Feel guilty about not going to soft play and playgrounds more

[Letsseewhattomorrowbringsshallwe]

It’s all over my Instagram/Fb…lots of friends etc at soft play and so on.
I do lots of activities & crafts and meet ups with my Dd, but not every weekend. Do you take yours to a playground/soft play every weekend & during the week?
Today we did the food shop, took our dog for a long walk by our house, took her for a bike ride, she made a den, her neighbour pal came to play for an hour and she went to his for a bit, dinner, stories & bed
Tomorrow, I envisage similar as we’re taking the dog for a picnic to a nature place with a stream to play in with her net etc, we’ll come home and she’ll either play in the garden or see her neighbour pals again.
We sometimes go to parties but not all the time, I see on everyone’s feeds, constant parties and soft play/playgrounds and wonder if we should be doing this more?

Shes 5

I took my dc to the park/playground every weekend at that age... sometimes twice. Soft play less often but still regularly. As long as your DC has other things to do and isn't bored or in front of screens for long, do what you want. Personally I found my dc would be climbing the walls without a good run around.

@TheYearOfSmallThings 🥹

I doubt anyones gonna come on and tell you that going for walks and doing crafts etc is bad parenting op, and I think you know that 🤣 some quite snidey comments on here about people who take their kids to soft play though but maybe that was the idea 🤷

I'd go out of doors if it's dry and only resort to a soft play if it rains and is too wet to go out. Outdoors playground only need take 40 mins.

I wouldn’t overthink it. If she’s asking to go, choose a park with a playground for next weeks trip.
Lots of places have woodland type walks plus play equipment too.

Lol so what if soft play is an easy way to tire out the kids?? Is that not allowed?

If she’s is she not in school? Or nursery if not in England and starts school later? I think it’s fine not to take to soft play and parks all the time, but often kids do love them so I like to take my dd. Play parks are especially nice in spring. If you’re mixing your activities with school/nursery then it’s fine, but otherwise taking to busier places like soft plays and groups would be a good idea to get her used to it.

Lots of SAHMs trying to justify their existence on this thread.

“we could go to soft play for the afternoon but it’s just too easy!”

No, I don't think you have to take her to a soft play to meet her needs.

She needs physical exercise, including climbing, running, balancing etc. but that can happen just as easily at the park. Plus there are definite benefits that come from playing outside, so if it was an either/or situation, I'd pick the park over soft play anyway.

If there is a playground near you, I'd probably try to include that on your walks sometimes too. That's probably the easiest way to get the best of both worlds.

We only do soft play every couple of months, usually if it's raining all weekend and we've already used swimming as our wet weather activity the day before.

We do end up at a playground at some point most weekend, but that's because lots of the places we go have playgrounds either attached or within a short walk. Eg. If we go for a picnic in the the woods, there's a visitor center & playground by the carpark, likewise for our closest beach and many of the NT sites nearby.

My 4 year old has literally been to a soft play twice, and one of those was for a birthday party. We probably go to playgrounds 2-3 times a week at least but there are loads near our house including on the way home from preschool. We hike, visit nature sites, castles, that kind of stuff, and also plenty of scooting and biking. Go to the library every week or two, go to whatever free local events are on. I really don't feel that my kid is missing out by not doing soft play. Pretty much his favourite thing in the world is to wander around the power tools section of B&Q, and he just asked me whether we can take his friend to visit a local cave as friend has never been before. Fun stuff doesn't have to cost money.

I also hate soft play. A disgusting germ fest full of little bullies, disinterested parents and unhealthy junk food.

also runs for cover

We spend our free time at a few parks, beach walks, library, play dates but only go to the soft play if there is no other option or there’s a birthday party

@PrincessFionaCharming ha ha agreed.
Not really sure what's the point of this thread? Soft play is shit? Yes it is, who are these people showing off about it? Weird.
My DD is four and I work part time term time only so we do plenty of soft play and play groups, but on the flip side we get outside whenever it's not raining..trips to the woods/beach/zoo etc, playgrounds, swimming, trampolining parks,
aquariums, national trust, library, then days of downtime crafts and baking at home... we also have an allotment she helps with. Some of this is free fun, some is not!
I don't particularly feel like a lazy parent using soft play occasionally, it's a bit like a gym workout crawling round it with her. I don't sit on my phone and chuck her in. Our local one uses a fogging machine so it's prob a lot cleaner than many places. But will I be very glad never to set foot in a soft play again when she's older, fuck yes.

Gosh we all feel like bad mothers whatever we do! I feel bad for taking my kids to softplay so much tbh.. what you do sounds better. I just take them to softplay because it burns their energy, and my house doesn't get messy, and I can have a coffee and read my book! Easy road of parenting lol
Going to a nature reserve sounds like proper parenting to me!

A not very stealthy stealth boast 😃

Unlike many on here apparently, I'm really pro soft play. It lets kids run themselves ragged and stretch themselves physically with quite a low injury risk in a way they can't really in other settings. Personally, I think the right soft plays allow children to stretch their physical boundaries in a fairly safe environment. And they're being active, not mithering me for snacks and it's a great activity for when it's raining. So personally I quite like it for my children and we go once every couple of weeks usually. I think it increases their stamina and physical confidence.

Likewise, playgrounds - they're running, jumping, swinging, climbing and developing their balance, coordination and risk-taking abilities. What's not to like? I mean, it's fairly boring standing around as a parent, but lots of parenting is fairly boring. I must admit I'd never thought of playgrounds as being an "extra" or special trip for kids. We tend to visit one three or four times a week to burn off some energy.

But I wouldn't say your kids are missing out just because you tend not to do these things, as long as you're doing other activities that give them these benefits. On the other hand, these are entirely usual and run-of-the-mill activities to do with kids, just like bike rides, family walks and having friends round.

What you're doing sounds great.

Where I am, people are rejecting soft play because it's become stupidly expensive.