Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be really annoyed out local soft play centre has installed three ipads within the play area

111 replies

Drqedwa · 17/03/2018 21:59

okay so im not even sure why I am so annoyed about this really but I am.

My sons are three and four. I limit their ipad usage to 30 mins a day each. Im not anti ipads but I like them to have limited use of them at this age.

We have a varied week with different activities and one place they love going to is the local soft play. Today I noticed the soft play place have installed three ipads within the main play frame. My sons were immediately drawn to them but there was no way I was paying a combined £13 for then to sit down watching a screen. So I told them they were not allowed play on the ipads unti! 10 mins before home time. My oldest to his credit obeyed but my y youngest spent half the time playing on them. There were loads of children just watching the ipads when beforr they would have been running around using up energy.

I just think children have enough technology eithout the need for ipads in a soft play centre. The very reason I take my sons to soft play is to burn some energy off and do physical activity. Or else they might aswell stay indoors and ssve my money!

The table next to us were also annoyed about the ipads and said to me they csnt see why they needed to be in the main play area and not downstairs or out of the main play area a bit so that parents could more easily control when their child went on them.

AIBU to think ipads werr not necessary in thr main play frame and to be annoyed they were installed?

OP posts:
Butterymuffin · 17/03/2018 22:58

Yes, tell them you won'tbe back for this reason. Plenty of other soft play places won't have them and they can have your custom instead.

boboismylove · 17/03/2018 22:59

YANBU

Butchmanda · 17/03/2018 23:03

That's awful. It's like you can't go anywhere these days without encountering the bloody things. Although I wouldn't have trouble saying no to my kids, even if it meant following them around.

The ones in McDonald's are hideous too for a number of reasons. Not only horribly antisocial,but just think of all those grot bags shoving fries in their mouths and then touching the screens, only for another person to come along and do the same. Possibly one of the most unhygienic things I've seen. Yuck. My kids know my views and don't even bother to ask ...

Pastaagain78 · 17/03/2018 23:09

Yanbu that would really irritate me.

OwlinaTree · 17/03/2018 23:15

Thing is, yes you can follow your child round and keep them off the iPads, but it's kind of taking the fun out of it isn't it?

I wouldn't like this really. I've no problem with screens at home, ds has time on his tablet when he feels like it for a bit, but when we are out of the house it's a screen free time.

I didn't know they had them on Macdonald's. Not very social while you are eating!!

Fruitcorner123 · 17/03/2018 23:18

YANBU. Find another soft play and write to this place explaining your reasons for taking your custom elsewhere. If enough people do this they might realise and remove them.

Fruitcorner123 · 17/03/2018 23:22

owlina tree i hate them at macdonalds. It may not be the most obviois place for slending quality time with your family but at least we used to sit round a table together to eat our shit food. We avoid them most of the time anyway but they are the place we usually stop off on a motorway journey. The iPad thing has made me less likely to go in and we try and plan our stops to avoid them.

PorkFlute · 17/03/2018 23:23

Yanbu because I hate the fact that everyone has to be permanently attached to a device but wrap your kids up and take them to the park. No IPads and free of charge.

domesticslattern · 17/03/2018 23:25

I would stop going to that soft play as my DD would just stare at the iPad for the whole time. Pointless.

Urubu · 17/03/2018 23:26

I am with you OP!
A local café/restaurant near me has an attached supervised playroom where you pay a small fee to let the DC get in while you finish your drinks or food. Really nice setting...until they added a TV and played DVDs. Of course the DC go to the TV area (and if you stay in the playroom to encourage them to do something else if defeats the whole purpose of having a small child free time!)

KeepServingTheDrinks · 17/03/2018 23:31

Hmmm.... I wonder.... My DD's too old for these places now, but thinking back to when she was younger. I think I seem to remember a lot of adults sitting around the cafeteria bit being on their phones while their children played. I bet there's loads more who do that now.

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 17/03/2018 23:32

when I take my boys to Mcdonald's (yep, we go there occasionally for mechanically recovered meat and fruit shoots, so shoot me)

I work at McDonalds; we don’t use mechanically recovered meat. The chicken is 100% chicken breast and the beef is 100% British and Irish beef taken only from the forequarter and flank.

As for the iPad issue, I can see why they put them in; they are very popular with a lot of parents. However, perhaps on a different level would be better so it’s a treat for after rather than the main focus.

OwlinaTree · 17/03/2018 23:40

Yes I might go on my phone while my children play on the soft play. I'm not there to play on the soft play! I'm there to drink coffee and watch.

I'm now imagining a soft play full of kids on iPads and parents on the equipment Grin

KeepServingTheDrinks · 18/03/2018 00:05

Yes I might go on my phone while my children play on the soft play

I'm not judging you, but think for a moment about what you're modelling.... Children don't do what you TELL them to do, they copy what they SEE you do.

If you see the soft play as an opportunity to go on your screen, why are you complaining when they want to do the same?

PriaMaicel · 18/03/2018 00:37

All the parents do at soft play is sit and stare at their phones/tablets, no wonder the kids want to do the same.

Walkingdeadfangirl · 18/03/2018 00:49

Its easy for a MN crowd to slag off ipads, but not everyone can afford them. Some parents want soft play so they can keep their children quiet whilst they have a break a coffee and a chat with other moms. Its a chance for some children to use the technology that other people take for granted. I know a lot of parents who would and do go to places especially because they have computers/tablets their children can play on.

If you want to tire your children out, take them to the park and run around with them.

Shadow666 · 18/03/2018 00:56

I take my kids to softplay when the weather is too bad to play outside so they can still burn off some energy.

PodgeBod · 18/03/2018 01:02

I agree with you op. My daughter got a tablet as a gift slightly younger then I would have chosen. I have to deal with the constant begging to play on it, even kissing it! Soft play is for physical exertion. I would be pissed off and if possible change to a different soft play.

4GreenApples · 18/03/2018 01:04

YANBU.

If I wanted my kids to play on an iPad I could just keep them at home and save my money. The whole point of soft play, as far as I’m concerned, is for the kids to run around and burn off some energy.
If a soft play area must have tablets then it’d be better for them to be out of the main play area so it’s easier for parents to monitor whether their kids are using them.

And it’s far too cold at the minute for the park to be a decent alternative to soft play.

Those tablets at McDonalds - do they get cleaned much? I’ve seen them but was a bit concerned over the hygiene, given it’s a restaurant where you have to eat with your fingers and the tablets are touchscreens.

pinga · 18/03/2018 01:09

YADNU. I would email them and complain. And take my money elsewhere in the meantime.

WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue · 18/03/2018 05:57

Those tablets at McDonalds - do they get cleaned much?

Yes they do; our customer care staff give them a quick clean every time they enter the zone and they get a more thorough clean every night.

choli · 18/03/2018 06:05

Tell your child not to play on the iPad. Surely that is end of the issue?

acquiesce · 18/03/2018 06:38

Don’t see a problem with them at maccies (how many adults eat dinner in front of the tv?) but soft play is shocking!

Grumpbum · 18/03/2018 06:43

The health centre I’m a member off has just installed them within the kids soft play bit, I’m irrationally annoyed about it too

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 18/03/2018 07:00

Small Consolation is all the McD ones break eventually