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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want parents/nannies to watch their children in soft play

67 replies

skinsl · 20/01/2010 13:22

yeah, I know soft play!!
But fgs keep an eye on your child!!
All the boys today were little horrors, big fights, punching and kicking and scratching and pulling hair. Parents nowhere to be seen.
It's only a small play area, you can see your kids wherever they are.

OP posts:
notnowbernard · 21/01/2010 17:24

YABU

I refuse to follow mine around various peices of equipment designed for very small people that I am unable to squeeze myself through

And the thought of it makes me heave: all the spilt blood, sweat and tears that must coat everything... eugh

It's soft-play, children are going to get a little spirited at times. If you really don't like it, don't go

notnowbernard · 21/01/2010 17:28

My favourite soft-play moment was when the 3 women at the table next to me started slating the small 2yr old girl who wouldn't stop bellowing - where was the Mother to tell her to quieten down a bit, FGS?

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed calling DD2 over for her lunch not 3 seconds later

The embarassment on their faces was something else...

wilkos · 21/01/2010 17:29

if you allow your child to start fights, push and shove other children, hit and kick and generally behave like a monster while you sit on your arse you are doing a shit job as a parent regardless whether you are at soft play or not.

obviously soft play is rough and tumble, but come on there are limits!

and speculating as to whether the OP has a dd or not is just well

Morloth · 21/01/2010 17:38

How can you follow them around? The one we go to is huge and I don't fit in there very well. Is four "stories" with multiple slides and climbing walls etc.

There is no way you can see them from the ground if they are on the top level.

I did roll my eyes at the mother telling off some older kids who knocked over her baby as they ran past the other day. Perhaps keeping the baby out of the main thoroughfare in the place would have been a better option?

MrsMattie · 21/01/2010 17:41

I've got a girl as well as a boy @wilkos...but come on...open your eyes! The mums who look like they're about to cry when their child gets biffed are always mums of girls!

Oh, and I hate the way it's implied that if you aren't following your child around like a blue-arsed fly you are somehow ignoring them. How are you supposed to know if your child bumps into another child half way down the tube slide?

The real freakos are the parents who interupt your reading of Heat come up to you to you and say 'Excuse me, but your child just bumped into my child'. Really? Really? Christ, call the cops! Your kid accidentally got pushed on to a squishy cushion.

I'll say it again: Softplay = hell.

Sassybeast · 21/01/2010 17:46

There is a world of difference between accidental knocking over in the spirit of horse play and the vicious little gits who take pleasure in tormenting other kids.

biggirlsdontcry · 21/01/2010 17:53

yanbu op , i avoid soft play area's whenever possible tbh at least until the dc's are old enough to runaway defend themselves , it also drives me mad when parents have the attitude that its not their problem if their little darling has slapped / kicked another child

NoseyNooNoo · 21/01/2010 17:54

YANBU - and the only ones who say YABU are the parents/nannies you're talkin about.

CloudDragon · 21/01/2010 18:06

I go regularly to soft play and my DCs love it. One was a bit of a hitter so I had to follow him round til he grew up, but now they both have a whale of a time, I join them for about a third of the time ( 7 months pregnant cna't make it round for 2 hours)

once they are over a certain age it is good for them to learn to deal with rough and tumble and if they are too little, then look after them.

sarah293 · 21/01/2010 18:06

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Morloth · 21/01/2010 18:08

Sassybeast "There is a world of difference between accidental knocking over in the spirit of horse play and the vicious little gits who take pleasure in tormenting other kids."

And the difference between those two is probably dependant on which end your kid happens to be.

Bensmum76 · 21/01/2010 18:09

I take my DS, 2,3 years to soft play quite often and the only time I get annoyed is when the childminder/parents literally dump their kids in the toddler area and walk away to have a nice cup of tea and a chat, leaving their younger charges in their buggies staring into space. It makes me shudder to think that I almost took my DS to a childminder rather than nursery. (not that I am saying all childminders are like this) Soft play is not an excuse to dump your children and let them run riot.....of course once my DS is old enough I will no doubt stop following him around soft play and squeezing myself through impossibly small spaces and will become of one of the parents who leave their children to go mad by themselves! (hmm)

Shoshe · 21/01/2010 18:09

It's not the kids at our local soft play, its the bloody parents.

There is a gated off toddler bit, no drinks allowed.

