Entire extended families at soft play/trampoline parks and the like

[Lordofthebutterfloofs]

Why? I don't get it. Am in a trampoline park at the minute letting my two blow off some steam and there are multiple families here with mum, dad, gran, grandad on both sides, auntie, uncle ect ect all with one (if we're honest, too small to be here) child.

Why? I don't get it. They do it at swimming lessons too when your trying to get your kids in and out clogging up the changing rooms.

Last Time i was in A&E a nurse had to tell everyone who wasn't a patient to stand up as so many family members were taking up all the seats that the actual patients where having to stand

Oh my god, entire troops of people all trudging around 1 (ONE) very small child who has no idea where they actually are. Entire experience also has to be loudly narrated by at least three relatives for benefit of said child, who is mostly just trying to chow down on a bag of Organix puffs in peace but has to put up with Uncle and Aunty Loudmouth repeatedly bellowing “LOOK! A BAA LAMB! WHAT NOISE DOES A SHEEP MAKE?”. They will also all go en masse to the cafe and stand in the way of everyone while doing an extended faff about coats, chairs, pushchairs, coffee orders and so on.

Not the swimming lessons or A&E obviously. But I don't see the issue with family meetups in a trampoline park cafe, assuming there is ample space. It's chance for the kids to burn off steam, you don't have to provide food or space in your own home and the cafe benefits from the sales. What's not to like🤷‍♀️

Too much! The same in AnEs too, numerous unnecessary family members using up all the seats in the waiting room.

It’s a family socialising venue with a big cafe though! Misery guts.

Were so you think families should meet up then? You are describing a farm/zoo here, so you don’t think families should even socialise outdoors?

I have also noticed that there's a direct correlation between numbers of spurious adults and the amount of mess left behind when they leave.

It's like supermarkets. Why they seem to be some families idea of a multi generation day out is an absolute mystery

Covid really put paid to the entire extended family trip to a&e with one child with a sore stomach. Though they have begun to reappear at children’s outpatients. Mum, dad, grandparents and 4-5 kids all for one child’s appointment. And yes I care as there’s no where for anyone else to sit (having had to breastfeed my sick baby while standing was a particular low point)

Ha ha ha 😂 this is so true. Dont they have stuff to do?

Nobody is disputing that whole families at a&e is stupid, but this thread is about a trampoline park with a large cafe, it’s not the same.

There’s a soft play near me that’s always more adults than children for the toddler sessions.

4/5 adults and one small toddler.

There is sod all to do here though other than that place and there is high unemployment so I guess people are bored.

Yet if they met in a pub/restaurant they'd be criticised for taking their child there...

Surely they've just tried to find a child friendly meeting point. Seems reasonable to me. Not everyone has big homes to gather in. Or they might all have come some distance and needed to meet somewhere central. Or they might just have wanted a change of scenery

Surely you'd just.see this family and think it's lovely they spend time together. I honestly can't imagine thinking anything beyond that. It's great that some big families are close.

They're just spending time together. You said there's plenty of space so what's the issue?

Are they inconveniencing you in any way?

It’s a bit annoying when they’re all in the way etc but actually I think it’s quite sweet that the child has extended family who want to be involved like that. It takes a village and all that jazz.
Backalong I met up with my PIL and my BIL & SIL at soft play, DH and I had our toddler and BIL/SIL had their three under 10s, so 6 adults to 4 kids. It was great, the kids had a grand time, I caught up with relatives who live quite a distance away at a suitable middle-ground location and we were able to (largely) leave the kids to their own devices while we chatted.

I'm guilty of doing the soft play one with my siblings and their DC but, in my defence m'lud, we take multiple children and they are all older than the single child in the example so go off and play by themselves. It's a convenient way of meeting for a catch up, we can chat while the DC are occupied and there is more space for them to play than there would be in a single house.

On A&E, all of our local ones only allow one person per patient unless there are compelling reasons for there to be extra. DH was allowed to stay with us when DS was last in A&E but DS is disabled so needed us both in that particular scenario as he'd been fairly distressed. It had been decided he was going for surgery so was in a wheelchair waiting for a porter and the surgical ward had said he was being put in a single room so was allowed both parents instead of just one (shared ward its just one). A man and woman arrived at the A&E with a baby who looked around 6-8 months old and were told only one of them could stay. They were very put out that DS had two people and was older, this was much mentioned in their response to the nurse, while they had a baby and didn't the staff realise how much care a baby needs? The dad in particular was very vocal about it. Wasn't even their first baby either because grandma appeared a few minutes later with their toddler only to be told by dad "we can't stay, we've got to go wait in the café" while filthy looking us.

So they have picked a venue to meet up where they know the child will be entertained. Sounds ideal to me!

The pool where DC do swimming lessons doesn't allow parents poolside at all as it's a distraction. You get them changed and then you're expected to fuck off until the end of the lesson when it's time to get them changed back again, where you go during that time is your own business.

How many is 'we'?

When my waters broke with my first I was told to come in to the hospital. As my contractions were quite far apart I wasnt considered priority for a bed and was told to wait in the waiting room which was essentially maternity A and E. I was there forever and remember leaning on the wall having a contraction with a large family sat with a pregnant women on her phone. There were 6 of them. Boyfriend,mum, dad and grandparents all eating mcdonalds and all staring at me leaning on the wall panting. None offered me a seat.

Eh, I don't do this - my child doesn't have any extended family - but I can see why people do. It's preferable to having extended family trek over to your house, and at least around here, everything is pay per adult anyway - so the places are happy to have groups.

I'm not really sure I see a difference between me going with my NCT group - 8 women and 8 one-year-olds; or someone from it going with two of their kids and their grandparents, either. There's still lots of people.

But again, maybe it's just better set up here. There's big tables, it's charged per adult.

A&E, shopping, that kind of thing is absolutely annoying. But soft plays and the like are fair game, like parks.

If you're having a family get-together, it makes sense to meet somewhere with an activity for the kids to do. I'm presuming the cafe provides meals or at least sandwiches, otherwise it would be less attractive as a meet-up point. I think charging at least a couple of pounds for additional adults is a good thing though.

In my case it's six adults (seven if my mum comes) and nine children.