To be sick of kids at soft play!

[changedname10]

I follow my DD round at soft play, she's only 2 and has a speech delay so doesn't say much! We go once a week and without FAIL every time we are there another kid either pushes or hits her.. I am so sick of it! And the child that does it is always with a grandparent that is sat on there ass drinking coffee!

I follow my DD round to make sure A:she is ok and B: that she doesn't hit/push other children and if she does I can correct her!!!

AIBU to think people are just fucking lazy and should watch there kids!!!

I wouldn't call then lazy or shit parents, they just have a different view of soft plays to others.

I would and I do! They are neglecting their own children, and they are not giving a monkey about other kids their own kids might hurt. If that's not lazy and shit parenting, what is.

I have seen parents in a wheelchair still talking to their kids and keeping an eye on them! Hats off to them, it can't be easy when you are physically unable to go yourself, but other parents are generally nice, and everybody was keeping an eye on their little one too.

ARGH fricking soft play. Every time I go I want to start a thread about it but haven’t got round to it yet. I have a number of soft play pet peeves. My DD is only 14 mo but is at the climbing stage so it is really beneficial for her and she loves it (before anyone suggest I not go).

• We’re obviously restricted to the toddler area. Why oh why are there 5-8 year olds in this area running rampant? (During school hours)
• Why do parents (or whoever is with the child) of older children (4+) insist on trailing around after their damn kid? They’re fine, leave them be!
• Why do MULTIPLE ADULTS trail around after one small child? Sorry but the area is pretty small, yes you want to talk, but take it in turns.
• Why do people let children take food into the play area? I now have to watch my DD even more closely to make sure she’s not choking on chunks of your kids discarded apple
• WHY must people be constantly videoing their child? Seriously, WHY? A few weeks ago there was literally a wall of Mums, at the bottom of a really wide slide, filming.
• I myself do trail around after my DD, for the most part, because she is young. However I also try and gauge things like how busy it is and what she’s doing as to whether or not I can let her play a bit more independently. It really surprises me parents of older children don’t do the same.

And that only scratches the surface. As you were

Now my kids are older the problem is adults who take toddlers into the older section and expect the children to stop charging around because their toddler is in a section not intended for them. Or the parent blocks the equipment while helping their toddler. This spoils the enjoyment for the older children who can play without constant supervision. I agree older children should keep out the toddler section but thus ŵorks both ways.

Oh is it "soft play coffee drinking is evil" day already this week?

@HoustonBess well when my DD got shoved into a wall today I was glad I saw it, like i said She can't speak!! I don't sit right next to her I give her distance I don't follow her into the soft play but I always have eyes on her, these kids are just evil they don't want her to play around them so they shove her into a wall, wtf is that all about!!

Feral toads! Ha

@HexagonalBattenburg no it's sit on your ass and drink coffee all you want but keep an eye on your kid and check on them now and again week!

I feel the same OP - I went to one last week and there were kids of about 5 or 6 in the baby bit throwing huge shapes. I had to catch one before it landed on top of a baby crawling round.
I tell kids off if they’re misbehaving- one once went off crying so I got evils from the mum but she wasn’t brave enough to come over & say anything surprise surprise.

An adult is quite likely to be with an older child because the child has sn. Having to follow your 7 year old around isn't usually a fun choice. My son was calmer with 2 adults present so as he got older and could hit harder, that is what we did.

@EmUntitled when we take her to the park on a Sunday morning (DH of work then) there's always a random kid there on it's own, Iv stopped going to that one now because the kid will follow us round trying to play with us because there parents are to lazy to go with them!!

Or the parent blocks the equipment while helping their toddler. This spoils the enjoyment for the older children who can play without constant supervision.

clearly they can't, if they are stopped because of the adults when they should be mindful of the little ones even if no adults was there! Exact reason why parents have to go in!

I agree with that my2bundles and that’s not on either. Little ones shouldn’t be playing in the ‘big kids’ area.

I also followed around and climbed about. I haven't been for a long time now as we are thankfully past that stage. I used to ask bigger children to leave the baby/toddler areas and speak to any that tried to hurt my DC or any other children.

Those lazy parents too busy chatting or on their phones weren't doing their children a favour letting them run around. I was forever finding crying, stuck or lost children. They would try to tag along with me and my DC as we were having fun together. This happened almost every time we went and was quite annoying but I felt sorry that they had just been dumped to play by themselves.