It does say in BIG LETTERS!

Two Mothers wandering after there PFB's, open coffee cup in hand.

I politley said to them that hot drinks were not allwed in there.

'but i need to watch little johnny' was the reply.

So she then opened the gate, sat in front of it, PUT HER HOT COFFEE ON THE FLOOR, beside her, to watch little Johnny,

All the while, all the other toddlers in there, saw the open gate and made a break for freedom, heading for the coffee cup!

I must admit, I did get anti at that point and said to her.

Will you please close the gate and remove your bloody coffee from the reach of the children!

She was about to retaliate when another CM who I was with came over, Stupid Mother knew her, and closed her mouth rapidly, when other CM asked her if there was aproblem.

Some people have no sense.

We took all the kids (6 between us) up to the cafe area, gave them drinks and had our coffee, all the time SM giving me daggers.

I didnt give a damn, but then I am known to be the mouthy one, standing saying @who's child is this, after stopping a 5 year old knocking hell out of a toddler, cos he couldnt get out of the way.

Agian Mother gave me daggers,

5 year old shouldnt have been in that area anyway.

sarah293 · 21/01/2010 18:12

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Morloth · 21/01/2010 18:13

I was actually shaky after one extended session. We had gone for a party and DS and a bunch of the other kids wanted to stay for a bit longer. The noise level eventually got to me, bloody hell - I don't know how people can work there and not be completely batshit after 8 hours.

Jamieandhismagictorch · 21/01/2010 18:17

Hated them too. Smelt of greasy food. Shit in the ball pool.

DS1 getting pushed over, 2 years later DS2 turning into a Tasmanian Devil and biting anyone insight (In my defence, I did try to supervise as much as possible). So gald we are past that stage now.

If they were designed better it would help - with genuinely separated-off baby and small toddler areas.

ruhavingalarf · 21/01/2010 18:23

don't go. ever. i sadly have to but only for parties.

7th circle of hades.

Original poster
skinsl · 21/01/2010 18:29

omg- poo in the ball pool, thats horrendous.
fortunately this one is brand new. but give it time!

OP posts:
Jamieandhismagictorch · 21/01/2010 18:34

Yeah, our one was badly run and not very clean at the best of times

sarah293 · 21/01/2010 18:35

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amidaiwish · 21/01/2010 18:35

imo they should put the prices up and staff them properly. simple.

MamaGoblin · 21/01/2010 20:16

Has anyone really, honestly, found a turd in the ballpit? I mean, I know it's a sort of MN shorthand for the Hell That Is Soft Play , but - really?

I only have a v limited experience of soft play - one place in Abingdon is reasonably hellish, with the smell of rancid chip fat drifting over the miasma of unchanged nappies and the wailing and gnashing of teeth (that's just the carers), etc - but went to one today that was brilliant - run by a leisure centre as a weekly session but with lots of bouncy equipment, etc. And I didn't see anyone pushing, fighting, stealing glasses, etc.

Mind you, all DS wanted to do was loll about on the squishy mats, just under the ramp where all the others were queuing to jump off ...

Jamieandhismagictorch · 21/01/2010 20:58

Mama - yes- child comes down the stairs, dripping shit from his legs, another child had trodden in it on the stairs as well, and the pooey child had been in the ball pit. So, whilst I did not exactly find a poo in the ball pit, it's a good bet there was some there ....

JimJammum · 21/01/2010 21:04

If you have littlies, then go in the day when big children are at school, or 4pm onwards if there's no party. They're always quieter then. I do object to kids chatting to me because they just want someone to pay attention to them, as their own parent isn't. And I object to aforementioned parents dismissing all bad behaviour with a shrug and "that's what we're here for" attitude. My friends and I often go a couple of local ones that are managed well and are quiet, and despite copious amounts of tea & biscuits, we still monitor sharing, ball throwing, pushing and other anti-social bahviour. And we've all got lively 3yo boys, but they know what is and isn't acceptable. I tend to feel the badly behaved kids are like that all the time, wherever they are. Not all soft plays are dreadful, it's a matter of finding one that suits.

tide · 21/01/2010 21:14

soft play is hell. Have a friend who knows a guy who owns a string of them and says they're just money machines. cheap crap food, cheao crap staff, exploiting desperate parents on rainy days. my kids and their friends all got ring worm from one!

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