Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 ··· 5 6 7 8 9 10

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:

BarbourellaTheCoatzilla · 05/01/2020 14:49

Knowing that they can’t be cleaned thoroughly regularly
Yeah they're never thoroughly cleaned, EVER. I used to work in a soft play for 2 years when I was out of school. The 'cleaning' involved hoovering, sweeping and cleaning up any major spills on the floor. Ball pool was never cleaned in the 2 years I was there, let alone anything else. They are manky places full of chavs, even if I wasn't infertile I would never take my kids to them.

PanicAndRun · 05/01/2020 14:55

They're noisy.
They're busy
They're noisy
They are really boring
There's kids
They're noisy
There are other people
They're boring
They're noisy
They're boring as fuck
They're noisy

I only went for bday parties, maybe once or twice with friends. OH always took DD if it was just for "fun". Never took her on my own.

Kezo · 05/01/2020 14:57

They're grimy and the parents and children generally are just awful people. I'm yet to go to a soft play where I don't encounter multiple bitey children/pushy children/ignorant parents/rude parents or d&v bugs 1 day later.

We have been twice for kids parties and I avoid them like the plague.

I am sure you will change your mind once your PFB is our of the lovely little baby area.

Littlecaf · 05/01/2020 15:02

One near us is clean, cheap and sells wine! On a rainy day, what’s not to love?

SquigglePigs · 05/01/2020 15:03

I have a 13 month old and mostly like soft play. We generally avoid weekends and school holidays but we went a few times over the Christmas break and it wasn't too bad - just loud!! It can be loud and boisterous but at home it's just us and DD so I think the hustle and bustle of soft play is actually good for her. Older kids often like interacting with the babies and I think that's good for her too. I would prefer better food though!! A couple near us at least do a half decent homemade chilli but the food isn't the best. It's only one meal though so not the end of the world.

Whether I still like it when she's 5 remains to be seen....!

LisaSimpsonsbff · 05/01/2020 15:06

Everyone else in my antenatal group was weirdly keen to go to softplay, as some sort of rite of passage. They kept meeting up there when the babies were six months and would have been just as entertained by the hustle and bustle of a normal coffee shop, and we could have had drinkable coffee. The babies are now all toddlers and I wonder if they regret this early enthusiasm...!

FourTeaFallOut · 05/01/2020 15:07

It's just so goddamned loud. The screams just ricochet off all the tin walls, echo around the cavernous roofs and bounce off the tiled floor and that's before you get to whichever unknown substance that make your feet slightly stick to the ground.

PurpleCrazyHorse · 05/01/2020 15:07

Depends hugely on the soft play. I have been known to drive a fair distance to go to a 'nice' one rather than the less desirable local ones.

MrsScrubbithatescleaning · 05/01/2020 15:08

Your baby is only 9 months and so closely supervised.
Come back and tell us if you still think they’re wonderful places when he’s 18 months.

FlashingFedora · 05/01/2020 15:09

Lol, you have a 9 month old so have been at soft play what a handful of times? Come back in 8 years and tell us you still love it! Awful, stinky, germ ridden, soulless places with shit coffee which mine is thankfully too old for now.

AmazingGreats · 05/01/2020 15:09

@ElefanteIntheroom

Sand pits are worse than ball pits at the park, and they can pick the up anywhere, schools and nurseries are the worst, so i wouldn't think the park is any better than soft play. Kids gets these things and they are easy to treat.

Littlecaf · 05/01/2020 15:09

And the one we go to doesn’t have a ball pit and the food is ok. And it’s a charity.

There are some always ones. The first one I ever went to I needed to take anti back wipes with me. One time another older kid asked to see DSs pants (I caught him just as he asked and told him off, I told the staff who just said “it’s a supervised play area” I was like “yes so why are you not throwing out the other family for not supervising their kid! I was supervising mine which I why I stopped it!”)

I think the moral of the story is pick your soft play wisely!

my2bundles · 05/01/2020 15:11

They are ok as long as parents make sure their kids stay in tne correct age group areas. This includes keeping toddlers and babies out of the section intended for older children.

