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 have a 2 year old and i would have gone batshit crazy.

I am actually disgusted by this thread tbh.

I would report it to the police.

This is reminding me of little James bulger.

Just because a toddler is unsupervised for a second or two. It doesn't make them fair game for sadistic older boys

you did nothing wrong OP.

I have an 8yo, in the older area he may run round and accidentally run into a smaller child as he is there enjoying himself but he wouldn't do it on purpose and if he had done it accidentally he would probably come and get me and explain what happened. No one would be responsible for that, it is one of those things. Just because a younger child is in an 'older' area it doesn't mean that older children can do what they like. I would be really angry if my children did this. I really hope that these children weren't doing it deliberately because it's a bloody awful society we live in otherwise.

It is difficult managing two children, but the OP left her friend in charge and her friend was watching him. Have some of the previous posters never lost sight of a child in soft play or at a park? I know I have, I often have been walking round and round trying to find them all and worrying about looking like a helicopter parent. I often ask the older one to find the others. I hope your little boy is feeling better, how about a cuddle and a duvet day on the sofa. How about a trip advisor review? Do they do them for soft play?

Just because a younger child is in an 'older' area it doesn't mean that older children can do what they like. I would be really angry if my children did this

exactly.

would it be ok for adults to kick a child around because he happened to wander off the streets into a pub?

would it be ok for a three yr old to push a baby off a slide because the baby shouldn't have been there?

of course not.

Most normal kids would surely just point him. In the right direction or go tell tenor mum or a staff member.

what a normal ten year old doesn't do is beat up a child in his way.

If op was moaning about an accidental injury that happened as a result of being in the way somewhere he shouldn't have been then there then you'd have a point. but this wasn't an accidental knock over it was a full on attack.

I don't think anyone is blaming the op or suggesting the behavior is ok etc. I'm not anyway. Just answering the actual op which people seem to be missing.

Look at it from the staff members pov. Op comes over and explains her side, even with friend and other third lady who saw it. Mum of older boys says 'actually they're younger, they kept wanting to play silly rough boy games, ops ds was following them round unsupervised for ages, they kept trying to avoid him, but being thoughtless kids eventually didn't notice him back again and he unfortunately got hurt unintentionally by their rough game'.
Staff member, who is prob on nmw and trained to sell snacks at double their retail price and tell people not to go up slides the wrong way, and hasn't even got a clue about how to view cctv, can't justify picking one side over another and throwing them out.
Now if op had said aibu to demand staff are trained better, to demand management review cctv to prove the boys mum is lying and ban her in future, aibu to be upset about ds being hurt, aibu to think these boys were horrid, my reply would be different. As it is, op asked aibu to think they should have been thrown out, and given the practicalities it was u to think an ill trained member of staff should take one side above another with no proof they are aware of.
I also don't think people bringing up james bulger or rape etc adds to either ops valid points or anyone else's, it's actually quite distasteful and inappropriate.

Lurked, agree with what you say (apart from the bit about telling people not to go up the slides the wrong way - just never seen that happen and God I hate when people do that with children at the top). Some of the early posters were blaming the OP, it is her fault she should have been supervising him. No one has suggested that the behaviour was OK.

I think there is an issue in that the majority of soft play areas don't seem to enforce rules of behaviour. It is a cop out of the manager to say that parents are responsible for supervising their children, they are in terms of ensuring that their children do not have accidents but if other parents aren't supervising their children and they are causing problems there isn't a lot that the first parent can do. This is where a responsible manager should step in but often they don't and are too concerned with getting as many people in as possible. You ultimately vote with your feet and don't go back. Having said that I'd hate to work in one and try to resolve the issues and disputes.

God the answer from the manager was pathetic!!
And yes I'm pretty sure the staff was following procedures which that these procedure should be CHANGED!!

I ahve to say, as I suspect you don't really know the women who saw what has happened, the next step would be to stop going to that softplay area and to be sure that you never give a good feedback about them (Actually do they have something on their wensite wher you can put feedback or are they on any listing where you can do so?)

How awful, another Jamie Bulger event waiting to happen with these thugs!

Do call the police, hopefully they will make the parents take it seriously to nip this kind of behaviour in the bud.

Mum of older boys says 'actually they're younger, they kept wanting to play silly rough boy games, ops ds was following them round unsupervised for ages, they kept trying to avoid him, but being thoughtless kids eventually didn't notice him back again and he unfortunately got hurt unintentionally by their rough game

Have you just made this up in your head? I think OP said what the parents said in response.

I try to be laid back when it comes to rough and tumble, but if this happened to my 2 yo I'd go crazy at the time and would definitely be following up with the police. It was assault. The idea of 10 year olds doing that to a toddler makes me feel sick.

Binky read my full post. Then read your response and you'll see why your facetious question just makes you come across as either silly or picking a bun fight.

I think your only recourse at this stage is to call the police on 101.

Tbh, I'd be keeping a reasonably open mind as to whether the boys had deliberately been hurting him or just pratting about & rough housing, if I hadn't witnessed it myself. 4 x 10yo boys in a ball pool is going to tend to look fairly Lord of the Flies-ish however well intentioned they are. Not saying they definitely weren't behaving like evil little shits. But I wouldn't necessarily take the random bystander's account as reliable - she may have been all agog at her 'rescue' & exaggerated a tad.

Soft play centres in school holidays are full of too-old kids slamming about the place. I ended up avoiding them during the holidays when mine were toddlers, & I certainly avoid them now I've got a 5'6, sturdily built nearly 11yo with the fine motor skills of a drunk hippopotamus. He'd definitely fall over & squash a passing 2yo before you could say 'overpriced sweaty cheese sandwich, sweetie?'

One local place to us does separate little kid/big kid sessions - that seems to work, but may not be viable for most.

A call will at least mean a visit/phone call from Plod & some awkward questions for the softplay centre about H&S & CCTV, & may make them more vigilant in future & more responsive to complaints.

Nope, maybe I'm being stupid but it seems as though you did make up what the family said to the staff? Unless I misunderstood what the OP said they said. As interest medicated was a possibility in my post.

As I indicated in my post. Sodding autocorrect.

No, I was saying what they would quite likely say if staff member told them to leave. Unlikely the mum would say 'right you are' and leave.

I understand what you were doing. I was just confused, as I had thought the OP told us what the family said.

Name and shame, op. There are some nasty families about - forget just kids. I know there are a couple of families who live near us who would think nothing of letting their kids behave like that.

So they were 10/11 YO and taller than 5ft8. Im 5ft 5 I have a 10 year old. He wears age 11-12 clothes. I am taller than him (not by much TBF). Plus boys shoot up later than girls so to me sounds like they were probably teenagers which IMO makes it even worse.

I would post on FB groups and on twitter. Let people know what happened. Give the soft play bad press.

Hopefully DS isn't too badly hurt and will recover. You too OP.

I'd be calling the police.

drharleen that's bizarre logic. You're 5'5 and your 10yr old wears 11-12 clothing therefore anyone taller is a teen? I'm half an inch off 6' so not suprisingly my child needed age 11-12 for length years before hitting double figures in age. Height is a crap indicator of age

Sorry late reply. I don't know if I could go down police route even if I wanted to as they don't have CCTV, yes my DH is disgusted at their response too.

This tale just doesn't add up. The child was alone for long enough for this to happen but the next minute wasn't left unattended, had just escaped from a ball bit and was being chased by the friend. Nope