to think they should not have been allowed back in?

[FujimotosElixir]

I went to a softplay with my 2 children , one 5 and one 2 and my friend with her child a bit older. I had to take my eldest to the toilet. When I arrived back my toddler was sat on friends knee and friends kid ran to me saying 'someone's been hurting ds2' I initially assumed it was scrapping as DS 2 is a bruiser. It was much worse than I thought it turns out in the soft rolling pins a group of lads at least 10,11 had been hitting him, pushing him,kicking him and when he got back up again tripped him up again and again, a woman saw this as he'd gotten split up from friends kid (big place) and told the boys and got him out of there my friend had just come looking for him and came across it. I was shook up at the age difference, malice involved , told staff and they found the parents etc the mum just said "sorry I'll tell them' it was an extended family group so I didn't expect then to kick them all out but I saw them back in 2 mins later. we soon left as it was not acceptable IMO. AIBU to think should have been told not to go back and dealt with some severity as it wasn't a minor incident? I was too stunned to kick up a fuss tbh now I'm angry.

I would fully expect a group of 10/11 year olds to have the brain capacity to realise that there are much much smaller kids about and to conduct themselves accordingly.

I'd be asking the place if they have CCTV footage and if so, I'd then be calling the police. Completely unacceptable if it happened the way you've described and if the perpetrators were as old as 10. Hope your DS is okay now OP.

To those sayiing that the OP doesn't know, no one knows what has happened therefore nothing can be done.

What about the woman who interfene and told the older children off? Was she not a good enough witness to the situation? Why did the softplay people not asked if someone had seen what had hapened and gone to see her?

The reality is that often the staff there is ill equipped to deal with these situation. It was a group of people, the older children were just smirking which makes me think (and the staff too I imagine) that any telling off whoouold have resulted in a big kicking off from them.
Easy to see why they decided not to do much.
And why it's essential to report it to management and ask for better training of the staff.

The witness (woman) explained to the staff what happened.

ask to see the H & rules regarding g then age restrictions.

I thought it was because of the equipment being less access able to younger kids and to ensure faster flow for older children. and to prevent accidental injury.

clearly it's to prevent beatings as well

Definitely call the manager and ask about cctv. then. involve the police .

God I loathe soft play...

OP, I hope your DS is ok now

If the assault happened as described in the OP I would be involving the police too. Such violence against a pre-schooler is a serious red flag. Remember Jamie Bulger?

OP my 3 year old got punched in the face by an older boy I would have guessed about 7/8 at soft play

When I confronted the mother and told her what had happened her response was "well he was following them around" (them
Being that child and another who actually spat at my son)

I agree with pp who said some people are just shit parents

What happened wasn't your fault, it wasn't your friends fault, it wasn't your child's fault
YANBU!

(Oh and phone the police)

If the woman explained what she saw first hand, then you really need to go and complain to the manager.

Your poor ds :(

Thanks for replies I rang the manager she basically said because he wandered into the big area the policy is to let the big boys back in, and give them the benefit of the doubt. When I said but this was rough and tumble was deliberate aggression towards a toddler by people who were of crim responsibility age, there was a long awkward pause and "well staff followed procedure and its parents job to supervise children" pfft waste of time.

*but this wasn't rough and tumble.

call.police nyway and make them.request the cctv.

I can't believe so many people are saying that ten year old boys shouldn't be punished for violence towards another child, a toddler no less, because his mother wasn't supervising him.

Seriously?

So of the same beating occurred in the toddled area they'd do something about it? violence isn't acceptable. In any of the sections. Surely? regardless .of the age of the kids involved.

As you've got nowhere with your complaint Fujimoto, I would just avoid that soft play from now on and tell friends why you're doing so.

Round here there are well managed and badly managed soft plays - I don't go to the ones staffed by disinterested teenagers who stand around while older children barrel through the toddler area on dirty equipment. The best ones here are the council-run soft plays in leisure centres.

Ring 101, ask them to get the cctv etc. Leave then to handle both the kids and tthe soft play mgmt.

Op , does your son have any marks/ bruises from the incident?

I work in a primary school and spend a lot of time with Y5 and 6 kids, so 10/11 year olds. Some of them can and absolutely do hurt the much younger children. It's a power thing. And a bravado thing.

And yes, 10/11 year old still go to soft play. Many of them have birthday parties there. People really need to try and think outside their own experience sometimes.

You really can't win wrt soft play on MN. If you follow your children around you're helicopter parenting and getting in everyones way. If you let them just get on with it you're being lazy and neglectful.

OP, I'm with you. What possible reason would a toddler have for falsely accusing strange children of hurting him? What reason would the woman who stepped in have? The older kids were bullies. I've seen similar situations myself and the parents rarely accept their kids have done wrong, much less punish them for it. If my 10 year old DS (yes, I have one - he even enjoys soft play, shock horror) treated a 2 year old like that he'd be in so much trouble he wouldn't believe it. But he wouldn't because I've taught him empathy and compassion.

I would walk away from this thread if I were you before people drive you to drink. Hide the thread and don't look back.

The replys on here victim blaming are shocking.

Op, I'm sorry that happened..I hope your little boy and you are okay. If that happened to my two year old I would of freaked out.

I have a 2 year old. I would call the police if that happened to him.

Please call the police OP.

Sorry this happened you must be so upset. Little kids run off and you can't give one on one when you have more than one! Even though he was in big area the behavior of the older boys was shameful and I feel scared for what sort of adults they will turn into. I had a similar situation in park when a older child (9ish) hit my friends 3yo ds over the head and told him to fuck off. stuff like this really depresses me. Hope your son is ok now. The response from the manager was shit.

It is a parent's job to supervise a 2 year old though surely? A 2 year old ought to be only in the toddler area and even then, totally supervised by a parent. There's no way on earth I'd let a 2 year old enter the older kids' area unsupervised.
You have to accept some responsibility for your lack of supervision here OP, but, that said, the behaviour of those older kids was awful. Their parents must accept responsibility for that too.

Soft play areas are not supervised areas. They are not crèches. They require parental supervision.