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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Soft play day before holiday?

137 replies

BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 20:10

I'm having a bit of a disagreement with DM and would love some other perspectives.

We're going on holiday on Monday, and DM has kindly offered to take DC out for a couple of hours so me and DH can crack on with packing. I was very grateful for the offer, until she said she's going to take them to soft play. I asked her if maybe she could take them somewhere else, as I don't think they should be going to a germ factory the day before we go away 🙈 But she thinks I'm being too anxious and it would be fine.

AIBU? I have no problem taking them to soft play usually, but the day before we go away just feels like asking for trouble.

OP posts:
Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:15

ButteredRadishes · 31/05/2025 20:50

But ... you're taking them to an airport with a
thousands of people in close proximity, in public waiting areas where many people will be coughing, sneezing, touching things with unwashed hands, putting feet on seats, rolling dirty luggage around..... and then shoving them in close quarters for hours with a few hundred people on a plane...

Yeah, definitely soft play is the problem...

Edited
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But for them to have the holiday I have to do that, it's unavoidable. Taking them to soft play is avoidable.

OP posts:
drspouse · 31/05/2025 21:16

I thought you were wanting her to take them somewhere to tire them out - soft play is ideal.

Polaopposite · 31/05/2025 21:16

I’m absolutely with you, OP. Mitigating one source of germs seems perfectly reasonable to me before a holiday. I do possibly think too much about this type of thing, but makes sense in my head.

Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:17

Lanzarotelady · 31/05/2025 20:58

So are you only going to go away when you can keep them at home for a week first?

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Oh no, we've chosen this second week because most of the other schools are back in so it was a third of the price of going the week before.

OP posts:
Drawings · 31/05/2025 21:19

I am 100% with you OP! My kids have a habit of getting sick before a holiday so we started to do buffer zones. No soft play / in door play / mixing with kids 2 days before our holiday.

We started to book a Monday of Tuesday day to travel so we could have the weekend to hide away.

I sound crazy I know but we have had too many holidays ruined with sickness bugs….we seem to have the worst luck!

Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:20

SnugMintFawn · 31/05/2025 21:04

Definitely VERY normal for 2 year olds!!! 😂

I get you OP, I would be feeling anxious about the soft play too, but I have a history of being overly anxious about things (especially germ-related) so I know my perspective isn’t always great. I’m trying to focus on the most likely outcome in any situation to manage my own anxiety, and in your case, the most likely outcome is that they will be absolutely fine - enjoy the opportunity to pack in peace, if they get ill then cross that bridge when you get to it 😊 hope you have a lovely holiday x

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Thank you ☺️ I said in the OP I was interested in other perspectives because I do have form for being overly anxious about things sometimes. But this threw me a little because I was just so sure it was a perfectly sensible thing to ask 😅

OP posts:
hellotomrw · 31/05/2025 21:20

I agree with you, my kids always get sick after soft play

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 31/05/2025 21:22

I don’t think you’re unreasonable at all, it’s perfectly reasonable to want to minimise unnecessary germ exposure the day before a holiday.

If your Mum will only take them if going to soft play, I’d maybe just keep the baby at home, and then go to the park later. How much packing could you possible have to do?

Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:23

BIossomtoes · 31/05/2025 21:06

Best not take them on a plane then.

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He still needs a life though? He's had tests, he's perfectly healthy he's just unlucky. If I can try and mitigate the risk by being a bit neurotic about things like this then is it better for him to have the life experiences?

OP posts:
Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:29

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 31/05/2025 21:22

I don’t think you’re unreasonable at all, it’s perfectly reasonable to want to minimise unnecessary germ exposure the day before a holiday.

If your Mum will only take them if going to soft play, I’d maybe just keep the baby at home, and then go to the park later. How much packing could you possible have to do?

Not that much. To be honest I think she's mainly offered so she can spend some time with them before we go, but she's framed it that she's doing me a favour.

OP posts:
SENNeeds2 · 31/05/2025 21:29

I seem to be going against the grain but having spent many a holiday with a child or children vomiting for several days - I'm with you. my daughter went to a soft play day before holiday ... she left limping a bit which worsened on holiday and while on holiday after an xray we realised she had chipped her big toe bone going down the slide.

