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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was IBU to not replace this drink?

422 replies

SoftPlayStandOff · 10/04/2019 15:25

Soft play centre. Large one with different areas for different age groups.

I'm sat in the corner of the pre-schooler area - DS2 (4) and DS3 (2) are around and about playing. I stand up and look the opposite way to check on DS1 (7) and DD1 (10) who are elsewhere in the older kids section. When I turn around DS2 has a fruit shoot in his hand. I tell him to put it down, its not his. He does so and I think no more of it.

A couple of minutes later a woman comes up and tells me DS2 has drunk out of her child's drink. I apologise, say that i didn't see him drink it but I'd asked him to put it down when I saw he had it. She went away.

I speak to DS2 and he says DS3 handed it to him so he thought it was DS3's so had a mouthful. DS3 had picked it up from the middle of the floor in the middle of the soft play.

A couple of minutes later the woman's friend comes and asks if i'm replacing the drink. I laugh thinking she's joking and explain that I was sorry but it had been left in the middle of the floor and my toddler picked it up and gave it to his brother. She says again - 'well XXX can't drink it now its had his lips on it, are you going to by another?' I apologised again and suggested that surely a wipe with a baby wipe would be fine? She looks incredulous and says something about germs. I point out that its softplay - germs are everywhere and no, i was not replacing a drink that had been left in the middle of the room that my child had inadvertently taken a sip of.

Had this been a reverse I would have just wiped the bottle and let my kid get on with their drink. If i was the sort to be concerned by germs i would have not been at softplay or at the very least i would have kept my kids bottles by me (as I had done with my own kids bottles).

They proceed to bitch about it loudly until I left.

SO WIBU to not replace the drink in these circumstances?

OP posts:
VodkaRevelation · 10/04/2019 15:34

How did they even know it was their child’s drink if your child found it in the middle of the soft play? Could have been anybody’s so they were being unreasonable to ask you to get their child another drink. They shouldn’t have let their child wander off with their drink in a soft play.

HardofCleaning · 10/04/2019 15:34

YANBU who the hell let's their toddler bring a drink into the play area. It;s bound to get either spilled everywhere leaving a mess for the other kids to step in or get drunk by another toddler.

ShirleyPhallus · 10/04/2019 15:34

haha ! and In the time I took to type that , two came along !

Thanks. I’m not a “hysterical parent” or even a parent actually but these are some other thoughts that may have gone through the parents mind. So please do slot off with your generalisations.

BrokenWing · 10/04/2019 15:35

YANBU the drink shouldn't have been in the play area.

DobbyLovesSocks · 10/04/2019 15:35

YANBU - the drink was abandoned in the middle of the play area - that child's mother wasn't watching what was happening to stop your other child picking it up AND handing it to his brother. Fuss over nothing. Wouldn't occur to me to ask for it to be replaced if this happened to me. If they are that worried about germs - why on EARTH are they in a soft play? Even the cleanest looking ones aren't that clean really

Original poster
SoftPlayStandOff · 10/04/2019 15:35

As always in these places the drinks were overpriced. I had budgeted carefully to take my DC, it's not as simple as 'for the sake of a quid'

For it to be where it was they must have allowed their child to take the drink into the playarea - an area exclusively for under 5s who tend to pick up most things.

OP posts:
LordWheresMyShoes · 10/04/2019 15:36

It shouldn't have been on the floor in the middle of a play area, that's an obvious slip/trip hazard Hmm

However you should have replaced it. I wouldn't want my child to drink from a bottle some stranger's child had drunk from, and wet wipes don't kill germs/would taste horrible.

Expressedways · 10/04/2019 15:36

I think you’re both unreasonable. The woman should have kept the drinks with her in the first instance but given your son did take a drink that wasn’t his, you should have offered to replace it.

Original poster
SoftPlayStandOff · 10/04/2019 15:37

oh thank goodness! I was worried I had gone totally mad when so many were saying i should have replaced it! i genuinely would never have occured to me to replace it! Had my child knocked their drink off the table as he walked by, sure, but not in this situation!

OP posts:
OhioOhioOhio · 10/04/2019 15:37

Drunk and taken from the table, yes replace it.
From the floor. No.

LordWheresMyShoes · 10/04/2019 15:37

Aren't food and drinks banned in the actual play areas anyway?

Original poster
SoftPlayStandOff · 10/04/2019 15:38

havelock exactly! I cant understand how you could bear to be at softplay if you are germ-fussy!!

OP posts:
Happyspud · 10/04/2019 15:38

I’m with Ohio.

Eatmycheese · 10/04/2019 15:38

No, I wouldn’t have replaced it in these circumstances either.
I think the woman was cheeky to ask tbh she should keep a closer eye on her kids drinks if they’re so precious

Original poster
SoftPlayStandOff · 10/04/2019 15:38

lord yes they are.

OP posts:
cornflakegirl · 10/04/2019 15:39

No way I would have replaced it. Like you say, the drinks are always overpriced and 10-1 the kid would have left the replacement lying around too!

Thatsashame · 10/04/2019 15:39

I would have offered to buy another one. But if i was the other woman i would have just laughed it off...

adaline · 10/04/2019 15:39

For the sake of £1, why wouldn't you just replace it and get on with your day?

whitehalleve · 10/04/2019 15:39

If it was left on the floor I don't think I'd be offering to replace it.

NameChangeJustBecauseICan · 10/04/2019 15:39

YWBVU. You should definitely have replaced the drink, irrespective of how much had been drunk.

recall · 10/04/2019 15:40

It’s not so much about the “germs” more a question of manners and etiquette. I would have offered to replace it ( but expected the drink mum to say that it wasn’t a problem ) ...job done

FredFlinstoneMadeOfBones · 10/04/2019 15:40

YANBU you could have been equally annoyed she left her potentially germ ridden fruit shoot in the middle of the play area for all the other toddlers to drink and be infected from. If your kid had snatched it off their table it would be different you've done nothing wrong.

whitehalleve · 10/04/2019 15:41

Plus it sounds like the woman and the friend were being arseholes about it so sod them. What are we still 10 years old still sending our friends over to say something? If they're that bothered they should supervise the drinks.

InsertFunnyUsername · 10/04/2019 15:41

I wouldn't of replaced it. I wouldn't ask for it to be replaced either if my kid left it in the middle of the floor.

FredFlinstoneMadeOfBones · 10/04/2019 15:42

@NameChangeJustBecauseICan

Why the hell should OP replace it. It was the other woman's fault for allowing her kid to take a drink into the play area. You're never allowed to bring food or drink into those places so the other mum was in the wrong. If something is left on the floor of the toddler area its bound to get picked up by toddlers. Totally other woman's fault.