I’ve just had my first soft play barny. What’s the social rules here, as I apparently have missed this piece of university of life.

Long story short, my little lad was playing with two others, basically being all boisterous as they do, the kids he was playing with were smaller, possibly a year younger.

The two kids who were friends with each other we’re jumping on my lad and every thing seemed ok, then a few minutes later, some lady came over and started the whole “I’m not being funny, but” speech. In which it transpires that she seen my lad kick her son in the face and chest whilst she was watching through the smoking area outside. We apologised, pulled the eldest over, told him to leave the other boy alone, apologise, and play elsewhere.

Her son spends the next twenty minutes chasing my lad, and pulling at his clothes, So, admittedly, still annoyed with this lady from earlier, I trot over and ask her if she’ll ask her son, to stop chasing and following mine so no more fighting can happen. Spent the next couple of minutes making a scene in which she claims her son wouldn’t attack anyone, blah blah blah.

WTF, do you do in these situations? I appreciate I sound like an arse now, but grr,

headbut the mother, case closed

teach your one to make sure no one is looking first?

I thought I had. Schoolboy error of not checking through the windows too.

Lend your son some bombers.

Souns like you did the right thing. Always worth trying to remember my golden rule which often forget “do not argue with idiots”. In this case dont talk to mother talk to someone who works there. My mate almost gkt into a fight for daring to suggest a kid shouldnt take one of thosw walking car things down a slide!

In which it transpires that she seen my lad kick her son in the face and chest

Smile at her and softly say

” Yes, it’s terrible …. I’ve been trying to get him to use the knee to the nuts first but he never seems to listen ”

As I grow older, I find mysel more and more being convinced that the correct way to deal with any such awkward confrontation is to shrug your shoulders and say, “so?”
Feel free to try this with irate hikers too. Let me know how it goes.

Not much you can do tbh if they wont be reasonable nothing you say will change this

Tell her to live with the consequences of your son bitch slapping hers some more if she wont get him to stop??
Its pointless to debate it trust me it really is

I did initially think own her with some bombers. One of my local soft play areas is in the building as a specialized concept store, it would only take a minute to borrow some forks.

Thing is. I’m annoyed at him for kicking, it’s the whole, “my child wouldn’t attack anyone, it’s your child’s fault” attitude that annoys me. When I’m fun fighting with him, he does kick, but it’s waving legs about, not Bruce lee delivered precision.

Maybe I’m as bad as the other parent actually.

whilst she was watching through the smoking area outside

No, you are not as bad as the other parent.

The first rule of soft play is…

Oh sorry, I can’t tell you.

Unless there’s blood or one of them starts screaming too much, just leave them alone
Putting a load of young boys in a competitive environment like that and expecting it to all go off without a bit of power play is unrealistic
It’s all character building stuff

Yea let them get on with it, if it goes into a mental meltdown, thats soft play for you 😉

I’d never discipline my kid on the word of another parent, unless I wasn’t being responsible and watching what he/she was up to. If something bad or nasty was happening, then I would have more than likely seen it (although not from the smoking area)and dealt with it as I saw fit. 😉

To play devils advocate here:

Long story short, my little lad was playing with two others, basically being all boisterous as they do, the kids he was playing with were smaller, possibly a year younger.

What ages? 8 and 9 I wouldn’t worry. 3 and 2 and it makes a big difference.

The two kids who were friends with each other we’re jumping on my lad and every thing seemed ok, then a few minutes later, some lady came over and started the whole “I’m not being funny, but” speech. In which it transpires that she seen my lad kick her son in the face and chest

I’d be having a “not being funny” chat with you if my kid got kicked in the face by yours. What’s the alternative?

whilst she was watching through the smoking area outside.

Irrelevant

We apologised, pulled the eldest over, told him to leave the other boy alone, apologise, and play elsewhere.

Her son spends the next twenty minutes chasing my lad, and pulling at his clothes, So, admittedly, still annoyed with this lady from earlier,

You’re annoyed at her for asking you to control your son and stop him kicking hers?

I trot over and ask her if she’ll ask her son, to stop chasing and following mine so no more fighting can happen.

You want her son to stay away so yours won’t kick him again?

Spent the next couple of minutes making a scene in which she claims her son wouldn’t attack anyone, blah blah blah.

To be fair, her son didn’t.

WTF, do you do in these situations? I appreciate I sound like an arse now, but grr,

Dunno mate.

whilst she was watching through the smoking area outside

No, you are not as bad as the other parent.

Quite right, how could someone who smokes ever be a good parent 🙄

Would it have been better if she was a non smoker, and inside, but not noticing what her kids were doing ?

What ages? 8 and 9 I wouldn’t worry. 3 and 2 and it makes a big difference.

He’s 5, her son had lost some teeth (nothing to do with us 🙂 ), so i’m guessing about the same.

I’d be having a “not being funny” chat with you if my kid got kicked in the face by yours. What’s the alternative?

Depends how it happened. He didn’t run up to him and kick him in the face, he also can’t kick his own height, the only time it could have happened when he was climbing back up over a step, that you can only see properly from inside or through the window, the kids were on his back, and pulling at him, so could have happened then

Irrelevant

Except I was inside, watching my kids, she wasn’t.

You want her son to stay away so yours won’t kick him again?

Well he wasn’t kicking anyone else, I asked him to stay away from her child, as the woman had complained, as he’s generally well behaved, he did what I asked him. So yes, as this person had entered into a discussion with me, and by doing so, made it ok for us to advise each other how to control our kids

To be fair, her son didn’t.

Well I never seen my kids jumping or climbing on hers, however, he was also enjoying it, so I didn’t complain

Dunno mate

So you’re non the wiser than I am then?

I’d be having a “not being funny” chat with you if my kid got kicked in the face by yours. What’s the alternative?

The alternative is to think, he’s not crying, he’s not hurt, and if he’s going to climb and grab the legs and back of someone who’s running and jumping and climbing, then it’s probably a good life lesson, that might make him think, “I’ll not do that again”

Last point, on smoking, absolutely no problem with that, if I knew it wouldn’t kill me, i’d start tomorrow.

The problem is you’re arguing with a woman therefore it’s impossible for you to win no matter how right you are.