in July 2023 Babies 🇺🇸

Play places

Does anyone take their toddler to play places to socialize their kids? I’ve been taking my toddler and baby to a play place near me to socialize and get out wiggles. Recently we went and my daughter was playing with another little boy her age and they were having a fun time she was just picking stuff up and carrying it around and just following him around giving him little pats on the back while I was walking behind her. Then there was a 3 year old that came in. Her mom sat on a couch in one of the rooms and started reading a book while her daughter was playing. About an hour into the 3 year old being there she started targeting my daughter and everything my daughter touched she would come up saying “that’s mine don’t touch it” (for reference I heard her mom say it was their first time here) and she would grab it from her hands. I would politely say “can we share? When she is done she can give it to you” then she would scream in my face. The mom didn’t look up from her book once. I didn’t want to step on her moms toes so I wasn’t going to be mean to the little girl so I tried moving my daughter to different rooms and the little girl would just follow and keep taking toys from her. It became frustrating. Then we were sitting on a small couch together and she came up saying “I was going to sit there move” I let her know we were already sitting there and said she could join us if she wanted to so she hopped on the couch then pushed my daughter very hard and said “stop touching me” the mom didn’t do anything again even though she was right across from us. I ended up leaving because I didn’t want to get into an argument in front of the kids. How would you want it to be approached to you? Or any tips for the future? I’m afraid to take my daughter back after the experience. My daughter was just confused never cried about it just made me sad. I did mention it to the employee but they can’t force someone to parent their kid.

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I wouldn't have tried to address the kid either but I would have spoken to the mother. Sounds like she was using the play place as a location to zone out and wasn't paying proper attention, she needed her child's behavior brought to her attention. I wouldnt let it deter you from going again, not everyone will be like that ❤️

Ok I read this again and I'm gonna say this little girls behavior does sound like attention seeking, so her mom probably isn't giving enough attention in general so she's looking for any sort of reaction and it sounds like she doesn't usually get a reaction unless she is "bad" so she was testing limits until she got some sort of response. Mom not responding reinforced continuation of that behavior. 😔

I would have sat next to the mom and explained the situation. Some parents are totally clueless, and they don't know any better. Not sure if I would just leave if the mom was a bitch about it though. What kind of place was it? Is there staff present? Maybe mention the wild behavior to them? We only go to inflatable world or library story times - all the parents there have been present and engaged. 🤷‍♀️

The way I would have confronted her mom so fast 😂 either watch your kid and be a parent or take them to daycare and pay someone to watch them bc it’s not me. We went to a play place and we were in the area for 2 and under (my daughter is 18 months) and something similar happened. These 2 older girls 5-6 were yelling at my daughter who was literally just walking around telling her to go away and taking anything she picked up. Parents were on their phones not even paying attention across the room. I immediately went to them and told them to please watch their kids. Then I had to go to the workers and they made them leave the baby area. It’s crazy people use these places as a daycare and let their children be menaces and ruin others day

I think I would’ve been more up front and confrontational if it was just me and my toddler but I have to take my 3 month old as well so I’m always holding her and I would probably get nasty 😅 there’s only one employee there to basically ring you up not to watch or anything. It has soft play to climb on for toddlers. Max age is 7 years old. They have toy kitchens reading areas stuff like that. The last few times I went the moms and dads were all engaging in their kids and they were all around the same age 18-20 months and so sweet. They all kept giving each other hugs. I was encouraging the girl to play with my daughter because she seemed lonely since it was just mine and the little boy there but she just wanted to be a poop head. 😅

@Brittany definitely understandable! I fear my postpartum rage would have made me handle it differently 😂😭

Definitely speak to yr mother next time, I would be PISSSSSSED

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