Parents not watching their children at soft play centres.

[Crystalbabe]

Will start with saying I know some people are against soft play for other reasons. This post isn’t about that.

Took my little boy to soft play yesterday. A mum walks in with 2 kids around say 2 and 4 years old. She sits in the sitting area near the soft play and lets them in alone. They are both causing havoc, throwing toys down the slides which hit another child and at one point the 2 year old was trying to go down the big slide head first to which the 4 year old was shouting out to their mum and in the end as I was near her 2 year old boy I had to grab him for her away from the slide as she was shouting “can somebody stop him!”

My DS is my first child and I’ve only taken him soft play about 5 times, but these situations where parents don’t watch their kids and they cause issues has happened twice now (the other time was a 4-5 year old keep shoving a toddler in the ball pit with no parent in site apart from me who told the older kid to stop)

YABU - Parents should be able to let their kids go into soft play unsupervised it’s just one of them things, it should be safe

YANBU - Parents should be watching their children and not expecting other parents to watch their kids (lol)

9/10 all the children I've encountered since being a parent who act is disruptive way like this are craving attention from their parents! The amount of times kid's at soft play try and show off and get your attention because their parents are sitting on their phone or laptop!

🙄

A child who acts up and misbehaves because they want their parent's attention is doing it because they lack that attention all the time. Not just because their parent isn't running about after them constantly in the soft play at that moment. A well adjusted child who has plenty of time and attention from parents knows how to behave themselves and play without adult interaction.

All the children I know behave themselves and play independently at soft play without adult involvement. This is a wide age range. They all have plenty of time and attention from their parents. Soft play is their time to run about with their pals.

@bringbackspira exactly! There are a lot of kids, that although are taken to soft play, don't get any actual attention off their parents! Most kids that play independently and are well adjusted aren't terrorising other kids or annoying other parents.

Big no, with younger kids you go in and supervise. I remember the days looking at parents with older kids having a coffee and thought yes one day! Irresponsible and lazy, also dangerous, honestly some parents...

Local soft play is small, I keep an eye on my children (3 and 8) from the table and will call out if they need help or someone has hurt/annoying them. Though I did have an encounter last week at a different soft play, where a child punched mine right in front of me (parent nowhere to be seen) I put my hand up to stop him and told him off. If he done it again I would've told mine to punch him back.

I couldn't agree more about the lack of basic comprehension skills.

Who said it has to be one or the other? Who said that being seen playing in a soft play with their kids meant being a helicopter parent ALWAYS jumping in?

Again, parents play with their kids, such a non issue.

The lazy ones who spent 2 hours glued to their phones completely ignoring their kids on the other hand...

soft play centres are hellish for a host of reasons, and this is one of them. My first child is 12 now and has been to soft play centres many times, and I’ve seen all sorts, including parents who don’t want to be constantly called upon, ‘look at me mum’ or, ‘ watch, come, come up’. Many parents want to grab a drink and sit nose to phone, instead.

I’ve seen urine on slides, dirt balls behind or around the soft play frame, food all over the floor, aggressive kids, aggressive parents, all sorts. It’s for this reason, that I try and steer well clear. I much prefer outdoor play areas.