To think this can't be true about play centres?

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

Seen this this morning on Facebook from a trampoline park/soft play centre - surely it can't be true? Too many safeguarding issues - My kids are 5 and 8 and I wouldn't leave them alone inside a play centre. I'd sit in the cafe/seating area and look out for them but parents can't possibly be expected to leave their 4+ year olds (they clarify in the comments that it only applies to kids 4 and over) alone?

@BillyIsMyBunny you're not wrong about parents being lax in a soft play centre, but last time restrictions were lifted parents could be in a seated area but not in the actual soft play (unless their child was in distress) but this time they can't be - hence my confusion

And of course there is a risk of bumped heads (or similar, possibly worse) but I would expect a telephone call in my car and go in to collect them.

@Pumperthepumper

The op has explicitly mentioned the lack of DBS as an issue...

OP you just need to realise that under current restrictions this is the only way trampoline parks etc can open up. It's not just small kids using them it's also older kids and teens. If you don't like the current restrictions then don't go, but don't expect them to close just because your child is to young to be left. News Flash, it's not just about younger kids.

@Same4Walls

I teach teenagers and half my sixth form have jobs in local soft play centres as 'play supervisors'.

But this isn't a soft play centre it's a trampoline play centre??

It's both, as I said in my OP.

@FortunesFave

I'm just agog at the terrible grammar of that post! "dressed warm"

What!?

For this alone I'd probably boycott it TBH

You're not allowed to stand and watch sport outside so i can't see why indoors would allow it! If it's a supervised organised session then I don't see what the issue is.

[quote Scepticalch3rry]@Pumperthepumper

The op has explicitly mentioned the lack of DBS as an issue...[/quote]
But now they know they probably will be DBS checked. Which actually, I didn’t know was a requirement either until this thread. Every day’s a school day!

That’s not true. The risks in a trampoline park (or softplay, if you want) will risk assess around that specific equipment. The staff won’t get safety training around nappy changing, for example, because they won’t do that.

It’s bizarre to compare softplay staff to nursery staff just because they occasionally look after children.

I meant risk courses would be broadly similar in things like how to prevent accidents, assess dangers and minimise injuries. Obviously I'm not comparing a nursery worker to a trampoline play centre worker but merely pointing out both will have undertaken safeguarding and risk assessment training.

@Same4Walls

You are not seriously suggesting that nursery workers have the same childcare qualifications as softplay floor workers?

No I'm saying safeguarding training is similar for all jobs involving children. The risk courses will cover broadly the same content.

I can guarantee that schools and soft play centres will not have the same safeguarding training. School and nursery setting are trained to look out for red flags within family settings etc.

Trampoline parks aren't really a place for very young children. Much more likely to hurt theirselves on the actual trampolines than anything else and parents being sat in a cafe or a car makes no difference.
Most trampolines you buy have a minimum age limit recommendation for safety reasons. I think age 6/7 up would be fine personally, probably be good for kids who's parents are of the helicopter variety.

No way would I send my kids in there!

"DBS check"only means that someone never got caught if you are really picky. And It's not specially the staff I would worry about, it's more the other kids.

The environment makes it totally unsuitable to leave kids unsupervised, or just with the poor staff.

At 4 my son would want to be able to see me, that is the issue, not me seeing him.

Yes same, even my 8yo wouldn't want to see me I reckon

But now they know they probably will be DBS checked. Which actually, I didn’t know was a requirement either until this thread. Every day’s a school day!

You genuinely didn't know someone working with children would need a dbs check?

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

At 4 my son would want to be able to see me, that is the issue, not me seeing him.

Yes same, even my 8yo wouldn't want to see me I reckon

You mean would?

Sorry @ineedaholidaynow I somehow tagged you in the wrong post 🤦🏼‍♀️

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

I'm not being rude. Just pointing g out that cafes are not permitted to seat indoors.

It was the 'what's so hard to understand' - when I actually hadn't shown that I 'didn't understand' there was no need for that rude and arsey comment.

The lack of understanding of current restrictions is staggering

You're actually staggered that people don't understand rules that keep changing, are inconsistent, make no sense (so from 12th April adults can't congregate in a cafe but children can in a play centre) and are clear as mud. Your staggered by that?

The part you need to understand is that cafes are not open yet for inside seating. It's been very well advertised you really have no reason to not understand this by now.

Sounds ok to me if the staff are play workers.

@KindnessCrusader

Sounds like this is for a lesson. Even pre pandemic parents weren't encouraged to stay at any of the (billion) extra curricular activities my children do.

No, it's for free roaming soft play/trampoline play

@Same4Walls

That’s not true. The risks in a trampoline park (or softplay, if you want) will risk assess around that specific equipment. The staff won’t get safety training around nappy changing, for example, because they won’t do that.

It’s bizarre to compare softplay staff to nursery staff just because they occasionally look after children.

I meant risk courses would be broadly similar in things like how to prevent accidents, assess dangers and minimise injuries. Obviously I'm not comparing a nursery worker to a trampoline play centre worker but merely pointing out both will have undertaken safeguarding and risk assessment training.

And yet you quoted a poster who said nursery staff on minimum wage were similar to softplay workers.

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

I don’t think it’s the lack of DBS check that’s the issue! It’s just a general musing of how unlikely it is that people will merrily wave their four year old off at the door at a trampoline park.

Yes, this.

I think you would be surprised how many would happily do that, and I'll bet there will be plenty that try to pop for their shopping, or go grab a coffee while their kids are in.

Out of curiosity OP how big is the venue and have they specified how many children can attend in one session. I've just checked and our local trampoline park is huge but they are limiting sessions to no more than 25 children.

@hotcrossbun83

If it’s a specific class, eg 10 kids and a staff member who is responsible for keeping them all together/sensible then yes. I’ve just dropped a 7 year old at a hockey camp, it’s a similar thing. But if it’s normal trampolining with staff monitoring from the sides but no specific responsibility, then no. I once found my (then) 5 year old in the foam pit at trampolining with older kids throwing foam blocks at him so he couldn’t climb out, staff were meant to be watching the pit but we’re just chatting. I was monitoring a younger kid with my back turned and wrongly assumed he’d be ok in a fenced area with staff

It is a free play session - and your example is the kind of thing I would worry about. Unless they have really high staff numbers, they can't expect all children to be adequately supervised.

@Same4Walls

But now they know they probably will be DBS checked. Which actually, I didn’t know was a requirement either until this thread. Every day’s a school day!

You genuinely didn't know someone working with children would need a dbs check?

Nope - I didn’t know someone working the floor of a softplay would need a DBS check. I haven’t really thought much about it right enough, but I’d have thought that’s why up until recently the rule was always that kids had to be supervised at all times.

@thebillyotea

No way would I send my kids in there!

"DBS check"only means that someone never got caught if you are really picky. And It's not specially the staff I would worry about, it's more the other kids.

The environment makes it totally unsuitable to leave kids unsupervised, or just with the poor staff.

So @thebillyotea what do you think these other also supervised children will do to your precious offspring?