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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

WIBU to take DS on trip to motorway service station

193 replies

craftsy · 01/07/2017 13:36

Having a very lazy day after a night of crap sleep with 4yo DS who was very unsettled with nightmares from 2-5am. I have a mound of housework and a bit of shopping to do but am quite tempted to just get in the car, drive 10-15 to services and let DS play in the small soft play area for a bit. And possibly have a junk food lunch.

DS is going a bit stir crazy but it's raining here, so going to a playground or the woods would be a washout. We could go to soft play but they would all be packed and a bit hellish. We'd have to stay for 90 minutes, DS would want me to play with him and I just don't have the energy for it. And the food is dire in all the soft play places I know of. In a service station, DS would play for a while, lunch would at least taste decent, it wouldn't be too noisy. We could leave after an hour and I could do my shopping on the way home and make us a healthy supper to compensate for the Burger King or Subway lunch.

Pros are that DS would actually probably love it and find it a very exciting adventure. While I think I would find it less tiring than soft-play. Cons are that as someone who only very recently has a driving licence, I know me of a year ago would think that going on a day out to a motorway service station is the most bonkers excuse of a trip ever. It's also possible that DS would prefer some other outing and I'm just a bit giddy with my new found power of transportation.

OP posts:
Original poster
craftsy · 01/07/2017 14:37

Well we're here and DS is elated. Definitely not buying my petrol here though. It's super expensive.

OP posts:
RoseVase2010 · 01/07/2017 14:39

Gloucester Services are worth a trip, they're the Waitrose of service stations, no, they're the Daylesford of motorway stops! Great play areas too.

RockyBird · 01/07/2017 14:41

I once took my then 3 year old "swimming". When we got there were diggers was working next to where we parked the car. He refused to leave the car because he wanted to watch the diggers working. So that's what we did, for over an hour. Saved me an hour in human soup the pool.

cafetea · 01/07/2017 14:51

Have a good time.

LeannePerrins · 01/07/2017 14:52

Gloucester services are worth the trip alone.

Clalpolly · 01/07/2017 14:56

Great idea. I used to take my dd to watch trains on a nearby suburban platform. And one day, we caught one into the city and had a fab time on the moving pavement/staircase thing. Kept out of everyone's way. Passed a couple of hours. She loved it. I didn't go completely insane.

Mymumsanighthorse · 01/07/2017 14:59

We stayed at a service station for two nights last year when attending a wedding. Ds still insists it was the best holiday he's had an asked to go back again this year. That was Leigh Delamere btw. Kids are weird.

Mintychoc1 · 01/07/2017 15:02

Great idea OP!

When my DSs were that age, some of our regular trips were bus to the depot and back, going to the railway station to watch the trains, and standing by a building site watching the diggers! Low stress and cheap.

OhMrBadger · 01/07/2017 15:03

I'm now trying to think of all service stations we've ever visited and which ones I'd like to visit on a day trip. Westmoreland on the M6 is nice...had a lovely pie there.

Confusedandintrigued · 01/07/2017 15:04

Go for it
Exactly the sort of thing I'd do

Notsoaccidentproneanymore · 01/07/2017 15:05

Ds1 as a toddler/young child used to love going to sit on the train station platform and eat his sandwiches.

Free entertainment, 20 minute walk each way, so tired him out for an afternoon nap.

ThatsNotMyMarmot · 01/07/2017 15:06

I had one nearby where I grew up. I used to drive up there to sit and have a pancake and a coffee and just people watch. I worked there for a while and absolutely loved it as there was always something interesting going on and you could spot famous people!

OhMrBadger · 01/07/2017 15:11

Also, watching canal boats going through locks. Mesmerising.

MilkTrayLimeBarrel · 01/07/2017 15:20

Slightly off topic, but could someone please tell me what soft play is? Needless to say, I do not have kids!

hmcAsWas · 01/07/2017 15:22

What a genius plan - love it

firawla · 01/07/2017 15:22

We do this, beaconsfield services is good for food choices! Sadly no soft play though

Original poster
craftsy · 01/07/2017 15:33

Soft play is an indoor play area filled with padded surfaces. Kind of like Fun House without slime or Pat Sharpe.

We've just had lunch and now DS is happily playing away while I have a sneaky mumsnet. He's literally jumping with joy.

OP posts:
Seeingadistance · 01/07/2017 15:36

When my son was a toddler he was obsessed with cars, so I would take him to car show rooms for entertainment. I just explained to the sales people why we were there - they were either baffled or amused.

silverlace · 01/07/2017 15:49

When mine were small we used to go to Leicester Forest services as the services is actually on the bridge over the motorway and you can sit in KFC and watch all the traffic pass underneath you.

East Midlands airport used to have a cafe landside so you could sit there with a drink and watch the planes but that has gone now.

Another great entertainment is Costco. If you become a member they have food sampling during the week. They have lovely big trollies with 2 seats side by side. Take a drink, push the DC round and graze on the free food. Lovely morning out. Mine used to ask to go.

TheHeraldOfAndraste · 01/07/2017 15:53

Seeingadistance that is genius. I must do that with my boys.

When I was little my dad would take me to one of the Heathrow airport carparks just to watch the planes taking off and landing. (He worked there). I thought it was the best day out ever. If he threw in a McDonalds to round it off, it would be my perfect day.

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 01/07/2017 15:55

Seeingadistance I did that last month with my 13 yr old. Grin There were a couple of Teslas on display in Canary Wharf (I've no idea how they got them in, it wasn't on the ground floor). We spend over half an hour because it was mid-morning on a work day so the salesman had nobody else to talk to. DS got to push all the buttons and sit behind the wheel. We went back past it at lunchtime and it was packed full of banking types, DS was disappointed that we couldn't go back in.

MrsOverTheRoad · 01/07/2017 15:57

Fab! My DD and her friend were thrilled today at Bunnings (Aussie B&Q) where they had a hotdog and a play in the soft play area.

Loved it! Glad you went OP! Nothing wrong with it now and then.

MrsOverTheRoad · 01/07/2017 15:58

Car show rooms is genius! It was his little version of window shopping!

When I was small I loved big furniture shops!

DorotheaBeale · 01/07/2017 15:59

One of our days out as children was bus to Woolwich, ride across on the free ferry, ice cream in the park on the other side, and back again.

When we were old enough to go alone, friends and I used to go and ride to and fro until chucked off.