Is this acting Inappropriately?

[flower01]

i did this a while back, there is a horse carosel (cant spell!) in our local shopping centre and Willow loves it. this particular day, she got on and another little girl got on too, Willow put the money in and it started to go, now there are 3 horses on this thing and i was paying anyway, so it didnt matter if others were on it.
Her mum came out the cafe that its outside of, and started saying to her, " why are you on that?" and she looked really put out.
Turns out, she had given her little girl some money for a go and was a bit put out because her daughter still had the pound as i had paid.
She looked really crossed and i am still confused as to why?!

when it finished, she quickly put money in before Willow could get off so Willow got another go.

Maybe she wanted her child to have it to herself?! im not sure!

some people are weird lol

they have now put a new ride in the centre, a peppa pig car, i dont think Willow will want to share that one though! lol

 

[New2Bumps]

I always watch Ethan when he monopolises toys at playgroup and would do the same if he sat on a ride whilst still. I always remind him to let other chn have a go if they ask and if he was sat on a still ride I'd be watching incase anyone else went up to have a proper go (I'd look for an adult to be there) and in that circumstance I'd go up and ask if their child wanted a go and get Ethan off!
I think if you're a fun parent then you will attract other kids in soft play whose parents are sitting not interacting with them. I do interact with other children but am very mindful of it and do try to shake them off after a while incase of accusations.

Flower01 - sounds like that mom felt embarassed and didn't want there to be any misunderstanding that she would allow or encourage her daughter to steal a ride!!!

 

[PepsiChic]

my hearts strings get tugged when i take Barry to soft play and im sat with him in the ball pit or playing hide and seek...other kids come to play and i either leave Barry to it, but if hes being clingy i have to ignore the other kids so they dont attach themselves to me

they try to sit on my lap or cuddle me, and i try very gently to remove them which can end up with them upset or their parents come snatch them away like im some evil person ,its a lose-lose situation, i always end up feeling miserable about it.

the other issue is should they get hurt while playing with me i dont want a law suit because their kid fell and scrapped his knee while playing chase, sadly thats what type of world this is now. people seek to gain whenever they can.

 

[RebeccaG]

I think it was lovely you sharing the ride with another child!

My son loves those rides and he was very lucky to go on with another boy whose grandmother offered to pay for both boys as my son was obsessed with it! I offered to pay half but she said no its nice for her grandson to share it with someone. Thought it was a lovely thing to do tbh and not at all odd. Was extremely grateful as I never usually put money in those things!

 

[Wriggley]

No hun i dont think you did anything wrong - infact i think its really nice you let other children on the ride to.

The only thing i can think of why a parent might not have been to happy to find their child on a ride is if they have never put money in the rides for the child so the child has never realised (until that point) that they actually move. But saying that - if they really dont wanna pay out for these rides they shouldnt be leaving their children unattended around the rides and trying to distract them away. :/

Z loves these rides! and i definetly wouldnt have been offended if he was given a free ride. that being said He is watched like a hawk in these places so if he was playing by the rides i would be there to so i cant really see it happening... actually no wait - he has had a free ride at butlins! the tiny carassoul one with like three horses on. Z ran up to it at the same time as this other little girl and they both got on. the parent was there and was getting money out her purse to put in so i knew she was planning on letting the girl ride so i just stuck the quid in the machine and the woman thanked me and insisted on paying for a second ride for them both when it finished.

 

[Tacey]

I think it's a lovely thing to do, and would be grateful if you let my daughter share a go. There would be a tiny bit of me wishing she didn't know how they worked, as so far, she's never actually gone on one while they move, and I am hoping to keep her in the dark a bit longer!

 

[Natsku]

Nothing wrong with what you did. If it was Maria I'd apologise to you that she didn't get off the ride and thank you for letting her share. Though actually if it was Maria she'd have freaked out as soon as the ride started and screamed to get off but I wouldn't get angry about it or anything because you wouldn't have known that.

 

[pixielmh]

Think alot if patents go to places like that these days to get some rest fron their kids, they think they csn relax with cuppa and let there kid/s run wild without a care where they are. Your the total opposit, you watch your child, you interact with your child and you dnt neglect other children if they want to play toi, other kids oviously think your fun too oviously the looks if parents are jelously and as tjey dnt do things like that themselves they prob do think your weird lol. But what they dont realise is your the normal nice caring parent and there the weird neglectful parent.

