To think of your kid pees in the soft play then you should be responsible for paying for it to be cleaned?

[troobleflooble]

I've lost the link to the story so apologies for that!

Just read an article about a woman who was fined because her son had an accident (wee) in the soft play she went to. Think it was the equivalent of £50. Now, I understand that accidents happen but in this case:

The boy in question was only 2 1/2. The mum said that he'd had accidents out of the house before since stopping wearing nappies several months before

The soft play owner said it cost approx. £60 to have the area closed and cleaned and she only asked the mum to cover £50 of this

The boy had had an accident in the same soft play before albeit a slightly different area.

Apparently she thinks they ABU to charge her as there was no signage to indicate that a fine would be applicable in this event (although there is now) but AIBU in thinking that actually this is reasonable? The section of soft play would have to be closed so it could be cleaned and sanitised before being able to be reopened, possibly incurring a loss of income, plus the cost of the cleaning products and staff member's time.

What do you think?

Surely it’s part and parcel of the business. You don’t charge people for breaking a glass in pub or cafe. Instead of helpfully telling stuff there’s been accident a parent will not say word and avoid the fine. Some other parent would have report and then have the blame game!

I remember reading this, and whilst I get the soft plays POV I think they are unreasonable

It’s a place catered to kids. Accidents happen

No the mother should absolutely not pay. They should have insurance for this sort of thing. Kids do have accidents, you seem to be suggesting the mum is to blame but all kids have accidents - do you have kids yourself?

a link to the article

Yabvu.

Having researched opening one as part of a Leisure degree module I know that it is SOP to factor regular cleaning into the operating budget. There are all sorts of specialist companies with clever equipment that clean ball pools etc

And was the idea of a cleaning fee in their T+Cs?

Fair point @Akire but I don't think it's quite the same thing - glasses etc can be bought in bulk and cost pennies to replace. The loss of one glass won't result in the business being closed temporarily nor is a broken glass equivalent to items being contaminated with bodily fluids.

Thank you @Soubriquet 😁

@Chocolatebuttercream yes I do. I appreciate that kids do have accidents, I absolutely do. My teenage son is disabled and is incontinent so the chances of it happening to me are greater than average. I realise it's a difficult situation but at the same time it didn't sound like the boy was reliably potty trained, especially since he had already had an accident in the same place.

Nope, u would not payif it were my child. What do you mean 'fine'? A private company cant issue fines!

@a8mint that's just what they called it - I suppose you could also call it a cleaning fee?

YANBU. Of course she should pay and put him in a nappy next time. It's happened twice.

Ah! America! £26

YABU. As pp said this could make people not say when their kids have had an accident to avoid the fine so someone else could come upon it!
Also soft plays make good money for what they provide they can take the cost of cleaning, as a low income family I could no way afford a £50 fee.

Yabu. The business is targetted, for a large part, at children of potty training/ just potty trained age. Way to alienate your main customer base! Accidents will happen.

I know for a fact that if there was a chance of getting a 50 quid fine for this I would NEVER have risked taking my children to soft play. This will backfire on the business.

Also, why does putting up a few cones for 10 mimutes or so while you milton some balls cost £50?

Also, why does putting up a few cones for 10 minutes or so while you milton some balls cost £50? It doesn't.

It was $50 - £26

Ahh sorry I read the amounts wrong, it's in Australia so it was a 50 dollar charge not £50 and the cleaning cost 130 dollars. So she was charged substantially less.

Either way, maybe if this was the company policy it would make people more vigilant about supervising their children and making sure they are well toilet trained before they go into a public play place?

I'm not blaming the mum, I realise accidents happen and sometimes there isn't anything anyone can do. I'm sympathetic. As I said my son is considerably older and is incontinent, it's my job to try as best as I can to pre-empt and plan for these things and take responsibility if you fail to do so.

Not the point, I know, but if he was only 2 1/2 and was still having fairly frequent accidents, I’d have put a nappy on him.

Ooh! And I assumed USA dollars

Surely given the target audience you build this kinda mishap into your price

I also think parents just won’t say if there’s an accident

Two family members were convinced their children were potty trained before the age of 2. In reality it was more, no more nappies, plenty of clothes change. They always scorned me when my dc were still in nappies at age 3, but dd managed to fully potty train with no accidents within 3 days. ds was a bit longer

I vividly remember going to soft play with one family member, my dd, and their ds. He pooed himself in the middle of the place. Family member just took the ds to the toilets, changed him, wiped what would they could out of the carpet at the soft play and left it at that. I wasn’t impressed

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER that's my point I think. It had happened before so she should have been a little more prepared.

How ridiculous, health and safety gone mad.
If one of the Fathers came along, and sat on a chair to watch the child, and he did a massive fart into the chair, would the chair be thrown away, and he would have to buy a new chair to replace it,, and told not to fart in the soft play area again.!

Couldn't he just wear pull ups and be taken to the toilet before he goes in the play area

It sounds like they didn't charge her the first time? So perhaps they are prepared to say "accidents happen" if it's not a repeat offence.

As others have said, saying that there's a charge could result in unreported accidents, which would be worse. Probably better just to put up with it, but perhaps remind people to get their kids to use the toilet before they start playing. Most parents know that expecting a child that age to stop playing somewhere exciting to ask for the toilet is a big ask, but some probably don't think about it.

If he’s constantly having accidents then he’s boy fully toilet trained therefore she should put a nappy on him.

not fully toilet trained.

And I mean she should put a nappy on him here, not all the time. Accidents do happen but if it’s be second time it’s happened here then probability suggests he goes frequently