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

[BlueMoon1103]

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!

I'm glad my years of soft play are over! I remember when my first was around 1 years old and thinking they were exciting. Fast forward 2 dc and years of going to various different soft plays they are hell on earth.

Loud, busy, sofas that look like they should have been thrown in the skip years ago... bad, greasy food! When you have more than one dc they become pricey just in entrance fees, then don't get me started on charging adults to go in too..

There's usually 2 types of parents; the one with several misbehaved children who sit there the whole time ignoring the havoc their dc are causing in the play area. Then there's the "helicopter" parent who follows their pfb around like a hawk making passive aggressive comments if any child dares to even look at pfb.

Glad my days are over!

because they have to be involved in their kids life. They picture a soft play as a cafe to relax and ignore their kids for a couple of hours, but instead have to hear and see other children.

I don't hate them at all, hard work when you go with your kids to protect them from feral bullies, but it's good exercise! We have fun. But then I like spending time with my kids instead of ignoring them. I am not afraid to stand to mini bullies either when my kids are too young to do it themselves

Who goes there for the FOOD? It's a soft play , not a place to stuff yourself with junk food

Other peoples feral kids.
The parents ignoring their feral kids and not parenting on any level.
The piss and vomit and germs in the ball pits.
The smell.
The noise.
The terrible coffee.
The bright lights.

It's horrid, it's a cesspit of germs and kids who are not supervised while their parents ignore them on their phones. I spend my time refereeing the older ones away from my smaller ones and my youngest has been pinned down and hurt. Thankfully my eldest hates them so we don't have to endure them

Josef when your DC are of a certain age, they play alone...if I could have a decent coffee and sandwich for lunch then I'd go to softplay...since our local ones are only able to cook rancid chips, it puts me off. I'm not the one playing...why wouldn't I want to eat lunch?

I quite liked taking my baby / toddler to soft play during term time when it was quiet. No bigger children coming in to the baby area and knocking them over.

The hell that is soft play on a wet Saturday afternoon is a totally different matter!

Its loud, i don't like enclosed spaces with lots of people because of a little social anxiety. Not all children and parents are nice, kids pee in the area and you can't always see your child. I don't enjoy it but I grit my teeth for DD and take her.

The toilets.
General chaos and unruly kids.

I enjoy it too, although my most local soft play is small, and also a proper cafe where they do nice food and drinks. Its aimed at mainly under 5s as well so you dont get too many bigger bossy kids pushing out the way. But then when we have my stepson we often go to a huge warehouse type soft play in cardiff and I hate it. Last time we went on a saturday we only lasted 40 mins before we had to leave as me and dp were both losing the will to live

I don’t miss other people’s children feeling deprived of adult attention and shouting, “Look at me/ Look what I can do,” and just following us around.

The constant germy filth, the stuffy air, the overpowering smells. Too many people in a confined echoey space, too loud music, definitely sensory overload. The appalling food and drinks and that you cannot take anything remotely edible of your own.

That a few people will leave their children unsupervised and unobserved from an unsuitable age so there's always a lost child crying their heart out and often injured. Awful to see. I just can't bear them.
Also paying money when there are all those barely used parks out there that are free, quiet, no policies about food or drink without strange smells!

I don't understand the hate for soft play either. My dc always had a good time and generally made a few friends. They were a bit of a pain when they were tiny and wanted me to go with them or could get stuck, but once they were 3+ I used to take them when I had to catch up with work and they would play nicely for an hour or 2.

I'm so glad Ds is past the stage for soft play. While I enjoyed the quiet Monday morning toddler group I used to attend, I hated being there when it was busy. I don't know how anyone could work at one. The noise is torture.

Ours is alright during the week. But dd is now too tall for the wee ones bit but at only 4.5 she needs company on the bigger kids climbing area.
So it's not that I don't like it but it's definately not a relaxing afternoon.

I went to one party a couple of years ago I couldnt get a water to drink. I was offered a nauseating range of fizzy drinks or fruit shoots. I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to brave the food given that the drinks are enough to make you physically sick.

I like the idea of the actual play equipment but by being indoors in a building with terrible acoustics and artificial lights makes it not nice. My daughter have never enjoyed them so we have been about 3 times in her almost 12 years - and they were other children's birthday parties. Unfortunately these places are a creation of modern life where we (society) are too afraid to let children just play outside.

I manage a visit once every six months or so and remember why I hate it. The one nearest me has a steep, long, slippery plastic slide at the end of an obstacle course... cue dozens of parents commando crawling through ball pits etc before their toddler goes head first down a storey.

I don’t mind it too much if I’m with a friend. We wave our kids off into the play frame of dooooom and chat and eat and drink in peace for a couple of hours. They emerge occasionally red in the face and demanding drinks and then they’re off again.

I didn’t like it all that much when they were smaller mind you and needed me to help them navigate it all with them.

Because other parents don’t parent their children properly.

I believe there is a window between 15 - 36 months where it’s not even worth crossing the threshold. Losing them, chasing them up the age 4 plus areas whilst avoiding the overexcited 8/9 year olds. Then trying to negotiate the departure... shudder.

When you get to child number four, check in and see whether it's quite as much fun then!!

My DS was 9 months when I took him to soft
Play for the only time. He got body slammed in the baby area by a child (about 5-6 yo by size) because he wanted the block things my son was already using before he entered to stand up.

We haven't been back and I wouldn't bother any time soon.

Just you wait until your ds is older and he gets shoved / kicked / hit by other kids. You'll feel differently.

Horrible, germ ridden places! So glad my days of those vile places are over, luckily DS was never really keen himself either!