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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not understand why so many parents hate going to Soft Play?

243 replies

BlueMoon1103 · 05/01/2020 13:01

I’m at soft play with my DS (9 months) and I actually love bringing him! There are loads of nice soft play near me with baby areas and smaller versions of the big soft play the older kids use. I guess we’re lucky to have so many nice ones to choose from where I am but so many parents say they hate soft play and I don’t get why, both me and my DS think it’s great fun!

OP posts:

Foghead · 05/01/2020 13:15

I just prefer to be out in the fresh air. And the outdoors is usually free too.

BillHadersNewWife · 05/01/2020 13:15

To be fair OP your child is just a baby. Wait till he's more independent and then you might see why. Also, ball pits and...well ALL the equipment is absolutely filthy in those places. They stink of cheap food and are full of rude people.

When your child is a toddler and suddenly dissapears into the big frame because you took your eyes of him for a second, then you'll think "NO MORE!" it's awful.

mummypigx · 05/01/2020 13:15

I love them!! Something to do for the DC while I chit chat to my mummy friends. Perfect!

readyforchangenow · 05/01/2020 13:15

Norovirus

Instagrump · 05/01/2020 13:16

Terrible and overpriced food gets me.

Then add to that a little shit aged about 8 tearing around thumping tiny toddlers while his mum either watches, smiling indulgently or completely ignores him battering defenceless children until someone actually confronts him and that's when mummy dearest starts kicking off at the injured child's mum for chastising the bad kid!
I can almost guarantee that happens at least once an hour at a soft play whether it's in a rough area or a well to do place. And if it's not an older child, it's a toddler who really needs supervision because he's a snatcher, a kicker, a hitter, a scratcher or a biter and mummy just lets him get on with it, telling herself it's normal toddler behaviour while all the other mums get mad, haul their injured children out and leave, fuming about it.

If you haven't experienced this yet, give it enough time. At 9 months I assume your baby is closely monitored and protected for now.

LakieLady · 05/01/2020 13:16

I don't even like walking past our local one. There's a horrendous racket every time the door opens, and 50% of the time a harrassed mother is leaving, accompanied by a bawling, hysterical child with a face full of snot and tears.

I might consider crossing the threshold, but you'd have to pay me sum close to 5 figures.

TORDEVAN · 05/01/2020 13:16

unsupervised children. the parents there seem to think they can just sit at the tables on their phone and pay no attention.

last time i went to soft play with my toddler there was 8/9 year olds whizzing around the toddler area on the little bikes/push alongs. And when we attempted the slide there was a child who stood at the bottom as we went down, right at the bottom.

mummypigx · 05/01/2020 13:17

When your child is a toddler and suddenly dissapears into the big frame because you took your eyes of him for a second, then you'll think "NO MORE!" it's awful.

No way! I go in to the big frame with them and chase them around. So much fun!

Stayawayfromitsmouth · 05/01/2020 13:17

I quite like them. But I only used to take mine during school hours when they were younger and now they are at school they are old enough to hold their own.
There is always a risk of going and other kids are behaving badly and seemingly unsupervised. It's at these times I then have to follow my kids around to make sure they're not bullied. I quite like crawling around the climbing frames though.
Most adults want to be able to sit and have a cuppa and be able to leave their kids to play without them being deliberately squashed by someone.

TeddyIsaHe · 05/01/2020 13:18

Because kids piss in the ballpits. Other people’s children. Other people. Noise. Smell. People don’t watch their horror children so they run rampage whilst the adults are chatting or on their phones.

There’s a billion better things to do with kids. Dd doesn’t know soft play is a thing.

ironicname · 05/01/2020 13:19

It's an attack on the senses. Usually smells of chips, the lighting is horrible and the noise is unbearable, plus other people's children are at their most intolerable and sweaty.

isabellerossignol · 05/01/2020 13:19

In many years of going to soft play I never actually saw any bigger kids hitting smaller ones. They were usually helping the smaller ones round and feeling all pleased with themselves at being the grown up.

formerbabe · 05/01/2020 13:19

When my ds was younger, he was genuinely shocked when I told him I only went to soft play with him...he thought I popped in when he was at school by myself!

couchparsnip · 05/01/2020 13:22

Usually they smell awful, it's really loud and the food is revolting. When your kids are small you have to go with them, which gets old quite quickly. Once your kids are sensible enough to play by themselves it's boring.

Instagrump · 05/01/2020 13:24

Oh I almost forgot. There's always one kid who refuses to move from the bottom of the slide. Usually trying to climb up or stop other kids coming down. Eventually another child will slide down, knocking the kid down sending him running off to mummy who then kicks off about the mean kid using the damn slide when her precious refused to get off.

DH and I used to go to soft plays with the D.C. all the time, all over the county. We would play soft play bingo to see which event occurred first.

beela · 05/01/2020 13:28

I felt like this when dc1 was 9 months old as well.

9 years on, I am sooooo over soft play!

I'm glad you've found one you like, op

taxfreechildcare · 05/01/2020 13:29

We go to soft play once a week usually. There's 2 or 3 different ones we go to and they're nice, clean and the foods ok.
Maybe it depends where you live.

LisaSimpsonsbff · 05/01/2020 13:29

I recently went to softplay with what I believed, before I got into the noise and bright lights, to be a mild hangover. I thought I had died and gone to hell. It is DS's favourite place in the world, so I still go. I have no idea why people take non-walkers, though - they get no more out of it than they would being on the living room floor.

LadyCordeliaVorkosigan · 05/01/2020 13:30

The small nice ones for kids up to preschool age can be great. I basically lived in one when dc2 was a baby and dc1 was three.

The huge ones like aircraft hangars full of equipment for older kids as well are hell on earth - horribly noisy, can't find your children, terrible food - I felt less guilty about sneaking in my own food when our nearest one got a 0 out of 5 hygiene rating, and horribly expensive. Even if they keep them clean enough to avoid potties of wee being spilled in the loos and balls in ball pits not being sticky.

Different worlds!

taxfreechildcare · 05/01/2020 13:32

I hate the big ones though, I just avoid them.

namechange1041 · 05/01/2020 13:34

Kids & germs

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 05/01/2020 13:35

Other people.
The parents who think it's ok for their large child to pay in the toddler area.
The toddler parents who think it's ok for their 2yo to play in the over 5 area who get annoyed at the older children playing
The baby parents getting annoyed with toddlers in the toddler area.

The parents who ignore their kids. The parents who shadow their kids.

It's just full of PEOPLE.

winniesanderson · 05/01/2020 13:35

Because some people don't parent their children in these places. I've been to lots of soft play and this is what it always boils down to.

Gingerninja01 · 05/01/2020 13:37

Bigger kids running around like lunatics.
Kids who push other kids.
Parents sitting with a coffee not watching what their kids are up to.
The germs.
As otte6rs have said, rare to find a soft play that has a half decent cafe attached.

PPopsicle · 05/01/2020 13:37

Noisy, parents who don’t watch their children, older kids in baby area and no fresh air. Could there be a worse combination?

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