Entitled parents need to keep older kids out of the young section of soft play

[fancyeatingout]

I go to soft plays with three sections:
Babies
Under school age
Older kids

My baby is immobile, while the baby section at soft play is tiny it's still bigger than the space at home and so a space place for her to learn to crawl and the different textures, alongside the sights and sounds, is great stimulation for her. I go first thing on a Sunday to try and go at a quiet time.

Everytime I go much older kids come into the baby section, I understand, they're young they don't understand, but I've had several occurrences where the parents seem to encourage the older children. Last week one such parent asked me to remove the soft crocodile propping my baby up, today a dad told his kid, "you can play in here as long as you play calmly" as he encouraged the older child in, only to then stand and watch as he constantly dive bombed in the ball pit, meaning no babies could play in it. I had to be THAT person and ask staff to intervene twice to remove older children today.

I recently saw a TikTok where a SEN parent of a 7 year old filmed and criticized the parents of babies for not being more understanding when her kid entered the baby section and proceeded to throw large toys at the babies. I understand the child's needs, but given the parents would have known their child couldn't adhere to boundaries, could they not have gone to a specific SEN session.

Am I unreasonable to expect parents to leave the baby space for babies? Everything in it is available in the other sections and it is the only space parents of babies can go.

The staff need to regulate it, u did the right thing by saying to the staff about it. Also the parents need to be abit more aware of where their child goes off & plays too, unfortunately some of them don't seem to engage with the fact that the bigger children aren't allowed in those areas for a reason... my child is 6 and she's gone off over to the baby/toddler section & she's always told to come out again & explained to why. Would hate for something to happen, incase she fell on top of a smaller child or something & hurt them. No matter what age the child is, the parent should be responsible for them & where they play.

@Procrastinates where is appropriate to take a baby out of interest where older children can't hurt them? Because I'm yet to find a business that offers a babies only play area.

@Ozanj this wasn't happening where I was. I never see a baby or toddler unattended.

No OP you shouldn't have to "avoid going until your child is older", what stupid advice! Of course bigger kids shouldn't be in there. I've had this problem since 4yo DS was a baby. Last time we went to soft play there were 2 10 Yr old boys in the preschool section, they took a toy of my son and teased him with it. I went over and told them off, the nearby parent as usual did nothing. Lots of parents stop supervising as soon as they get in a play area, let their badly behaved kids do what they want and sit chatting drinking coffee/ staring at their phone instead.

I also find this really annoying but it's part of the parenting mindset of 'this rule doesn't apply to my precious angel because...'
Just because your child likes the baby section, they shouldn't be in there if they are too old.
I don't let my older dd in with the baby to play with him either. That just muddies the waters for her and for other children who are there. I don't think it's hard to just follow the rules of the venue.

oh definitely. I have 2 older kids and a one year old. Last time we went to soft play there were 2 10 year old girls literally climbing on the actual play frame and monkey swinging on the DOORFRAME of the baby section, so we literally couldn't get in. Swinging in then jumping off into the soft blocks. I looked around for their mums. Sat literally next to it, watching them and chatting and encouraging them. While a bunch of us sat nearby holding babies. Unbelievable.

where is appropriate to take a baby out of interest where older children can't hurt them? Because I'm yet to find a business that offers a babies only play area.

You wanted somewhere to stimulate your baby, my point was literally everywhere is stimulating to a none mobile infant. Unfortunately you won't find a place catering to just babies because they wouldn't stay in business for long, sadly babies don't bring in any money to businesses like soft play, role play cafes or play centres.

@MrsSkylerWhite the examples I gave were not older children softly playing with siblings. They were playing in a way that a baby would have been hurt.

A few weeks ago I actually ended up at a soft play that only my baby and one other family were at (this was on a nice summers day just as they opened), an older child spent the session nicely playing with my baby, he had come with a baby of a similar age and the dad was busy with them, as he was used to how to play with his sibling he was lovely with my baby. But this was clearly a gently child whose parent was keeping an eye. This is not the same as repeatedly dive bombing, throwing large soft play pieces or taking toys away from babies.

Oh I agree.

@Procrastinates tell me you didn't read the post without telling me you didn't read the post...

I don't want my babies only stimulation to be pushing her pram around the supermarket, we don't have much room and I want her to learn to crawl in a safe place.

I read the post and was sympathetic. Honestly there's plenty of places for a child to have space and learn to crawl that are not soft play centres on a weekend.

I tried empathising but obviously you just want to rant which is fine but let's not pretend your only choices are sitting at home, being pushed around a supermarket or soft play.

Can we also include parents who follow their child around relentlessly doing their performance parenting!

This isn't an Oscars audition 🙄

Kick the older ones out of the baby section, stop parents going in, and for goodness sake, give the tables a wipe!

I have several DC and as they grew up the older ones would help out at soft play with the younger ones by climbing in and help support them around the different obstacles. Often siblings are in there helping out.

@Procrastinates name anywhere it's safe and clean for a baby to go on the floor to learn to crawl that isn't soft play?

No because that's nothing to do with this situation and isn't a safety concern.

Yanbu.

Why does it have to be soft and clean? Mine learnt to crawl at the park, to be fair it was probably cleaner than going to soft play.

YANBU. I don’t even let my 2.5 year old in the baby area.

i agree with other posters about older siblings as long as playing safely (eg not diving into the ball pit). When dd was younger she had a 6 year old land on her in the baby ball pit

I just generally find soft play hellish outside of school hours. I’ve lost count of the times my toddler has crashed into a 10 year old who’s decided to climb up the slide just as she’s going down 🤦🏼‍♀️ and obviously the 2.5 year old is to blame in the other parents eyes 🙄 (baring in mind I supervise her and stop her going if someone’s on it)

Yanbu. It’s also about learning to co-exist with other groups and having an awareness that sometimes things are for others’ benefit, not yours.

I saw none of this. What I saw were parents who encouraged one older child in and then allowed them to behave in a way that was dangerous for babies.

@Procrastinates oh how helpful, yes I'll sterilize everything and then put my baby down on the ground outside now it's always wet and getting colder, this sounds like a great alternative, how helpful of you.

I agree OP. The baby area should be for babies.
There is not point having areas for separate ages if people just ignore them.

So agreeing with you is wrong now too? 🤣

I mean soft plays are generally gross so I wouldn't count them as 'clean' even if they look clean'ish.

YANBU OP, I always get my children out of inappropriate areas for their ages. However, pp's are right most places don't enforce it and you are going to get parents who are so sick and tired of parenting they let their kids run riot for an hour. It's not right, but you are better off not going at these times until your baby is a little older.

The floor of the soft play is definitely not clean and once mobile or slobbering everything the sterile baby is a thing of the past.
it is harder to find places to crawl in winter but not impossible.

in my experience babies on the big apparatus is harder than big kids in the baby section because most people are with their babies so can keep them safe.

My favourite local soft play not only doesn’t smell
like feet, does good food but they are also great at policing these areas and kicking kids out to the larger areas.

I have shouted at kids in the past when they hurt a little baby. And I will normally ask nicely for them to leave the area if they are being too rough.