NewGoldFox · 31/05/2025 21:30

We used to always pick up some kind of lurgy whenever we went to a soft play!
I don’t think you’re being unreasonable to be a bit sensible just before your hol.

Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:31

SENNeeds2 · 31/05/2025 21:29

I seem to be going against the grain but having spent many a holiday with a child or children vomiting for several days - I'm with you. my daughter went to a soft play day before holiday ... she left limping a bit which worsened on holiday and while on holiday after an xray we realised she had chipped her big toe bone going down the slide.

That sounds painful! And hopefully not too expensive?

OP posts:
Purpleturtle43 · 31/05/2025 21:36

I'm with you, why chance it? I would ask if she could do something outdoors with them, weather permitting.

Midnightlove · 31/05/2025 21:36

Maybe I'm OTT but I'm exactly the same as you. I definitely don't want to deal with a vomiting child on a flight/holiday if it can be avoided. Airports and flights are gross too, but I obviously make sure my child has particularly good hand hygiene in those situations

Createausername1970 · 31/05/2025 21:38

I am with you, but for different reasons. DS was, and still is, accident prone. Fell off a swing and broke his wrist a few weeks prior to a flight, on another occasion he put his hand down the back of a cushion in Heathrow airport and brought it back out with a big bit of broken glass sticking out his finger. Another time he tripped down the stairs and ended up in A&E the night before we flew.

I had a blanket ban on him doing anything more exciting than Xbox for the three or four days before a holiday.

YellowRedwheels1 · 31/05/2025 21:38

I’m with you OP. Went on holiday last month and flew out on the Sunday and kept toddler DC off nursery the Thursday and Friday and hibernated on the Saturday.

Just not worth the risk.

Iamthemoom · 31/05/2025 21:40

I’m with you on this one but DD used to get a sickness bug almost every time we went to soft play. It ended up we only went when there were friends parties but I knew the next day nine times out of ten she was sick. So I would avoid like the plague pre holiday!

LouH1981 · 31/05/2025 21:42

I’m a bit of a germaphobe and I’m not keen on soft plays either but I think it was a really kind offer from your Mum and I would have bit her hand off. Soft play is hard work, she is being an angel!

Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:42

Midnightlove · 31/05/2025 21:36

Maybe I'm OTT but I'm exactly the same as you. I definitely don't want to deal with a vomiting child on a flight/holiday if it can be avoided. Airports and flights are gross too, but I obviously make sure my child has particularly good hand hygiene in those situations

Yes maybe this is part of it as well. If I was with them I'd make sure they were washing their hands, but I can't be certain what she'll do.

OP posts:
Onethingafteran0ther · 31/05/2025 21:44

No, no and no. I'm with you op. I always lay low before holidays. Definitely don't send them to soft play!

BendingSpoons · 31/05/2025 21:44

After a ruined Christmas thanks to a vomiting bug I'm sure we picked up at an indoor play area and other times when we have probably caught colds, I try to avoid them just before anything special e.g. holidays.

I know they can get ill from school, on the plane etc but these are things that have to happen. (Well a plane doesn't have to, but it's a key part of some holidays.) I'm happy for my children to go to soft play, I just postpone it until after the holiday/Christmas etc.

firsttimemom99x · 31/05/2025 21:46

Wouldn’t even cross my mind. In fact, when we went to Thailand last month, my son was literally playing in the soft play in London Heathrow airport just before our flight .. 😅

Original poster
BabyDoge · 31/05/2025 21:48

firsttimemom99x · 31/05/2025 21:46

Wouldn’t even cross my mind. In fact, when we went to Thailand last month, my son was literally playing in the soft play in London Heathrow airport just before our flight .. 😅

It's funny you mention that because I saw something online about a soft play that's opened up in Manchester airport and I thought there's no way I'd let them play in it 🤣

OP posts:
Moonlightdust · 31/05/2025 21:52

Well in OP’s defence - my 3 are preteen/teenagers now but I remember them getting sick practically every time we visited a (germ invested) soft play venue. Hideous places 🤢