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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Isawthathaggis · 05/01/2020 13:57

Badly behaved children, their parents.

MotorwayDiva · 05/01/2020 13:57

Some are good, others aren't. My biggest bugbear is parents not keeping an eye on kids. DD loves the one we are currently in, a rainy day a few months back we spent five hours here (no time limit, food OK)

VividImagination · 05/01/2020 13:58

We have two near us and both are quite nice, clean toilets and decent coffee/sandwiches. When Ds3 was in Primary and I was working full time it was difficult to do playdates so every couple of weeks I would take a wee group of them on a Saturday or Sunday morning. Two hours play whilst I was on Mumsnet, a bite of lunch and drop them home. That way I felt I was doing my bit with very little stress and no tidying up. It has to be a very good day for me to spend two hours in a Park.

HowDoIhelp321 · 05/01/2020 13:58

I love soft play when they are old enough to go off by themselves.

The noise becomes a distant din which I love. Like white noise but with the occasional blood curdling scream to keep me awake.

I take my laptop and books to do uni work.
They sell coffee and food and the kids are happy.

Winner!

Bluebutterfly90 · 05/01/2020 13:59

One of my first jobs was in a soft play area (it was attached to a bowling alley so you could chuck your kids in there while you went bowling), and I absolutely loved the job.
The biggest downside for me was that when everything is padded the children manage to injure themselves by running into... each other.
My soft play area did actually have a pretty good wipe down policy so I don't think it was particularly germy but small kids do tend to be kinda germ magnets.
I'm quite looking forward to taking my son to soft play when he's old enough, but I can see why it's not for everyone. Grin

WendyMoiraAngelaDarling · 05/01/2020 13:59

I used to love it. So easy. Kids could go off and run wild while I read the paper and tucked into a panini and a hit chocolate. I liked it almost as much as they did. So relaxing.

LaMarschallin · 05/01/2020 14:01

Umm...

Where's OP gone?

Either she's swooned into a state of ecstasy at watching 9 month old DS having a lovely time...

or she's suddenly woken out of her trance, thinking: " Blow me! I'm drinking shit coffee and DS is sucking on a ball that six germ-ridden kids have also sucked and is being approached by a gigantic one-year old toddler* who's about to kick his head in!"...

or has been buttonholed by random mummy who wants to point out how her offspring is doing something remarkable for their age and is worried that they may be "gifted".

*Known to his parents as "a little baby of 12 months"

maddiemookins16mum · 05/01/2020 14:02

Comeback in 2-3 years and let us knowhow you feel then.

Straycatstrut · 05/01/2020 14:03

We used to have a tiny one near us attached to a Nursery that you could rent for £5 an hour. It was brand new and spotless, big slide, den with ball pool, climby bit. Bliss!! send in your kid and sit at the side and leave them to it Grin. Under 5's only though really.

The bigger ones... noooo.
Screaming kids everywhere! too many bright lights. Mine always end up having some kind of fight with other kids, (eldest is usually the victim, youngest the instigator) which I feel like I have to climb into the sweaty pit of doom to sort out before it escalates even more.

3 year old will climb UP the slide or manage to wedge himself into something and get stuck and scream for help.

Mine always get gastro after and it is HELL.

It's just not worth it. They've been watching "The Good Dinosaur" now quietly for 10 minutes which is a record! Normally I can't get them to watch TV!

Sleepyblueocean · 05/01/2020 14:04

They are hard work when you are still having to follow your 8 year old around whilst fending off unsupervised 2 year olds who are annoying him in the big play area.

BestZebbie · 05/01/2020 14:06

We have a very very middle class soft play near us with a proper (hipster) cafe, reading corner and a second hand baby clothes resale shop etc and it is amazing!
We went about once a fortnight for each of the years aged 1-5, always in school time so five year olds were the oldest other children there.
However....now my child is at school so we can only go to soft plays at weekends when they are crowded and rowdy, I am rapidly going off the idea.

