Softplay Woman with 2 Obvs Under 3s

[Ozanj]

A woman with 2 obviously under 3s without any physical ability was taking them through the area aimed at Over 5s. Both kids had near misses with my son (that she didn’t notice) because they weren’t waiting their turns on the slide. I managed that calmly.

Suddenly she decides to wake up and shout at me when one of mine has a near miss with one of hers. I lost it at her a bit - didn’t swear - but told her quite loudly that the area was for over 5s and if her kids didn’t have the ability to keep up she should keep them at home. Told her she was a disgrace of a mother and that if I see her again in the Over 5s area I’m going to report her to the management.

obvs I shouldn’t have shouted but I was furious. DH (who wasn’t there) thinks I overreacted but I believe I was right (except for the shouting). Was I?

You over-reacted and were quite rude.

Frankly, if an unsupervised 3yo got bumped in an area not for their age group, I'd call that natural consequences and not get involved. I perhaps might have said to my older child to please be careful around the littler ones. But that being said, it's soft play, not navigating the trenches of WW1.

OP, the world is full of stupid people, who probably shouldn't be parents. And if this is the first one you've encountered, you've done well. Don't take it all so seriously.

Maybe I shouldn't have said little ones
I should have said mindful of others
There is burning off energy but that doesn't mean barging and climbing over smaller or slower children...whether that's related to their age, size or a disability.
I seem to recall the soft play we used had under 3 and main....the under 3 was terribly boring.
I have always seen younger kids on the main frames in every setting I have been to.

You didn’t put her in her place though. You just had a tantrum and showed everyone within hearing distance that you can’t control yourself.

There’s a big difference between being assertive and being aggressive. If you’d been assertive then you would have put her in her place. As it is, you’ve both just made yourself look like a pair of fishwives.

A disgrace of a mother? You are completely ott.

@Rudolftheorange

which is what I said!

The only disgrace was you.

If you weren't happy, you should've spoken to a member of staff.

Even if she shouted first, although I'm not surprised given what you've said, you went too far.

I have never seen an "area for above 5" at soft plays in my area. I have seen loads of 5yo in the under 2/3 yo though. Never came to my mind to shout at them and their parents.

There is a soft play near us that has a separate (and strictly enforced) area for under 5s and another area for over 5s (with 5 year olds being the cross over age). Whilst younger children can go in the older children bit, (and it's necessary if you have a child in each age range although we opted not to go to this particular place when this was our case as it was too tricky) the play area is really too difficult for the majority of younger children (lots of it is too much until about age 7/8); it's not really suitable for adults to go on the play frame to help them; and so younger children (unless more able) just stick in the under 5s bit.

If OP's soft play is like this, rather that just one where it's all free flow with "recommended" age ranges, her reaction is a lot more understandable, although still OTT.