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 think parents can spend an hour in an trampoline park without alcohol

161 replies

belay · 03/01/2020 15:36

Our local trampoline park has started to sell alcohol. I'm not impressed and won't be going back. This should be a safe space where children don't see adults drinking

OP posts:
JosefKeller · 03/01/2020 19:18

When you witness how many lazy parents don't bother supervising their children when they are in front of a coffee cup, you can't blame people for thinking alcoholic drinks will only make them even worst.

Thinking that's its normal to drink at a kids soft play or trampoline park is part of the binge culture in this country. It's rather pathetic.

You find junk food in sport centre too. It's embarrassing.

expatinspain · 03/01/2020 19:25

aroundtheworldyet I think you misunderstood what I was saying, or I didn’t express myself well. I don’t think having a bar or watching your kids at soft play/trampolining whilst having a drink is an issue and it’s the norm in other countries. There is a camp of people who see alcohol as ‘bad’ or something taboo, as if people can’t be trusted to not have a session if there’s alcohol being served.

happycamper11 · 03/01/2020 19:33

@JosefKeller but as others have pointed out, lots of countries in the continent do not have binge cultures and almost always serve alcohol in such places. Even McDonald's serves beer. I can't think of any such activity when we lived in Cyprus that I took my children to did not have a bar

JockTamsonsBairns · 03/01/2020 19:39

MN is so weird regarding alcohol. All this talk of needing to have a drink. There are very few things in life that anyone actually needs, aside from basic essentials.
I often have a drink during the interval at the theatre, not because I can't get through the event without one, but simply because I fancy one.

expatinspain · 03/01/2020 19:48

happycamper11 That's the point I was trying to make. It's the same in Spain. Alcohol is served everywhere, but people aren't getting smashed. They see having a beer/wine the same as having a coffee. It's just a non issue.

aroundtheworldyet · 03/01/2020 19:53

People are joking about needing a drink FFS

NameChangeNugget · 03/01/2020 19:59

Total non issue. Live and let live

LolaSmiles · 03/01/2020 20:00

People are joking about needing a drink FFS
Sadly there's a real group of MNers who genuinely think someone saying they'd quite enjoy a drink equals raging alcoholism.
Person A: I can see why someone would enjoy a drink in this situation.
Person B: How sad that people can't manage to attend a social occasion without alcohol. If you can't get through a couple of hours without alcohol then you have a drink problem

Thefaceofboe · 03/01/2020 20:06

@Emmmie it’s the judging people which suggests so. I don’t drink a lot myself but appreciate people enjoy a drink now and again

AugustFalls · 03/01/2020 20:33

Emmmie

I don’t think people are suggesting OP’s not fun at parties because she doesn’t drink. It’s because she coming across as painfully uptight and needs to unclench.

CountFosco · 03/01/2020 20:37

Best soft play I was ever had had a nice restaurant that served wine. Completely civilised. Our local trampoline park has a licence, I know this because one of the DCs sporting activities has their Christmas party there. Kids bounce and the adults do a pub quiz in the bar. Good food as well so overall it's a brilliant night. It is possible for these places to be multifunctional and they are clearly going to make more money if they can keep people on site for a bit longer by having a decent cafe and bar.

Designerenvy · 03/01/2020 20:41

I've often joked in the past, when my kids were younger, at these play centres , that all they were missing was a bar !
It was only a joke , while in reality I don't think a play zone or trampoline park is a place for a bar.
It's a child centred area. So I think YANBU .

BoxedWine · 03/01/2020 21:21

We don't actually need trampoline parks...

Deathgrip · 03/01/2020 21:24

Brilliant idea - have a few wines before inevitably driving your kid to A&E. What could go wrong?

YANBU in the least.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 03/01/2020 21:31

Our local trampoline park is on the same site as the local indoor 5-a-side football pitches. I think there is a bar, as well as a cafe. But maybe it’s different because the bar pre-dates the trampoline bit? I do think they would need to be strict about not bouncing under the influence though, or supervising young children (under about 8 a parent goes in with them).

MAM2013 · 03/01/2020 22:03

Lighten up, do you really think people will be going to have a full blown session.

You are absolutely pathetic

Bluerussian · 03/01/2020 22:17

Good point, Boxedwine :-).

yolofish · 03/01/2020 22:28

To answer OP's question: well yes of course one CAN, but why on earth would one WANT to? Kids doing their hour's trampolining, why not have a nice sit down with a good book and a glass of wine? It's hardly going to turn into Sodom and Gomorrah...

sashh · 03/01/2020 22:40

Isn't this a response to vodka in the juice cartons?

Can you buy wine at the cinema in England? And on a train? And drink alcohol in a park?

If you travel first class on the train you get free booze and food, it's often cheaper to travel first than travel second and buy a sandwich.

IceCreamFace · 03/01/2020 22:42

I'm not against a kid seeing a parent drinking sensible but I'm kind of with you on this one. WE don't have to drink at literally every opportunity and a kid's activity is not the place for it.

lisasimpsonssaxophone · 03/01/2020 23:29

But why do they need popcorn, or an ice cream, or a bag of Revels? Do we have to demonstrate a justifiable need for any item before we can buy it?

I don’t disagree with you StillCoughingAndLaughing and I’m not even suggesting that alcohol shouldn’t be available in those places. I’m just musing from a very personal place as someone who has recently come to terms with my own relationship with alcohol and come to realise that I was really not in a good place with it.

Once I gave it up for good, it just really struck me how it is everywhere in this country, in a way I’d never really thought about before. We sell it to people on trains and in museums and and in cinemas and at kids’ play areas like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Then we’re bewildered when huge numbers of people in the UK develop dependencies on it.

I promise I’m not a judgy teetotal MNer at all but it’s all very new to me and all I’m saying is that until I gave it up, I never really noticed how ubiquitous alcohol is in this country!

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 03/01/2020 23:41

Wait.

If the bar is there for the adults-only sessions in the evenings, surely that's worse?

Trampolining adult+alcohol=A+E

RomaineCalm · 03/01/2020 23:57

Our sports club opens the bar on Sundays so that parents can have a beer while the children have something to eat after a match/training.

I will let them know immediately that it's not acceptable for children to see their parents having alcohol and that the parents are clearly alcoholics. Hmm

Funnily enough some have coffee/tea, some have soft drinks and (gasp) some have beer/wine.

happycamper11 · 04/01/2020 00:07

Once I gave it up for good, it just really struck me how it is everywhere in this country, in a way I’d never really thought about before. We sell it to people on trains and in museums and and in cinemas and at kids’ play areas like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Then we’re bewildered when huge numbers of people in the UK develop dependencies on it.

I think the taboo nature of it here in the UK is a big reason, as other countries manage alcohol availability like you describe without such massive dependency numbers. Children being told alcohol is bad (while seeing it all around them) and the pearl clutching examples of some on this thread.

Tinkerbell456 · 04/01/2020 00:14

Not really the obvious spot for a drinkie- or maybe it is!- but I can’t see the issue per se. People these days don’t seem to be trusted to excercise common sense. That makes me sound about a hundred years old but still. Of course you don’t drink if you’re in charge of kids there surely? Kids are going to see adults drinking. It’s part of life. Obviously people getting ratted around kids is not good, but one would hope people know this. As long as it isn’t compulsory, and I imagine there would obviously be loads of non alcoholic drinks available too, I’m not actually seeing an issue.