To think places for children should open earlier?

[Crocodileintheriver]

Just seen this on my Instagram and could not agree more! Everywhere for children opens way to late, should be open earlier.

The usage wasn't appropriate, because it's not 'entitled' (or stupid) to point out a simple fact i.e. that many people start work before 9am!

Your second point just makes no sense at all....

what are you on about, of course under 2s benefit from 'screen time' there a litrally TONNES of educational and interactive shows for kids.

What would a 6 month old getting from sitting in an empty playzone at 8am that better than watching Baby Club with their parent?

It makes perfect sense, are you incapable of logical thought?

If say I work at tesco and my shift starts at 8am HOW am I going to take my kid to a playzone at 9am? I physically could NOT be in two places as once.

As your point was most people work at that time you also proved the point that those same 'most people' clearly can't be at the soft play with their kids so yet again proves the lack of demand.

A very small percentage of people don't have other older kids to run round after and jobs... expecting a company should open just the tiny minority and getting rude that they operate on different time to unrelated industries IS entitled.

I'm not sure there's actually the market for it. Our local farm park and soft play opens at 10am and I often arrive at that time and DD and I are the only ones in there for a good 20-30 minutes.

10am suits us perfectly as it gives me time to get back home after the school run for DD1 then get DD2 ready and packed lunch made etc. Even when I had both DDs at home I often didn't want to rush out of the house first thing and would rather spend time out in the middle of the day to break the day up a bit.

Go get cross at the world health organisation not me, of course physical play is far more beneficial than TV

Let's try this logical through pattern as you're so good at it.

You're at Tesco. At 8am. Ready to start work.

Who's looking after your child?!

A childminder? A friend? Family member? Nanny? What might they do with your child?! Oh hang on, they could take them to a children's activity!

It's quite obviously not the person who is working at Tesco who is also taking the child to the activity is it?! Come on! You're not that thick!! You know that there are people at work and people at home with small children at the same time...you know that.

I don't expect them to open, I just said it would be nice if they did. And I haven't been rude.

You actually think watching a screen is better for a 6 month old than playing?
Whether it be at 8 am, or 11 am, or even 7 pm, an hour interacting and moving around a playzone is a lot better than screen time. The parent will be there at the playzone, they are most likely not sitting watching TV.
People have different views on screen time of course. I don't think a 6 month old should have any screen time at all.

Because staff have lives and if they work weekends, they need time off somewhere.

Im a regular at soft play between 9-10am. There’s barely anyone else there until 10, usually later than that.

I like getting up early and out of the house, it works for me and my family. If others want to sit around drinking coffee and watching tv then so be it. It’s all for the grown ups benefit tho, not the kids.

Also, those saying opening hours are for the benefit of the staff 😂😂

Opening hours are for the benefit of the business and no one else. They know what works financially.

🤣

Every day? If my child didn't sleep, was bouncing off the walls from 4am after a full day of non-stop activities I'd be calling the doctor!

It doesn’t make financial sense for things like soft play to open early because parents CBA to get them there.

On the whole children do wake up early, many people try and ‘fix’ this so they don’t have to. Most of the time it doesn’t work so it’s tv or tablet time while parents snooze or sit gearing themselves up for the day.

But also it's about staff availability, hours, shifts, etc. If they open longer, they may need 2 shifts, have to give more paid breaks, etc, and of course, it may be harder to find staff willing to work longer days, earlier starts, etc.

Also the business owners may well have discovered that the same number of customers come in during condensed hours, so they can get the same income with lower overheads, i.e. by parents delaying their visit rather than by parents not coming at all.

@TheWayTheLightFalls

We chose afternoon preschool and afternoon session's because my DD's given the chance rarely woke before 8am, sometimes nearer 9am. I avoided the morning rush

@containsnuts agreed. The current trend for early morning parties on weekends is awful. My DC aren't even awake at 9 on a Saturday let alone ready for a party. I think a bigger problem than things opening "late" is children's places being closed early when it's too dark to go to parks etc. There is no soft play open after 6 locally and not everyone puts their kids to bed then. I realise and accept it won't happen but somewhere open until 8 or 9 would be amazing for the kids to run off all their energy in an evening.

The park?

It's dark in the winter at 7 am. And cold. And sometimes wet.

Agree with opening later.

The one near us closes at 5pm. By time both kids are home (oldest goes to a specialist school and doesn’t get dropped off til 3:30pm), bathroom, and changed, it’s about 4 so they have an hour. It’s already too dark for the park just after 4pm now.

I mean the staff might not have kids so why should they have to be at work at a ridiculously early hour?

What a bizarre way of looking at things. Businesses usually cater to their customers, not their staff. Imagine if business like shops, pubs, restaurants all shut at 3pm because most of their staff have children!

Do you seriously think no-one starts work before 8am?!

As somebody who starts at 5.30 am what do you think?!

The park?

In England in November? My local park resembles the Somme. My older kid would probably be up for it (but then again, she’d also be fine at home playing on her own or reading), but the two 14 month olds definitely wouldn’t!