DS aged 4 assaulted in soft play

[summerpixie]

Ds was kicked between the legs by a girl aged approx 8 in soft play yesterday. Girl was most prob truanting and soft play complex staff weren't particularly bothered when I told them my son had been hurt.
I had to guilt staff member into talking to the child who denied it at first told her that her parents were outside of the complex and in a restaurant nearby and then said she did kicked DS
But by accident when she turned around (yeah like that is possible).
I questioned staff member as to of the kids had paid and parent details on the sign in sheet. She said she would check. Kids ran out of soft play and into arcade.
There was lack of staffing and nobody manned the kids area preferring to man the adult sections. I complained to manager who was dismissive and claimed it wasn't his fault he was short staffed and he couldn't do anything as the kids had gone.
I contacted HO and police. Police will investigate but kids most likely to get away with it as under 10.
Is there anything I can do to get soft play area prosecuted?
Sorry for the snippet I will elaborate if there is something I can do legally.
Many thanks.

is your DS OK now?

Yes he is physically ok but he has been talking about it today and keeps touching his bits when he mentions it. He's usually a good sleeper but woke up twice in the night scared and upset and came to sleep with us.

I'm sorry, you want to take legal action against an 8yo girl?

Just to clarify.

You probably could do something legally...but really why would you want to? What did you want the soft play to do? Remove the girl's legs before she was allowed to play?

You're being silly.

What Yellowraincoat said!

Don't make a massive thing of it to your DS.

She may also be home educated so not truanting. The soft play place aren't liable unless maybe children over a certain age aren't allowed in?

She's not liable for criminal proceedings as under the age of responsibility.

Her parents may be but you would have to prove damage or loss I think.

I think a question you need to ask yourself is if you were watching him closely enough (not being snarky) and if there's a chance you're blaming another child because you feel guilty?

What do you want to prosecute the soft play for? Failure to supervise?

I would move on and forget about it.

One of the perils of softplay is the other children there - it goes with the territory.

Let it drop. I am sure your son will forget about it before you do very soon. I actually cannot believe you called the police about this.

Do you think you might be overreacting a little? Of course it's not nice when your child gets hurt but it does happen - sometimes accidentally and sometimes children are deliberately cruel to each other.

Are you planning to take legal action against his school if he gets hurt there by another child? or against a cub group or a swimming pool or a sports centre? You are in for an exhausting and expensive life, I fear.

Perhaps consider moving to the States - they have a much more litigious culture there and you might get a more sympathetic hearing!

BTW, why is it relevant that the girl was possibly truanting? How does this make your hypothetical case stronger?

I want to take legal action against soft play not the kid.
The soft play area was unmanned. The girl would not have been there if it was manned and checked. The branch manager who called me last night told me they do regular checks which wasn't done. The staff didn't care this girl was unaccompanied.
The duty manager didn't log the incident nor take my details. The police agreed the manager should have contacted then regarding unaccompanied minors during school hours.
DS has spoken to DH about it today as they have just been to the cinema next door and DH is currently speaking to the manager who was dismissive.
I've not made it a big thing to DS but I'm angry a family leisure facility fails to care for the family. When I spoke to the branch manager she clearly had no policy nor procedure as to what should be done about truants/unaccompanied minors.

I want to make a point to them not just for the sake of what happened to DS but what could potentially happen to other kid and even those unaccompanied minors.
But if you're all saying to leave it I guess thats what I should do.

Oh dear lord, I've just realised that you called the police

You do know that they just might have their hands full investigating actual crime, don't you?

Surely this has to be a wind-up thread.

Was it supervised soft play or was it the kind of soft play where you are responsible for your own child?

In either case I can't really see what they could have done to stop the actual kicking, however they could obviously change the way they handled it. I would maybe write and complain about that as you clearly feel strongly.

It isn't nice when a child is hurt, but it does happen, it's part of growing up. Try to imagine what you would have done if the girl was his big sister, would you take her to the police station and say she had assaluted her brother?
The best thing you can do for your DC is to move on and help him do so too.

Lots of play areas have unaccompanied children in them. They shouldn't, but they do.
YOu have over-reacted.
And wasted police time.

the child is beneath the age of criminal responsibility so you have no chance of prosecuting an 8 yr old.

unless the soft play establishment has broken any laws you are on to a hiding to nothing. kids in soft play can get hurt. thats life im afraid. when your child goes to nursery he may encounter the same thing, and again at school, i think you are being very ott to want to prosecute and you will get laughed out of a police station if you even try. (i am a police officer)

The establishment should have an accident book, but i cannot see how they can be held accountable for another childs actions - were you supervising your son?

Is your son seriously injured?

You were there with him. You had a duty towards him too. Why weren't YOU supervising him?

If my DS was hurt at school/club/swimming I would easily accept it as the children there are supervised. I am not precious and I was watching DS as much as you can at a soft play area. The girl was most probably truanting as she had uniform on and disappeared soon after she was questioned. The member of staff I spoke to checked the sign in sheet and the girl was not on there. The girl was wearing shoes in soft play! Instant removal until shoes are off in any other soft play, no?
I contacted police as I wanted to complain about the complex allowing truancy to happen and the switchboard bloke I spoke to asked me to lodge a complaint of assault.
I know the girl has gotten away with truancy and assault. I know there is nothing I can do about her but surely the leisure complex have some sort of responsibility, but I guess not.
Thanks for the replies.

Well I've heard it all now! You rang the police? And want to sue the soft play centre? Jeez.

I would be concerned that adults AND children seem to be able to walk in and out of the softplay area without being challenged.
I think you should look for play areas where younger/older ones don't mix.

But you were supervising your DS. So why are you complaining about supervision or lack of it? Are you expecting other people to do your job as a parent?

Soft play places are staffed but I have never been to one where staff are patrolling the play areas themselves - I have always accepted that it is my job to supervise my child.

Oh Lord. The police requested you log a complaint of common assault against an 8 year old child? Really?

I am sure that when in softplay, parents are responsible for their children and as yellowrain says, you personally have a duty of care to your child.

What responsibility does the complex have? You want to sue them for an 8 year old kicking your son because she was perhaps truanting (how exactly are they responsible for the girl's truancy btw?)? You want to sue them because she was wearing shoes?

God, I am going to turn into a Daily Fail letter writer reading this thread, tutting while muttering to myself that the world's gorn mad.

I called 101 not 999. Switchboard are there to deal with enquiries. I did not speak to the police station and I was given advice by the switchboard who logged everything down.
They have not contacted me back yet which means that it is not the top of their priority list which i am not complaining about I am not winding you up. I was asking for some advice but obviously some people think that the police force are there only for emergencies.
FYI the police have a truancy squad who deal with truants. I was primarily addressing this issue but obviously I couldn't have been and I must have called 999 to report my preciousness just because some of you try to read between the lines.

you are being positively ridiculous.

how do you know this child was truanting? i agree that you should have taken it up with staff, but you are really getting this out of all proportion.

How did the police handle your complaint. i would have had trouble maintaining my usual composure i think.

i understand your need to protect your child, but were exactly were you when this incident took place? perhaps you should worry more about your own and less about other peoples children.