the play place that they should ban under 3s from using the other half?

IME a well designed older kids frame starts with an obstacle that smaller kids can't overcome. So trailing siblings can pad around the edges, but don't interfere with the main play - and they penetrate the main area when they are agile enough to 'handle' it.

Obviously this can be circumvented by a 'helpful' parent - I think it is quite fair to say that adults are only allowed on if their child is stuck/distressed (& thn only to remove child).

Indoor softplay should be banned. Home of the Norovirus and a lot else besides.

The best older kids one we went to, the spaces on the 'ladder' stacks in the corners were only negatiable by children of about 5 or 6 as they were widely spaced. It was great as the little ones couldn't get up it.

I have to say though, the normal 0-3 sections are as boring as anything.

YANBU. We've got one mainly toddler soft play which I go to at weekends. There's a much bigger soft play which is suitable for older children, but we only go there during school hours. It's not fair on anyone otherwise, the older kids get hampered by the little ones, and the little kids get frustrated.

I get annoyed when over 3's come in the under 3's section so agree that the rules should be enforced both ways

at the 'ban soft play' types. Don't go if you don't like it, and let others make their own choice!

I have to go on the play frame with my 6 year old with sn because he gets distressed if it gets too noisy or busy on there. I also have to help him with some of the more difficult physical stuff. He or we often get followed around by unsupervised toddlers which irritates him and I have had to stop him hitting out at them. If little ones go on the older ones frame they need to be supervised and expect it to be wilder on there / stick to quieter times.

Years ago when mine were soft-players we used to go to a good one where the (can't remember exactly, but pretty sure it was) over 3s was no adults.

You signed them into the 'compound' caged jail! and there were supervisors that stopped them getting in/out and also round the play stuff.

The under 3s were adult supervision and no older kids allowed.

Children that are too small/young should be banned from annoying older kids in their own area. YANBU. (IMO!!)

YANBU

My ds found the 'big kids' section of the soft play too rough and tumble (and some kids seemed to delight in making it more difficult for him once they realised he was getting upset) and he wasn't allowed in the 'small kids' bit so we stopped going . It's a shame because he liked climbing up and down things, just didn't want to be shoved about.

It's not much better now (he's 13). He likes the adult exercise equipment in our local park but despite it all being clearly marked for over 12s he always has to wait because people are looking on fondly while their 5 year olds clamber all over it, even though their own extensive playground is right next door. . I'm just waiting for one of them to try and complain because their small child has hurt themselves on the equipment!

I agree what works best is designing areas of soft play such that a toddler simply can't get up the bottom step, is way better than expecting them to read signs.

It would have slowed DD1 down a bit, although quite likely she'd have used the side netting and got up there somehow.

We took a rung out our TP climbing frame so DD2 could get to the slide, but not on top of the monkey bars.

And no, I wouldn't have complained if DD2 fallen from older DCs equipment or been, accidentally bashed by an older child.

She just had a pathological need to climb everything remotely climbable. The wrong bit of the park or soft play was much safer than most things she chose.

I let ds3 stay in the younger area when he was too old, he was very small for his age and has Sn so couldn't cope with older kids, he is also extremely passive and frankly would just sit still in ballpool so hardly a danger.

He's ten now so obviously stopped years ago, but when we had ds4 a lack of places that could have them both together meant we gave up on soft play full stop, as both boys have a form of autism that is genetic and had to be watched, so it just got too hard to keep the supervision where it needed to be. One of my two older kids is NT but even just following ds4 around in a supervisory / young carer role got him evil looks from the PFB 'how dare you' segment.

Somebody said it's something people have to get used to- actually no, with our boys we haven't found that, we've found most people can process that 3 of them have SN so have different abilities / interests. DS1 for example is 14 but still watches spyder riders and can't go out without an adult, ds3 is like a cuddly 6 year old aged 10, and ds4 is still in the toddler tantrum and limpet stage at age 5.

I'd never have let ds1 go with the babies, he was never really careful or quiet enough, but ds3 stayed very young for many years in all practical ways, not talking until he was six etc.