Stinkycatbreath · 05/01/2020 15:13

@crosser62. Your description sid make me laugh. I feel the same way.

peachgreen · 05/01/2020 15:13

I like the small ones that are attached to a proper cafe - garden centre ones can be good. The big purpose built ones are hell but I can see why kids love them so much so I will take DD when she's older!

Confrontayshunme · 05/01/2020 15:13

I measured the average decibels the last time I was at soft play and it was 94, which is higher than listening to a sustained lawnmower by your head for over an hour.

That, and a friend who worked at one said they NEVER disinfect the balls. Too many and too complicated. Surfaces and pits yes, balls no.

Have managed to only go three times in 8 years and pawn it off on DH and grandparents.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 05/01/2020 15:15

I think it’s a fab idea in concept however so many don’t seem to supervise their children so they spoil it for others and the germs likely to be found.

damnthatanxiety · 05/01/2020 15:17

It is chaos. Some of us get overwhelmed by chaos. They are loud, echo-y. bright, overly colourful, crowded places and everyone is moving really fast and randomly. It's just overwhelming. I get a migraine. I'm sure I am not the only one. Added to all of this, there are always a number of out of control dc and a few aggressive ones with parents who don't care. And the ick/germ factor....what is there to like?

Biancadelrioisback · 05/01/2020 15:19

I love it. DS goes usually about 2-3 times a week and has done since 9 months (he's now 3). Goes once with my parents, once with PILs and we will usually take him at the weekend. This weekend we came swimming but we always do park/walks as well.
I think softplay are great! I enjoyed them more when he was little and I got to go on everything too (only went when it was v quiet so I wasn't getting in the way of children).

Babyroobs · 05/01/2020 15:23

Parents start acting like kids ! A parent once threatened to pull my dh's hair in a soft play because our toddler had pulled their toddler's hair. Ridiculous.

pinkstripeycat · 05/01/2020 15:26

Because when your child gets old enough to walk they will get bulldozed over by a giant 12 year old running as fast as they can like their life depends on it. Also some other child will smack them in the chops or pinch them or throw balls at them etc. I used to follow mine around and watch them ALL the time.

pinkstripeycat · 05/01/2020 15:27

IceCreamAndCandyfloss

I think it’s a fab idea in concept however so many don’t seem to supervise their children so they spoil it for others and the germs likely to be found.

Exactly this. Great when all kids are supervised

Dontrainonmyparade · 05/01/2020 15:28

Busy
Dirty
Smelly toilets
Crap food

Youngest is 3, has been twice in her life and doesn’t know what ‘soft play’ is. My life is just happier without having to visit those places.

NCasIknowMNetters · 05/01/2020 15:31

The local soft play takes kids up to 12 yo in the bigger area (there's also a baby area, and a toddler area - this younger child area is as big as some soft play area I've paid to go into). We're regulars and have membership.

My DDs are very tall (off the top of the centile chart) and play areas that 'say' they're for up to 10 year olds BUT ALSO have a height restriction are a nightmare as mine couldn't go in much past their 8th birthdays, but still want to.

I took most of an OU BA and MA sitting in the noise and chaos I can tune it out most of the time. A few summers back I spotted 2 other tables graced with laptop and OU logo'd books, week after week. And while we weren't actively watching every move of our children none of them got into any trouble, and I'll always stop if they need to talk to me. I'm lucky that my DDs play nicely (most of the time) and DD1 is that child who will go and have a quiet word with the staff is someone is misbehaving too badly. (they were 6+ at this stage)

I think soft play is the human-child equivalent of socialising a dog. You thrown them in, keep an eye out for trouble, deal with issues and eventually a child who understands the rules of playing emerges the other side.

DD2 just had her 9th birthday party there, DD1 has asked if her 11th birthday party can be there. I think she can see the end of her time playing there coming to an end now..

Drabarni · 05/01/2020 15:33

Because they are full of germs, piss and shit tb polite.
Why bother, we just played with them at home, or took them to the park.
There's plenty of better places to visit with kids, like petting farms, zoos, museums and galleries etc.

Flip

1 2 ··· 5 6 7 8 9 10

Swipe left for the next trending thread