Soft play day before holiday?

[BabyDoge]

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.

You have health anxiety or ocd.

im with you OP! I would also avoid before holiday

Airports, planes and holiday resorts are full of people sharing germs

I can't work out if this is sarcastic or not. If its serious then wow.

Haha yes I’m the same as you, I would say no thank you to the soft play too 😂

I’m totally with you! It’s unnecessary risk with limited / no benefit. I am not risk adverse or uptight around germs at all but it stands to reason that soft play increases your chance of illness prior to a holiday, including vomiting bugs which could potentially stop you flying / come on in the middle of a flight. The additional risk is still fairly small, but not worth it given the high impact and minimal benefit. Especially when a) you don’t need the childcare and b) there are plenty of outdoor alternatives.

Enjoy your holiday!

What terrible luck, your poor DS!

Honestly it would never even occur to me to avoid places like soft play before going on holiday. 🙄 My oldest DS will be going to nursery the morning of the day we go on holiday, both DS will have been a nursery the day before we go.

Two holidays and a Christmas we’ve had ruined by stomach bugs.

I don’t think you’re unreasonable.

If I had my way (and I know it’s silly and I don’t do it of course) we’d not see anyone for 3 days before big holidays

Yes I've really been resisting the urge to hibernate the past few days 😬

This.

Soft play will be excellent, longer the better. Tire them out a bit for the day you travel.

I was with my 3yo nephew most of yesterday and all sorts (apart from food) was in and out of his mouth - he was also in the pool with 15ish others swallowing water and whatever else was in there (yuck!) he's never ill and Im sure my boys were the same at his age - they're 17 and 19 now and I can't remember if they were ever ill.

EDITED - I remember my oldest abroad in our apartment abroad at 11yo (ish?) came up to me very upset and said he thought he'd farted and he hadn't - so into the bathroom into the shower and shorts into the washing machine and carry on - it was a one off thankfully - that's all I can remember - but no soft play??? Dear me! - prob the airport - or the plane, or foreign food etc - who knows?

My other 5yo nephew was with us as well yesterday - and in the same pool (all sorts of autistic/SEND issues) and everything in every room was in and out of his mouth and he's a chunky lad and also never ill.

Joking aside - if you've been affected so badly in the past and it ruins the holiday I don't blame you for not allowing soft play or anything else - but most people don't have this issue so are laughing - in a nice way. Keep yourself safe and have a good time

I’m with you on this one. There’s so many things she can do with the kids that don’t involve being practically in a Petri dish. Also, I think soft play is worse. I’ve taken my kid to so many airports-he’s touched everything, rolled on the floor etc and not gotten sick. Soft play- almost every single time.

There have been so many threads lately about things parents will not let their children do because of their own adult fears about germs, and other risks which are everywhere. I think bringing children up in such safetyism is very sad, has echoes of the madness of 2020, and will breed a generation of very anxious young adults (and we are not a million miles from that happening already). Even if you don’t tell children why you’re not letting them do certain things, they will probably sense it.

Life is full of risk. Going on holiday in itself has too many risks to count.

But you’ve already said if they’re exposed to germs in the plane at least you’d already be there when the bug hit. Isn’t that the same with the airport softplay?

So, am I correct that your 5 year old is missing school for this holiday?

No they aren't. They have a two week half term so will be off school this week so cheaper to go away.
My fear of soft play is not the germs so much but the risk of hurting themselves when they throw themselves off the top stage thinking it's OK because it's soft. (Talking from experience here - DD2 broke her wrist just before a holiday)

I would avoid personally but only because it’s happened to me before with my dc and they were sick the day after softplay. Thankfully we had already arrived at our destination by the time it happened but ruined the first day of the holiday.

I do agree with you, which is why we do go to soft play and places like it the rest of the year, even when really I would much prefer not to.

No they've got two weeks off for this half term. It's a Catholic school so they only have one week off at Easter because they're in school for holy week.

That's terrible, I'm glad it only affected the first day.

My kids are way past soft play age and I am not an over anxious parent but no way would I have had them in soft play before any important date. Especially little ones who are more likely to mouth things etc. Running around outside, picnic in the park kind of thing would be my first choice.

So much hyperbole on this thread. People calling the op ridiculous. Surely 'ridiculous' would be refusing to let them leave the house, not simply preferring the idea of letting the children visit one of probably dozens of other options available to them on a dry summer day, rather than an indoor place notorious for being full of germs, the day before a big holiday. Yes, the plane will be germy too, but that part is not optional. Soft play is optional.

I must admit, it probably wouldn't have occurred to me, but once someone else mentioned it, I would definitely have seen their point. It's not 'ridiculous' to try to mitigate the risk a bit.

We run a soft play. It had to be completely sanitised between each session. The booking times are organised to give the staff time to thoroughly clean everything. On a hot day OP’s children would probably be the only ones there as we are the last place anyone brings their children when it’s good weather.