Babies and soft play centres?

[hellogoodbye]

Took my 1 year old to soft play for the first time today, as I was looking after a 4 year old as well. They had a baby area so all was great but it was doing my head in that there were so many older children in the baby bit when there was a huge bit for the older children! It was so annoying because they are so rough for little babies and meant I couldn't just keep an eye on her, had to follow her everywhere and stop other children hitting her.

Anybody else have this trouble? And does anybody successfully take their 1 year olds to soft play? I didn't go to the nicest one to be honest, went to this one as it was round the corner from where we were this morning and we were freezing

yes if its a dedicated bit for babies I think its fine to tell the older kids to to away.

were the other kids actually hitting her? Have honestly never had an older child hit any of mine. they always get hit by littler ones . What did the parents do?

You could also speak to the leisure centre.

Speak to the manager or anyone on duty, at ours they get the older kids out quick smart

I used to hate this too. I told one kid to leave the area and then got a right bollocking from the mum, but the older child kept taking the soft blocks away from my baby who was playing with them. It made me so mad.

Now, with no.2 and not my pfb somehow it just doesn't bother me so much but I still think that rules should be obeyed and even the most neurotic of mums should be able to enjoy the soft play with their babies.

i don't mind older kids playing in the baby bit so long as they are behaving appropriately and with an appropriate level of caution around the babies

have often been playing with dd and had a gentle soul join us in a little light block-building or ball pool burrowing.

hitting etc obviously not on

Oh no my post wasn't very clear.

I wouldn't tell the older kids to leave just because they were there.

But if they are hitting then that is not on. Jumping around etc can also be a bit tricky. I mean its a case by case thing, isn't it?

It was only one boy who kept trying to hit her, and to be fair, he was only about 2 so wasn't really his fault. Although when his mum eventually came to stop him, she was stroking his hair saying he shouldn't really do that to babies, in a really soft voice, like she was trying to comfort him (He was annoyed that he couldn't have every ball in the ball pond to himself and I could see he couldn't care less as it was very far from a telling off.

The rest of them were mainly just running around, and somewhere playing nicely, but then they don't want the babies to come along and knock down their carefully built towers etc, which is understandable but is a bit annoying when there is nothing left to play with.

If there was an age range stated somewhere for it, I would probably have said something to the woman that worked there. But there was nothing to say "under 2's only" or whatever and as it was my first time, I don't actually know what age it is meant for (although it is very babyish and small so obviously not that old!)

WEll tbh I think it's quite good for them to get knocked over a few times. Just as it is for older children to learn by experience how they need to behave around little ones. They don't know, they all have to learn. I really don't see why the 2 year old should have been 'told off' - his behaviour should be curtailed - as it was - but not condemned. Toddlers are physical beings! I took my dd1 to softplay from that age and when she got sat on I pulled her out and encouraged her to play on. It is soft play after all - a bump from somebodys knee is about the worst that can happen and that's well within my bounds of tolerance.

You don't think a 2 year old should be told off for hitting a much smaller baby in the face several times, just because she was sitting in the ball pond?

But talking to a toddler gently about why we don't hit smaller people is a technique for dealing with this behaviour, can be just as effective as a big stern 'telling off'. I try and tell DS (2.5yrs) that we don't hit people, that we treat people gently, usually demonstrate what I mean by gentle too. He gets it most of the time, but afraid that toddlers do hit sometimes!

It is difficult tho when taking your smaller baby to these places for the first time, can seem pretty chaotic. Worth persevering with soft play if you can stand it, as eventually they will disappear off onto the equipment and have a great time on their own!

But she didn't explain anything to him about WHY he shouldn't hit etc. And didn't come back when he did it again straight away.

I think when your child gets older you will understand you cant explain every time why they shouldnt hit. Sometimes a gentle reminder is all that is needed. My DS is a very very sweet 2.6 and I have learned he responds much much better with gentle, firm love than any sort of "telling off" or time out etc.

So what did you actually want her to do? Shout the place down? Send him to the naughty step? Whip him away thus ruining his morning and hers? Look - toddlers lash out. They don't have the reasoning capacity to conduct an arguement with you about the rights and wrongs of physical force. They just think 'that thing is mine and that thing over there is taking it so I will take it back, oooh it's holding on tight better give it a shove' Gentle correction is as effective as anything else. In 6 months time when your lovely baby has become a bit feisty as they all do - you won't want some protective mother with a baby demanding you flog them will you? It's a tough job parenting an almost toddler or a toddler and sometimes you don't get the lovely morninng out you thought you would. Just deal with it and move on.

I think that was a bit harsh tbh northenlurker. I wasn't "demanding" anything and didn't say a thing to the Mum or do anything to make her feel uncomfortatble etc.

And no, I don't expect her to shout the place down, but if she can see he is doing it repeatedly, so my DD can't play, she could maybe try and get him to do something else or whatever.

Anyway, this thread wasn't about me moaning about this mum, this was just a tiny part of the morning, that didn't even particually bother me, all I wanted to know was what other mums think of going to soft play areas with babies and if older children should be in the baby bit etc as there were lots of older children running around.

I think I have been misunderstood here and have come across as an over protective mum panicking about every little thing. I am not at all (IMO) and I am much more relaxed about things than most people. I was just surprised to see that there was no quiet area for the babies to play in, even though you are expected to pay £3 an hour per baby.