IdiotInDisguise · 05/01/2020 14:06

I hated soft play areas, they were loud, had to monitor no one landed on my child or he didn’t land on other one, they smelled of wee, the food and coffee were awful and they were over priced. Mind you, DS loved them so I put myself thorough them as any other parent do.

MyNewBearTotoro · 05/01/2020 14:08

I enjoy soft play and I like that all of my children enjoy it, including my 2 disabled children. There aren’t many places I can take all 4 kids and know they’ll all have a good time and I usually have fun there too. I think you do have to find a good one though and try and avoid the busiest times, a rainy day in the school holidays for example is a nightmare. But at quieter times I enjoy taking the kids.

Sleepyblueocean · 05/01/2020 14:10

"Mine always get gastro after and it is HELL."

I heard a parent say to their coughing unwell looking child , if you think you are going to be sick again tell me and we'll go to the toilet.

FrivolousPancake · 05/01/2020 14:10

I much preferred being outdoors with DD at that age, they were always sweaty smelly germy places.

jakeyboy1 · 05/01/2020 14:11

He's 9 months. You'll learn!

LaMarschallin · 05/01/2020 14:12

or has been buttonholed by random mummy who wants to point out how her offspring is doing something remarkable for their age

Such as kicking in OP's head.

My SiL was an expert at this.
"He knows no fear!" she'd trill as the spawn of Satan not-so-D-nephew rode his ickle tricycle at smaller children with a demonic glint in his eye...

(Seriously, he was a sod. Lovely now he's grown up and is a successful primary school teacher. I always thought he'd turn into a psychopath!)

Bluerussian · 05/01/2020 14:13

Didn't have such things when mine was little - though most people did their own versions of 'soft play' at home with no title. I'm sure I wouldn't have liked going, hated being with a load of other mothers, felt overwhelmed, crowded and not good at small talk. It was bad enough going to the baby clinic (like you see on 'Call the Midwife'), though when I went back to work part time, my GP told me to bring the baby to the surgery for check ups and vaccinations (they didn't have baby clinics at the surgeries then), which was a great relief. I was happier with one or two friends and enjoyed being with colleagues.

We're all different, op. If you like it though, that's great.

Picklypickles · 05/01/2020 14:13

It's just far too loud for me, we do have a really nice one locally which was quite a nice one to go to when the kids were smaller but its just too small for them now and they get bored fairly quickly. The larger one is like hell on earth, its absolutely massive and on top of the sounds of hundreds of screaming children we also get obnoxiously loud music and there are always 2/3 birthday parties going on at once so you're lucky if you can find anywhere to sit.

LaMarschallin · 05/01/2020 14:13

Sorry!

OP son's head.
Even my nephew wasn't that ambitious.

Isithometimeyet0987 · 05/01/2020 14:16

Because I teach kids performing arts all week, so I really just want a break from them and the closest soft play to us is 10mins walk from my PA school so parents and kids know me. Also I live in London there so much better activities and places to take dd (4) to.

InglouriousBasterd · 05/01/2020 14:19

DDs bouts of rotavirus and scarlet fever can be pinned to soft play Crown Envy she also came out of the ball pit once covered in shit, that was fun.

That said, if I went early and left before the masses arrived it was tolerable!

Rosebel · 05/01/2020 14:25

I liked it but we didn't go until my children were older (around 4). We had a lovely one near us but it's closed down now which is a bit annoying. The only other ones are attached to pubs and parents don't appear to look after their children. There aren't really any others around.

toycar · 05/01/2020 14:26
  • other snotty children.
  • children that piss in the ball pool or safety mats and the parents don't know about it - usually resulting in children accidentally walking through the wee with soggy socks.
  • only one near us closes early on a monday to clean the play equipment down, god knows when the others were last cleaned.
MrsAgassi · 05/01/2020 14:29

The ‘spirited’ children whose parents can’t be bothered to parent them.

Knowing that they can’t be cleaned thoroughly regularly and are therefore just full of disease!

Children running up slides, it enrages me!

I will concede that some are nicer than others, but even the nice ones aren’t where I’d choose to spend time.

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