Should I leave a negative review for this soft play?

[Razputini]

Hi, I feel like I'm needing a bit of reassurance here, I hate to be the bad guy and I hate leaving negative reviews for places especially since this is a new soft play starting out so I'm doubting myself about doing this, but I'm feeling a bit frustrated at the moment. I have emetophobia (fear of vomiting) so that doesn't help the situation.

Today when I took my daughter to soft play for a birthday party and young boy (looked about 10 years old) projectile vomited everywhere, he was taken away by family and cleaned up for 1 min, then ran straight back into the soft play, same clothes and all. None of the staff seemed bothered by this! I spoke to a staff member (I believe the owner but I'm not certain) voicing my concerns over the health and safety of the other children in the play area, and she told me that she had spoken to the family but they didn't want to leave. I replied that it isn't the choice of the family and the establishment has a duty of care for the other children and they make the rules, not the customers, but wasn't given any further comment aside from 'there are lots of bugs going around at the moment'. Surely with that being the case you have a duty to ensure the wellbeing of others visiting and stop the cycle of bugs going around?

AIBU to leave a negative review over this? I know rationally it's probably right but I'm doubting myself so much so I need a second opinion 😩

They r germ centres.

Re the review, if you're going to I'd just be factual. - there was an incident of a child being visibly sick then being allowed back in to play so unfortunately we cut our visit short VS I was horrified as the disgraceful behaviour of Sindy the manager who refused my request to ask the family of a projectile vomiting child, who returned to soft play immediately afterwards despite my clear horror etc.

Re the family, the difficulty is genuine cases like Toast and the families who sit there talking about how they're at soft play cos school won't let them in with little Jimmy having diarrhea and sickness and what else can they do with them all day eh. Generally I'd err on the side of trusting the parents to know what's illness and what's just vomit.

Wow that’s vile! I’d insist he was made to leave or I would leave. I think I’d even have gone as far as telling the parents what I thought but that’s just me!

Sorry, didn't mean to infer national policy, just our Primary

Sorry, didn't mean to infer national policy, just our Primary

@JMSA it's emetophobia, I can't really help it. It's a rubbish thing to struggle with

If someone vomiting leaves you shaking in fear, no soft play is suitable for you. They're filthy.

I have emetephobia too and would absolutely leave a negative review!

Agree.

Especially as the main person to be negatively impacted by you needing to immediately leave is your daughter.

From a health and safety angle, they should have been.told to leave, more so as its a food service establishment. The child should not have been allowed back into the play area and areas child had occupied needed to be thoroughly disinfected.
would be contacting the local council also

It's shocking that the family didn't leave of their own accord! I'd write to them formally making a complaint and I'd write a negative review. That's absolutely dreadful!

Keeping you up for a few nights??

I'm not mocking your phobia OP, genuinely that must be horrendous. Though I'm genuinely perplexed as to why you had a child if you're that afraid of vomit? I had having Hyperemesis during pregnancy so badly that I was vomiting 30+ times per day & couldn't even keep one single sip of water down resulting in being admitted to hospital on a drip 9 times. But even without pregnancy sickness, as you know, children vomit - a lot!
My child is 8 and still randomly vomits in the car without warning. How do you cope????

Exactly what I was thinking. OP, report to council

@SargentSagittarius I would still rather go honestly. We've been to soft play countless times and stayed a good while and this is the only time I've seen a kid being sick, furthermore being allowed to stay. If I avoid softplay it will only reinforce the fear, it's a complicated issue but I don't really want to delve into it, it's not really the topic I wanted to discuss. It's difficult but I need to face places where there's a chance of seeing vomit or the fest gets worse and I would just isolate myself altogether. What bugged me is that he was allowed to stay and continue putting other children at risk, otherwise I wouldn't have left

@ToastandJamandTea In that situation you would surely need to explain that your child does not actually have a contagious bug and that it's their condition? Hardly disclosing confidential information now is it?!

Also, how do you deal with the school's 48 hour exclusion policy?

@SchoolTripDrama I wouldn't put my phobia over my wish to have children lmao. I have 2 children and have been lucky enough to not experience vomiting in pregnancy, and yes of course children get sick. I had a similar situation taking my daughter's on holiday and one was sick in the car - so yes I was starting to freak out but I will always do my duty as a parent regardless to fight through the fear, clean her up, soothe her etc and we went on to enjoy the rest of our holiday. The phobia has an impact on my life but it isn't as big a picture as my children are to me I don't really understand what you're meaning. Besides I feel I don't really want to respond to these comments about my phobia, I wanted to mention it on the post just to clarify that it is something I have that may be impacting how I'm taking this situation but I wasn't expecting having to explain why I'm a parent lol! I don't really want to keep talking about this so I think I'll stop responding to comments about this

That is so grim. If a child projectile vomited in nursery/ school they’d be expected to be off for 48 hours after the last time they were sick. Definitely leave a bad review. Soft plays make my skin crawl!

That is absolutely disgusting, I would leave a review and write a complaint.

YANBU

I understand children can be sick for multiple reasons but in a soft play projectile / large volume vomit from a child = leave.

I'd also report to health and safety. And leave a review

If everyone just did the right thing then there would be less bugs.

It’s completely different if it’s your own child vomiting compared to someone else’s.

I honestly have in the past just explained that it's a symptom of their medical condition and offered to show them my carers card to prove they have a disability.
With regards to school and the 48 hours rule the staff are really aware of my childs usual behaviour and indicators to bring poorly. We also have a careplan, EHCP etc for then to refer to.

So glad my kids are too old for soft play now!

Yeah I'd complain.

Yes I would complain.

@ToastandJamandTea my friends DC has a medical condition which causes vomiting. She would change clothing, would offer to clean up and ensure it was cleaned up, then carry on. It's an awful thing to have, but she certainly wouldn't have sent her straight back in in same clothing a minute after.

My DD coughs a lot at soft play due to her asthma & has on occasion vomited. She's not unwell & it's a result of her gag reflex. If a staff member told me to take her home I would do so but would also explain she wasn't ill. I would not tell a random member of the public any medical info about my child. I also followed her around & thankfully she's never been sick inside the playframe as I take her out as soon as she starts coughing.

I have emetophobia and had hyperemesis in both pregnancies. It was pretty grim but of course it was - however knowing the cause helped as its more the idea of catching something that stresses me out.

With my own dc - I look after them, give them all the cuddles and love they need, but also spend the next 3-4 days washing my hands constantly, feeling anxious that I or someone else will get ill, don’t really sleep thinking about it etc etc. It’s pretty rubbish.