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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think soft play is utterly hideous?

185 replies

roarfeckingroarr · 05/08/2021 15:07

I've just taken DS (10 months old, he's standing, cruising and crawling) to a small local soft play with my friend and her baby. It's a very expensive smart newish one with a small amount of basic stuff and a cafe - not a jungle gym with slides etc suitable for bigger children

Dear Lord it was hideous. Parents on their phones not supervising or even vaguely keeping an eye on their children, our toddlers nearly getting trampled despite keeping them to a small corner away from the more grown up bits. Boiling hot and sticky. And the screeching.

Never again. Never.

OP posts:
Maggiesfarm · 05/08/2021 21:38

@roarfeckingroarr

I've just taken DS (10 months old, he's standing, cruising and crawling) to a small local soft play with my friend and her baby. It's a very expensive smart newish one with a small amount of basic stuff and a cafe - not a jungle gym with slides etc suitable for bigger children

Dear Lord it was hideous. Parents on their phones not supervising or even vaguely keeping an eye on their children, our toddlers nearly getting trampled despite keeping them to a small corner away from the more grown up bits. Boiling hot and sticky. And the screeching.

Never again. Never.

I'm eternally grateful such places were not around when mine were small. They sound horrific, especially as parents have to hang around.
Allthenumbers · 05/08/2021 21:46

Please don’t judge parents who follow their older children around.

My eldest is 4 and autistic not that a passer by would ever realise that she’s disabled. She loves soft play although we are only able to go because of covid restrictions otherwise it would be too busy for her. She struggles with motor coordination so needs physical help and she wouldn’t be able to properly communicate with other children. She also panics for example at children crying and would be fucking terrified if on her own if something frightening happened.

Yes I follow her and we play. She loves it. She’s able to practice motor skills and practise interaction with other kids.

So next time you think to judge a parent, stop.

I would so dearly love my daughter to be able to manage a soft play on her own. Her two year old sister is more confident and more able to do so but obviously too young to be unattended.

bellamountain · 05/08/2021 21:54

They can be stressful, I took my 18 month old for the first time this week and he was so overwhelmed we had to leave. It was more for my eldest who hasn't been to a softplay since before lockdown but being school holidays it was horrendous. When my eldest was a toddler he found it all too much at times, he only really started to enjoy them when he was 4 years old and could go off with his friends.

I see in America (from watching Blippi videos) that they seem to have so much more indoor leisure options that are fun and engaging for children. He visits science play centres and venues where kids get to build, play with jugs of water to make things turn etc etc. Why don't we have anything like that over here??

Carycy · 05/08/2021 21:56

The whole point of soft play is for kids to run around and blow off steam especially when the weather is miserable.
Don’t take a baby there.

21Bee · 05/08/2021 22:10

@bellamountain there are things like that, our local one is Winchester Science Centre.

Goldbar · 05/08/2021 22:13

@Allthenumbers. I wouldn't judge. If I see a parent of an older child in the soft play, I assume it's because the child wants/needs them there. Sometimes my DC (almost 4) asks me to come in with them because there's lots of older children around and they're a bit scared or because the soft play is empty and they're lonely and want someone to play with. If there's kids their age about or we've come with a friend, they're happy to ignore me Grin. I think it's fine for parents to be in there if their children need them, but of course there'd be no room for the children if every parent was tailing their child Smile.

stairway · 05/08/2021 22:14

I loath it, just wait till you start getting invited to soft play parties every weekend, hideous and it’s hard to say no thanks.

marmaladehound · 05/08/2021 22:39

I hate soft play, just hate it! However my kids love it! As a compromise we go to soft play areas that are set up within something like a kids farm park. I can tolerate that for 30/40 min but cannot stand going to specific soft play!!

Lockdownbear · 05/08/2021 22:39

There are things like Science Centers and interactive museums in the UK. But I don't see them as an alternative to softplay.

Softplay is a response to very unpredictable UK weather when playparks can be a hit or miss. Who wants to freeze on a park bench with a coffee while kids run around?

I used to use a more international forum and the Americans were stunned by photos of UK softplays, to them a softplay was a tiny free area inside a mall for toddlers the sort of areas you sometimes get in airports.

TheLette · 05/08/2021 23:01

I hate soft play. But my 3 year old loves it. I take her and her baby sister. The baby area is basically designed for that, so there is somewhere babies can go if they need to be there. I would not take my baby there if it was just her alone, no way.

I hate soft play marginally less these days now that my local one limits sessions to 10 kids. If I go with a few friends we pretty much have the place to ourselves 🙌

MintyGreenDream · 05/08/2021 23:15

Yanbu I fucked soft play off just before covid and have never returned.Hell holes.