 

[Sarah lo]

Honestly some people are so ignorant, this is why i hate soft play (but still go as they both love it) I was playing with my 2 and a little boy approx 2 years old, asked me to help him up, so unsure what to do (is it even ok to help someone elses child up these days?) i said to my sister, do i help him up or not? She said yes, so i did, his mum came over and threw me a dirty look, i said i helped him up because he asked me to and nobody was around to help him. She said "i was sat having a coffee relaxing whilst my kids play for abit" Right fair enough, but don't look at me like i'm a child molester or something because you couldn't be faffed to involve with your kid! GRRR!
xx

It's true, you're not supposed to help them up (probably not so much you, the customer but the staff aren't allowed) my friend's other half works in a soft play centre and he's not allowed. Even when kids are trying to run up the big slide while others are sliding down he's not allowed to go and pick them off, he can only shout them to come down.

I'm guessing its because if there was an accident then the parents who couldn't be bothered to watch their kids could then sue you/the centre

 

[Natsku]

I always help other kids if they need help climbing up or getting down and am thankful if someone helps Maria (one bigger kid had to help her get down when she was stuck and I couldn't get to her without trampling a load of other kids)

 

[louandivy]

I didn't even know this was an issue. I always end up playing with other kids at soft play and have never gotten a single bad look from other parents for doing so? I thought it was pretty standard behaviour, lots of other mums do the same.

 

[shelx]

Id have done the same as you. And if it was my child in the other childs position I, firstly would have been there with him anyway not letting him out of my site, and secondly have thanked you so much for letting him join in. I love seeing strangers being nice to my child as it doesnt happen often in our local one
X

 

[kerrie24]

No,Im the same and we often have a gang of kids following us around at parks etc simply because we seem to be the only parents that actually bother to interact with our children and dont just take them somewhere so we can sit and do nothing while they occupy themselves.

I find it sad when this might come across as 'too nice',it should be the norm.They are only kids once.

Anyway,went off on a mini rant there but in short,no I think you are lovely and they should say thanks!

 

[KittyVentura]

I didn't even know this was an issue. I always end up playing with other kids at soft play and have never gotten a single bad look from other parents for doing so? I thought it was pretty standard behaviour, lots of other mums do the same.

I'd have thought so too, I'm not implying it is something unique that I alone do. Indeed I have seen other parents getting involved playing too... But near always with looks and negativity from others. Perhaps it is better accepted where you live.

 

[highhopes19]

I always involve other children at soft play if they come over to me and Isabelle playing I'd feel really rude ignoring them but like you I worry what parents may think or something, its a shame that today's society is like this tbh.

If I was there and you let Isabelle on the same ride as Finn I'd be really greatful and Thankyou manners don't cost a thing it's a shame that some people seem to forget them

X

 

[~RedLily~]

I would never think it was a problem, I always think it's nice when other parents include my LO.
One time at playgroup a little boy came up to LO so I asked LO to include him so she started passing toys to him, his mum rushed over grabbed him and told him they were going to play somewhere else and he could come back and play in that corner later

 

[AP]

I would generally have done the same as you KV, but I've resigned to just looking after my own kids in fear of offending these days. i even struggle to acknowledge other children who say something to me in softplay - as much as I want to, I dont want something negative to happen.

At the same time though in terms of the ride Alex would scream and throw up in fear and thats not the kind parents fault, i would appreciate the sentiment anyway and still say thank you even although it would upset her. Jeez, i even said thanks to the guy who introduced his dog to Alex yesterday, it was the first time she ever dared to stroke a dog. he must have thought I was crazy I've said thank to an old woman who spoke to Alex at a bus stop and gave her her time. i dunno why, I just appreciate it that some people can actually be so kind

 

[Natsku]

I thank anyone who takes the time to even talk to Maria or is nice to her even if its a bit creepy, like this woman on train who gave her a reflector to clip to her clothes and kept saying how it WILL SAVE HER LIFE. I was starting to worry that she was some kind of psychic

 

[eddjanuary10]

I have often said to other kids to jump on when there's space, and other Mum's have also done the same for us. Never experienced any funny looks or anything, most people are very friendly that way. I have had some annoying experiences at soft play though, just not this kind. x

 

[wishuwerehere]

I think it's kind. My LO was recently sitting in a Thomas the Tank engine at our local supermarket (I'm a cheapskate so we just sit and push buttons and don't actually have a ride) and another boy was hovering with his 50p waiting for a go so I said to LO that it was time for him to have a turn - his mum said it was fine for her to share his turn and they sat together and had a lovely time and I chatted to his mum. I was very grateful and thought it was lovely of her, and I would always thank another parent for doing it. So to my mind, if anyone was being inappropriate, it was them for being rude!