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.

The other thing about the kick is that without witnessing/supervising you can have no idea whether it was in response to something your son did to her - perhaps repeatedly, like throwing balls in her face or jumping on her head. I am not suggesting he did - just that you cannot know. Which is why, unless you are prepared to stand beside him the entire time and never let him learn to handle awkward social situations for himself (which is controlling and neurotic and a bit silly at 4 years old) then you just need to accept that there will always be a small element of risk at these places. It happens.

There's 'soft play' as we know it, then there are the smaller 'add-ons' to cafes/mcdonalds etc, which really is just a few bits of apparatus. Sounds like this was the latter

Quite frankly you could do with a kick yourself to knock some sense into you.

Is anyone actually reading the comments of the OP?

I think you are clutching at straws trying to sue tbh but can see why you feel they didn't follow a duty of care towards their customers.

My DS was kicked between the legs at after school club the other day. He had pulled the boys belt (karate style one) to get his attention as the boy was ignoring DS. He kicked DS in response. DS was told by me he should have kept his hands to himself, he reported it to the staff. I ensured it was logged because of where he was kicked. I did say I felt the boys response was unproportional but would let it go this time.

I would never think of sueing. Postitive suggestions are usually more benficial.

Olympia, I thought the same. The OP refers to it as being a 'complex' and the staff more concerned with the adult section. It sounds exactly like an add-on to a larger set up as opposed to a stand alone soft play centre.

OP, no-one has suggested that the police are called only in emergencies - that is what you are extrapolating from people's comments (after you have accused other posters of doing the same). Just that this is quite simply not a police matter. A complaint to the staff, perhaps followed up by a letter of complaint to the manager (I personally wouldn't) would have sufficed - and also finding somewhere else to take your son to play. The only cause for complaint in regard to the soft play centre was that this child was not signed in and was wearing shoes when she shouldn't have been.

Think you should stay away from soft play centres if you are so dramatically affected by this kind of incident. Everytime I take my dd there is an incident of some kind involving other children. I agree this was particularly nasty and upsetting for you and ds but the other child was 8 not 18! Playcentres pay minimum wages or below to usually very young untrained staff (maybe not all but mine all seem to be staffed by surly teenagers) I do not expect them to supervise instead of me. I see playcentres for what they are, somewhere to go on a wet afternoon to for kids to let off steam and have a bit of physical play. I'm assuming you ds witnessed you speaking to staff and managers etc? That might be why he keeps mentioning it and woke up scared, I think kids often take lead from parents to how they react.

If you asked me ( I own a soft play centre) to say sorry to your son because another child kicked him I'd tell you very politely where to get off. At a soft play it is your responsibility to supervise your child at all times.

You are so PFB I actually feel sick. Wasting police time, judging another child and being so bloody self righteous is laughable. You must be a nightmare to live with!

When my dd was 4 I went into soft play areas with her, through the bloody tunnels, down the slides, into the ball pits, etc. To ensure that she didn't get stuck, hurt herself or get jumped on or kicked by older kids, either on purpose or by accident.

By the time she was eight I'd sit at the bottom having a coffee and reading a book. So she could quite possible have accidently kicked a kid without me realising as I wouldn't have been directly supervising.

It's hard without knowing the setup of the place in the OPs post whether or ot the older girls parents were being negligent in their lack of supervision. But even if they were it is so ott to call the police. Even if the girl had done it on purpose the police can't do anything. Op doesn't even seem to know if it was on purpose or not.

YABU for going to soft play in the first place

Is this thread for real?

What are you wanting to achieve by suing? Money? For the business to go down? What?
I think a written complaint would be enough. I and hope your child's friends have appropriate insurance cover for when he visits!

You want to prosecute the soft play area because a child kicked your child?

Ok - you need more in your life. Way more. Volunteer or get a job or work more hours if you do have a job because you and Mrs Keeping Things In Proportion need to have a big chat.

The OP didn't see the 8 yr old kick her ds. The 8 yr old admitted doing so when questioned by the staff member who was guilted into speaking to the 8 yr old. The OP admits that the girl said she did it by accident but the OP doesn't want to believe that because the girl was wearing a school uniform and shoes and therefore must have been playing truant. Clearly the girl had deliberately gone to the soft play place to target unsupervised 4 yr olds.

It is not an assault, it is an accident. The 4 yr old is the OP's PFB and she failed to supervise him because she was sitting in the parent area minding her 4 mth old.

Seems to me this is overkill parental guilt and the OP is looking to blame everyone she can as surely she cannot be responsible for her ds getting hurt whilst she was supposed to be looking after him.

I would suggest that between now and when her children reach 18 the OP doesn't venture to any soft play area or park or other place where there maybe other children. Home education without other contact with children is surely the safest way to go?

The police won't be interested in prosecuting since there has been no offence committed. The OP may find a lawyer to take her money but she will be completely and utterly wasting her time as no civil court would be interested either.

Sorry your DS got hurt OP. As for the rest of it:

Hahahaha hahahahaha hahahaha.

That is all I can contribute.

As you were.

I have been thinking about this thread all day.

I have images of police being called for children out in restaurants in school uniform.

I have so much sympathy for the wee girl (who the OP has no idea what age she was she could have been 5 not 8) who was probably very upset by having a staff member at soft play speak to her like that - I know mine would have been.

Seriously OP you need to catch a serious grip and quickly before your DS goes to school.

OK, so it sounds like your complaint is that the soft play staff weren't ensuring every child signed in and got a wristband?

Fair enough, they should be following their policy. Write a complaint letter to head office and you might get some vouchers.

You can't sue them for that though.

OP, did you actually she this girl kick your DS? If not it could well have been an accident.......

If you were aware of a lack of staffing, why weren't you supervising your DS more closely?

And at what age do you think a child is old enough to be prosecuted?

Lynette the OP didn't see the child kick her child and the child only said she did after the soft play worker was "guilted" by the OP into talking to the child.

I think you are all BVU. Clearly every resource possible should be made available and this girl hunted down. She should be locked up, starved and tortured until she admits to her evil crime.

Seriously, you made the duty manager apologise to your 4 year old ds. Well that's the way to go if you want to raise a spoilt brat who has zero respect for anyone.

It is horrible when your child gets hurt but you didn't witness this so you don't actually know what happened do you?. It was quite likely an accident. The other child was probably terrified by your massive over reaction.

The leisure centre have a duty of care to all children playing in the soft area. They have to take 'reasonable' steps to ensure safety of the children and their staffing levels should also be adequate.

However they can't be responsible for the actions of this 8 yo girl unless she had been seen hitting other kids when they should have stepped in. If as it appears, it was a random action that could not be forseen and they were staffed adequately theres not much comeback.

As to being truanting, if she was with her parents, they could have taken her out of school to the dentist and were having lunch before taking her back, and she could have entered the leisure centre without their knowledge or that of the centre staff.

Its unfortunate that your DS was hurt but these things happen and he is OK now, so just accept shit happens and move on. You need to develop a little perspective now or you'll be a basket case by the time he is 10.