To think that if a soft play is going to charge for adults, they should at least provide free WiFi?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Local cheap soft play has been taken over by some big regional chain. They've added a few elements but not enough to justify the fact that they now charge double (and double what others charge).

Of course, dc begged to go as its "got x and y now mum" so finally I've bit the bullet and taken her and her friend.

They charge £2 on top for me to be here and don't even provide any WiFi. The girls are old enough that they don't care if I'm here or not; so I'm paying for the privilege of disinterested parental responsibility, and have to use my own precious data instead

Clearly its a first world problem. But it's cheeky fuckery right?

Of course no one thinks bullying or hitting is OK or character building. But dealing with minor conflict and other children in general without a parent hovering over them is important and good for them.
My children go to softplay often and they've never experienced any real difficulties with other children. The level of paranoia you're showing is massively disproportionate to the risk.

The level of paranoia you're showing is massively disproportionate to the risk

I know right?

You'd think carrying flick knives and offering round lines of coke was a common occurance in soft plays.

I’ve seen some downright awful behaviour in soft plays, and playgrounds. I remember when DS1 was 3, he was pushed over by a child twice his age because DS dared ask this child to play with him. Child’s parents were nowhere to be seen.

There's a place in York that charges £10 for adults (& £15.50 for kids) and there's no concession for disabled or even just for a carer and the wifi hasn't worked for years. Their excuse for no disabled concession is that "every adult is welcome to use the play frame so every adult is charged the same" after I've gently explained that I'm physically incapable of using the play frame and that every other venue nearby has a concession for disabled visitors or at least disabled adults

So essentially I have to pay £10 to sit in a very, very loud & overpriced café and wait for my child

Oh! And you're not guaranteed a seat either for that £10 adult charge! As I discovered to my horror the other week

Wait - you let TEN YEAR OLD BOYS walk to the local swimming pool?????? Are you for real?????? 😵😵‍💫😵

You do realise it's not 1981 anymore, don't you?

It's worse than that, these two children are GIRLS!!!!!!!!!

The fairer sex 😱😱

Girls.

What exactly is wrong with letting 2 ten year old walk to the pool? Or am I missing mock scandal?

curious what age would be ok to go swimming alone?

It's always the bully kids who have parents staring at their phones completely oblivious to how their kids are misbehaving

I hate when they charge for adults. I always want to send the kids in on their own and tell the owner what time I'll be back ( but I don't have the balls).
I really gets me I mean I always buy a coffee sometimes food. So I'm spending money there too.

Do children honestly let themselves be followed around by parents?

5 minutes after arrival my 4 year old will say: you can sit down now mummy. Basically being told to go away.

You have completely different kids to me. Mine beg me to play with them all day long, and if I even sit down for a minute, they’ll request I do something with them again. Soft plays they accept I won’t always go in with them but they often ask me to, and are completely fine with me watching where they are,

I cant even imagine the carnage at our local soft play if every child was followed around by a parent, you'd not be able to move for parents

Is there some reason children cant just go and find a parent if they are having issues with another child ? What do you think happens in the school playground? Teachers and lunch time supervisers can't watch everyone all the time

I can imagine my just turned 11 year olds face if I tried to follow him around soft play 🙄

Surely half the point of soft play is it's a safe place for some benign neglect? I won't go in them myself (I have ASD and the sensory overload is too much) but my husband would happily take our kids with a book and a thermos of decent coffee.

dum dum duuuuuum 🫣😱

Really? Really!?
No I don’t swivel my eyes from one junior aged child to the next in a soft play. When they were 1 or 2 years old in the baby section yes. At 8 or 9 no of course not.
God we wonder why we have all these anxiety ridden kids too scared to do anything or go anywhere or leave mummy’s side for 5 mins age 9.
It’s over bearing. They don’t need to monitoring their every move in a soft play for gods sake. If there is a problem they know where to find you. If they are holding up a slide queue then they can figure that out and how other kids react to that, they do not need mummy to sort and intervene with every little issue.
God I despair of the future generations levels of resilience and faith in their own abilities / self worth

@ForestFae

There is a world of difference between a 7 year old (your eldest) and a 10 year old. Added to the fact, if your DC aged 7 has additional needs, of course they’ll require additional supervision. Children of 10 without additional needs do not need a parent knowing where they are in a soft play centre.

To think that if a soft play is going to charge for adults, they should at least provide free WiFi?

How would it be free if you're paying for it?

I'm sick of businesses referring to "free" wi-fi. Even more so with train companies including the cost of wi-fi in ticket prices and then not even providing it.

I cant even imagine the carnage at our local soft play if every child was followed around by a parent, you'd not be able to move for parents

Would be a nightmare!

Do you book on line ?

Someone told me that if you book on line you don't actually have to pay for an adult ticket just for a child's ticket.
But the website is set up like that, probably to make unsuspecting adults pay.
This is from a person who works in a large sports centre soft play

Always a passive aggressive comment about parenting style!

😂 oh the horror!

it very much depends on the area you live in - no, I’m not saying there aren’t creeps in ‘nice’ areas but there are also parts of the country where people still look out for each other. I moved from a fairly rough midlands city to a small market town and kids are trusted to go to the park/shops in pairs or little groups.

No, not like the 80s - when my mother thought it appropriate that my 9 yr old brother take my 7 yr old sister and 5 yr old self to the park but wasn’t allowed to take the dog because ‘she was too much of a handful’ 😳😂