I think it’s fine for parents to leave their child to play independently as long as they know the limitations of their child. It’s not much use leaving a 2 yo who hits (can be normal at this age I know) to run rampant or a child with SN that may need that extra assistance. All parents should be supervising from a distance though!

I get driven mad at soft plays! I can say in total honesty that my nearly 4yo has never ever hit another child, not once. This is because I've taught her not to but also because she's been hit by little sh*ts and is frankly scared. It really pisses me off that parents can't teach their kids to keep their hands to themselves and leave others alone.
My daughter loves soft play and has a great time but will often come and sit with me for periods of time because another child in an area is hitting and she doesn't want to be near. Yet that childs parent is no where to be seen.
If my child hit another I'd take them home and wouldn't take them back until I was sure they wouldn't hit. I probably sound like a right strict, hard cow but I'm such a softy. I got really annoyed watching another parent a couple of weeks ago, her child ran up to her crying saying a boy had hit her and the parent didn't even comfort her child she just said "go and hit him back harder". The child did as she was told and all hell broke loose. So so wrong

I completely agree. And my son is one of the feral little toads.

I freely admit it because I have tried everything to get him to stop hitting.

But because I know what he's like I watch him like a hawk. He can't be trusted so I don't leave him wiggle room to hurt another child. I was one month post c-section with a baby in a carrier and climbing into soft play with him. I don't consider myself a martyr or anything for this (I didn't have to take him to soft play!) but I think it's the bare minimum a parent should do - ensure their child is safe and, if necessary, protect others from their child.

YANBU, when my eldest used to do a club in a sports center I took my younger DC to the soft play, (it was the only thing there and too far to go home in between) and you saw a lot of awful behaviour and it was always the kids of parents you couldn't see or find. I'm so glad I don't have to go anymore!

Iamsusan. You missed my point. Yes older children should be mindful of younger ones. But in a section designed for older children parents should keep their toddlers out and parents should definately not be blocking the equipment for the older kids while they supervise a toddler who shouldn't be there. Soft play fir older kids involves boustEros play. You expect older kids to rightfully stay away from the younger section so their play is age appropriate, you do need to respect this from the older child's view point in their age alocated section aswell.

I have taken my 3 year old DS once and it was horrific. I did follow him round and I'm glad I did because some 'feral toad' (love it!!!) told another one to push my child over. They are both about 6.

Never again!!!

I hear you about the pushing and hitting - my DD always seemed to be a bully magnet and soft play and I think until she was 4 we never went and didn't end up with her being hurt by someone!

However not every can or should do helicopter parenting, it's kind of part and parcel of kids running about together and there's not always a great deal you can do except accept it

@ExasperatedwithTerribleTwos EXACTLY, there was a mum there today with 3 little girls, one of them a baby that she was breastfeeding whilst sat in soft play watching and playing with her other 2! If she can do it why can't everyone else!!

Another thing that really pisses me of is half the parents, the only time you see them in the play area with there DC is to take a picture, to post on FB trying to look like a good parent

It’s the law of the jungle in soft play, but to be honest some of these posts are really unpleasant (and have terrible SPAG)

Huntawaymama I hope you’re not including children under two in that though? Some children do just hit despite their parents best efforts, especially if they’re pre-verbal and frustrated. Once they get a bit older though (SN aside) there is no excuse.

Tbh I get more frustrated with parents who don’t seem to understand other children of a similar age to their own. E.g. the other day there was a baby (14 mo old maybe) playing alone and I wondered who he belonged too. There was a small altercation with a child probably not even 2 (but he looked more like a child as opposed to a baby/toddler). The mother, who’d been there all along talking to a friend, swoops in and says angrily to the boy ‘don’t hit little babies’ and scowls at the boy. He’d sort of half hit the baby but it wasn’t intentional. I was standing right there. Stupid.

My dd is 5 and at the stage where I don’t have to follow her round anymore. I always know where she is though as I get so panicked someone will take her !

I’m usually in the baby bit with the little one and keep scouting around for her when I haven’t seen her for a while. There’s no time to look at a phone tbh.

The best scenario is for her to go with older cousins who report back if anything’s wrong. I actually enjoy soft play on those times.

I think it's soft play for a reason so that any rough or tumble does not generally end in terrible physical damage! I was never a massive fan purely because of the noise, but come on - every child at some point will accidentally or otherwise push another child. Stop thinking your kids are so perfect and stop referring to other people's kids as toads. That's just unpleasant.