SemiFeralDalek · 06/08/2021 12:33

I'm 35 and remember going to soft play centres when I was small and loving it!

DS is 4 and we went with his school friend last week and it was brilliant! They had a whale of a time! Just buggered off and played, came back red and sweaty for a juice and then buggered off again!

Some are scruffier than others, sometimes there are more boisterous children.

Your rookie mistake was going in the summer holidays, and when you have a small baby, all children (especially ones running about and bouncing off things) seem massive and rough.

pelosi · 06/08/2021 13:01

their little thugs

and screeches

Your PFB will be a screechy little thug soon enough as well.

FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop · 06/08/2021 13:10

I wish some people would just admit they don't like soft play because that's where common people go.

Working class isn't contagious, relax you stuck up twats

marmaladehound · 06/08/2021 13:31

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

I wish some people would just admit they don't like soft play because that's where common people go.

Working class isn't contagious, relax you stuck up twats

Maybe some people think this. I just hate soft play, nothing to do with the people who go there. I don't really pay attention to who else is there! I never especially liked play groups either, I went as kids loved it. I just gritted my teeth!
CoffeeWithCheese · 06/08/2021 20:06

Your little one will be one of the towering terrifying big kids before you realise it. I used to be selective which ones I went to when mine were little (I had two under 1 as well to consider so it was a godsend for the cruiser to potter around the baby area for a bit) - some of them have much more enclosed under 1/under 2 areas than others... even now there are some I tend to avoid because you can't have a good line of sight everywhere and DD2 could fall over a flat floor given half the chance - I don't helicopter them, but I do keep enough of an eye on them that I know the area they're at in the play frame - and usually what I'm more likely to find than my kids knocking little ones flying, is DD2 standing there patiently letting anyone smaller than her down the slide before her, while DD1 gets increasingly exasperated that her sister's never getting to have a go herself!

FartnissEverbeans · 06/08/2021 20:14

I hated soft play when DS was younger but I appreciate its value now that he can run off and play with the other kids by himself.

Having said that, I live overseas and the soft play venues here are amazing - massive, well supervised by staff and spotless. I went to a few on visits to the UK and they were a bit grim. Cheaper though

Createdjustforthis · 07/08/2021 09:07

@equuscaballus

One of our is super clean, air condition in summer and heated floor in winter. Kids are well behaved and the coffee and cakes are great.

The one op described sounds like one I visited in Cambridge once.It was disgusting.

Older kids were bullying younger ones and asking random adults for money!

My advice is find a smaller one in a rural area.

Was that the one off Newmarket road? God it was a dive, I’ve never been anywhere filthier. I went once for a birthday party and refused to go again.

It burnt down in suspicious circumstances a few years ago.

BananaMilkshakeWithCream · 07/08/2021 09:09

@NeverMetANiceOne

I find softplay appeals to a certain kind of parent, and is therefore best avoided at all costs.
What does that mean?
lazylump72 · 07/08/2021 09:38

To Know soft play is utterly hideous! Lesson learned early OP you can now save yourself and your little one years of torture ..truly horrid places.

senoritarita · 07/08/2021 16:49

I went to soft play today. Im on my own with a lively 3 year old all day and its tipping down with rain. I sat and relaxed whilst she charged around for 2 hours! Shes knackered now!

Neverrains · 07/08/2021 16:50

@BananaMilkshakeWithCream she means those filthy working classes, I think.

Generalpost · 07/08/2021 17:08

[quote Neverrains]@BananaMilkshakeWithCream she means those filthy working classes, I think.[/quote]
That's how I took it . Oh well more room for us peasants 👍

I don't know where people are going to find theses all theses rough soft plays. Of course your going to get a child that gets a bit over excited or a bit rough. Several times I have seem my children knocked over or pushed. 9 times out of 10 they just get up and keep playing.

You will get the odd child that will be purposely horrible to other children . You can actually mention it to staff and they will watch and step In if needed. I have never felt the need to do that though.

And yes soft play definitely gives mums a break as well. Yes you watch them but you get a bit of space as well.

I have taken my children from the time they can sit to when they are to tall and can no longer get in then they use the excuse I'm just going to help my little brother 😅

CookPassBabtridge · 07/08/2021 17:08

Yep I kept softplay visits limited to parties and the odd time, definitely not a regular thing.

WaltzingTilda · 07/08/2021 17:32

Took dd (3) to soft play for the first time ever a few weeks back , she absolutely loved it, so will be taking her again. I don't like the idea of soft play myself, but when it's raining and there's not much you can do outdoors , I think soft play is great for them to let off steam in a safe environment.