To think people use play centres

[LostInTranslation1]

As an excuse to NOT look after their children?

Example. This morning, my 13 month old got his fingers jammed in a door of a pretend horse cox thing at the local play centre by a child about 4 years old. I ran straight over but in the seconds it took me to get there he started screaming as the other kid was holding it shut on his fingers.

I've then realised who his mum was and she was sat reading a magazine.

Yes, use it as some chill time for yourself, but WATCH you child surely!!!!! (It's a small, one big room old warehouse type place)

4 year olds don’t need watching every second. 13 month olds do.

Maybe you should take it as a lesson to stay closer to your dc in these places.

So it's ok for a 4 year old to jam another child's fingers and hold it shut on those fingers?
If that's how your 4 year old behaves, then I'd suggest they need supervised

I was supervising, as mentioned, I was watching an ran over as soon as I seen

There’s a difference between a 1 and a 4 year old though .., the 1 year old needs constant supervision, the other not so much.

Not saying what the 4 year old did was right, as obviously it’s not. But it’s not like the mum saw it happen, didn’t react and kept reading her magazine.

Ouch, I hope his fingers are ok now.

I like the ones that have a seperate 0-2/3 bit and an older kids bit. That way the big kids can run about and the babies/toddlers don't get trampled.

Things like this will happen, it’s life. Do you usually helicopter this much?

It's not like that here, as it's not a traditional soft play. There's a sensory area for the really small ones but it's just a really small venue

Play areas are a war zone!!

Dh plays with dds on the bloody things and tbh I think he gets more pissed off looks

Personally I don’t leave my 15 month olds side in these places if there are big kids (ie 2 plus) barrelling around. Hence why I suggested maybe you should stay a bit closer to your baby.

All four year olds are shits at times, and careless and rough. You’ll have one of your own one day and then there’ll be another mother of their pfb moaning about YOUR 4 year old monster.

You need to supervise you son more closely.

You should have already been there. Child is far too young to play alone. You shouldn’t need telling this!

I'm unsure how watching him a few foot away isn't supervising but ok. I'm U

Yes that generally is what people use them for, to entertain their children and have a rest. 4 year olds don’t need constant monitoring although of course that doesn’t excuse the finger crushing

But, accidents like this are common at soft play type places, and won’t be prevented. It’s just how it is

As an excuse to NOT look after their children?
Yup. Welcome to the hell that is soft play.

YANBU

But then we don’t go to play centres / soft play places etc

I am charming me but genuinely can’t stand ( most) of other people’s children and equally the parenting that goes with it.

Does it really matter what we say op? Unless one person pipes up and says that child is the devil and the mum is a lazy git, then you won’t be happy with the responses.

My 3 yr old traps his own fingers and stands wailing while trapping them further. We don't go to play centres at weekends or holidays due to biggr kids. Really you should be supervising your baby more.

These places are every child for themselves it is chaos no the 4 year old shouldn't be jamming fingers but you really need to be with your baby all the time accidents will happen in play centres

Yanbu op can't stand those places for that exact reason although I will these days take a book to read to the park so I admit to not constantly supervising my older children.

If you were a few feet away and couldn’t stop it from happening what do you think the other mother could have done?

I wouldn’t really expect the mum of a 4 year old to be constantly supervising however this 4 year old doesn’t sound particularly pleasant if he was doing it on purpose.
My pet hate is older children running round the under 5s area so the bit that’s supposed to be safe becomes quite dangerous for toddlers and crawling babies

13 months is too young to play unsupervised. You need to be with them at that age.

We’re at softplay now, my 4yr old and 7yr old are off playing like the other kids with adults sat at tables, but all the babies/toddlers I can see have adults following them round.

You need to be supervising your baby more closely. I have a baby and 3 year old and I stay with the baby at all times at soft play. 3 year old doesn’t need as much supervision. I do watch him obviously but I can’t be in 2 places at once.

If you feel so strongly about the behaviour of other children in soft play may I suggest that you don’t take your child until they are older. As horrible as it sounds soft play is a bit survival of the fittest and unless you are prepared to hover over your ‘weaker’ child, moving them out of danger every few seconds, then accidents will happen. Attacking the mother (who didn’t see the incident) and the child who did it is pointless really.

You don't need to be hoovering over an 4 year old. You should been watching your little 13 month old. Wait until your child is 4 years old, I bet your be relaxing with an magazine while he runs wild.

Not saying it was acceptable behaviour from the 4 year old, you should approached the mother to tell of the finger incident but not to berate her for not watching her child every second.

4 year olds don’t need watching every second. 13 month olds do.

Clearly this 4 year old does!