Indoor Chaos-land

The weather wasn’t nice on Friday and we decided to take Princess Peach to an indoor playland. So like any good parent I pulled up google on my Iphone and wrote in “indoor playground” and our location. Up popped a few but the one that caught my eye said “cafe” for parents. Cafe. Sounds nice right? Immediately I got a picture in my mind of a relaxing space for me to relax while Princess Peach played. Well, problem is she’s too young to play by herself but luckily The Hubster was with me so we took turns.

We arrive at the indoor playground/cafe and we didn’t have to pay for Princess Peach because under 12 months are FREE! Score, right? The ladies at the front desk were nice but didn’t seem childlike or playful. Just taking people’s cash at the front and making them their drink of choice (sorry moms and dads alcohol was not on the menu). Obviously socks were required to keep it clean. We walk through the “cafe” part which was a bunch of tables and chairs, 2 big cozy chairs and a bar area with a dozen or so stools looking out onto the play area. It was filled with moms and two dads most of whom were on their smart phones or talking to one another. Not paying attention to their children. The play area wasn’t huge but the perfect size for Princess Peach.

I treated myself to a tea. Yes, it’s a treat these days because most days I need heavy doses of caffeine and I find that tea doesn’t satisfy the amount needed to keep me alive and sane (and nice). Before I could even finish my tea, The Hubster and Princess Peach were back from the play area. What could be the matter? He said the kids were a little rowdy. So I decided to take Princess Peach and scope out the scene. Walking towards the play area in walks Mommy Martha (Stewart) with her box of Tupperware that she opens and announces to three other moms “there is no sugar and flour in these but I promise they are delicious. They are so delicious”. Ummmm gross. Then I walk by the mom who is hiding in the corner on a comfy chair trying to nap while her children play away.

Princess Peach and I enter the playground. Things are great. Children are running around and she is exploring! Then she goes over to this spin toy that is affixed to the wall that has two spinners on it. So she starts spinning it and a child comes over and budges in. Fine, I think. Kids do this. Then we walk over to a little slide. The animals  kids had moved lots of foam blocks and pieces around the slide and were jumping into it. Kids were literally trampling on top of each other. So I look around, Moms? Dads? Anyone? Nope. No parents in sight. So what do you do? Do you try to wrangle these animals ,  I mean kids and put them in their place? I dunno. So instead I take Princess Peach’s hand and we walk towards my new obsession The Step 2 Roller Coaster. How I didn’t know of this earlier I have no clue. My new obsession is to find it and put it in our playroom. Best. Toy. Ever!

So as we are walking towards the roller coaster, Princess Peach finds a lawn mower, picks it up and starts to walk. Then comes cute boy and grabs it away from her. I look around? RUDE KID. I let him take it. What was I to do? So we get to the roller coaster and these kids dont’ know how to share. I had to ask multiple times if Princess Peach could have a turn. Instead these two older kids were racing each other and not paying attention. So I stood there and eventually they got the hint. Again. No parent watching them. Children were running everywhere. Like wild animals. Then back to the spinny wall toy where Princess Peach got shoved by a funny looking toddler girl. Are kids these days so wild and rude?

After we left The Hubster and I looked at each and questioned if we would be like this in a few years. Take our child to an indoor playland and ignore them until two hours later when it was time to go. Just like the zuftig mom sitting in front of us on the stools stuffing her face with Cheetos.

I decided that in a few years I might take Princess Peach to one of those playlands and let her run free but I know that she will have manners unlike those unruly monkeys.

Have you taken your children to an indoor playground? What do you do with other rude/poorly behaved children?

 

 

Comments

  1. Misty says:

    The first time we went to our local jump zone my 2 year old who i was watching very closely the entire time got picked on by 3 older boys inside a blow up toy. I had to go inside the bouncy and get him ! they had him cornered and were pushing and pinching him… It took me over an hour to find the brats mom becuase they never went to her, she never looked at them. When they finally wenlt to her because they needed a drink (over an hour later) she unburied her head from her book in the corner and gave them money and went right back to her book. They were no older than 5 or 6! I went over to her and told her what happened and she was so shocked and apologized. I told her she needed to watch them. When we were leaving she still had her nose burried in her book and i warned several other moms. Its sad how parents use those places as babysitters and they simply dont pay attention! my lil boy still talks about what happened and it was 5 months ago. He says those boys pushed me down and pinched me 🙁 breaks my heart!
    Misty @ http://monkeysandtutus.blogspot.com

    • mscmommylife says:

      that’s so sad that your son is still traumatized by kids at a fun place! I find it shocking that parents wouldn’t take an interest in what their kids were doing. Some parents use those places to keep their kids entertained so they can get a break instead of realizing that they need to supervise their children. We will be finding a new indoor playground 🙂

  2. AnchelK says:

    We have taken my daughter to a playground and it was a pretty good experience. Yes there were some unruly kids there…but they were just being kids. Because my daughter has special needs, there isn’t a lot she can do independently so we have to be hands on. But (and maybe I feel this way because I’m biased) if she could move around a bit more independently I think I would leave her to deal with the ruckus…after all, it’s how they learn right (obv. being conscious of safety, but a few minor bumps and bruises don’t seem like safety issues to me). One other thing I’ve learned is that there is no point in judging other parents (even if their lack of skills seem obvious). You simply have no idea what is going on with other people. And while you may have plans to teach your little cutie impeccable manners, she may have other plans! I don’t mean any of these comments with offense, simply as an alternative viewpoint! Great post 🙂

    • mscmommylife says:

      No offense taken! Always great to have another point of view! I totally agree that you never know what is going on the parents/children BUT (yes, here’s the but) none of the parents but one other dad were paying attention to their kids. If it was one or two parents I don’t think it would have bothered me. All the parents were sitting back not watching their kids. And so true about your kids not using their manners even if they have them 🙂 Hopefully Princess Peach will be one of those kids who uses hers although I’m sure there will be many times when she doesn’t!

  3. Ava says:

    M is a pretty shy/timid kid when surrounded by a bunch of more rambunctious kids. If another child is doing something unsafe or downright rude we’ll intervene, but otherwise we try to let her fend for herself and encourage her to be a bit more assertive. (For example, step up and take her turn on the slide instead of just letting other kids go in front of her, or speak up if another child takes her toy.) We try to teach her to be polite and share, take turns, etc. but there’s a line between being polite and letting the other kids walk all over you (sometimes literally!) We want her to learn to stand up for herself if necessary, and because of her shy nature that doesn’t always come naturally to her.

Leave a Reply to Misty Cancel reply

*