Rules at Indoor Play Structures

I make them wear socks and if we don't have them on we usually buy them at McDonalds. They went up recently to $1.25 per pair so I usually try to hit up Dollar Tree or some other sort of $1 store. They often have 3 pair of no show socks for that $1. So I stock up and keep several pair in the map section on my door of my vehicle. Or I keep a couple of pairs in the trunk.

I get annoyed when parents let their kids get on barefooted. I tell. I bought socks and came prepared. They should too.

I'm more passive aggressive....I go up to the parents and play innocent and say "omg! Did you see that one kid knocking the little kids over on that slide? He's twice the size as those little kids and he's stepping on them! He just almost broke my son's hand! Its amazing what some parents let their kids do, eh? I wonder who he belongs to...". And then of course they wonder if its their kid so they go check on them and find out its their kid. Most of the time they tell their kid to calm down, which the kid doesn't, but at least it got the parent's attention.

So in answer to your questions...yes and yes.

I always break the sock rule. They are too slippery and kiddos can't climb well with the socks on. And I just for the life of me cant figure out why it is so much better to have dirty socks than dirty bare feet. So I am a rule breaker I guess. Does it bother me when others break meaningless little rules like this? No, and I generally dont even notice it when it happens because I am busy minding my own business.

The only rule I break is the sock one. Often the socks are too slippery and my kids slip and fall. I let them wear their very soft soled shoes in so that they can grip the climbers and not get hurt.

I even bought the kind of socks that have the little grippers on the bottom, but they didnt' work as well as we needed, my little guy still slipped, so I put his shoes back on. (He rarely walks outside so his shoes are clean).

I completely agree with all the other rules though, and we follow them.

Yes, to both.
We always followed the rules.
And I always saw parents who didn't enforce them with their own children, and it annoyed the heck out of me.

ETA: Grippy socks, no socks, or shoes that grip, are all great ways to twist an ankle or break a leg/ankle going down a slide.

I absolutely make my daughter abide by the rules of the indoor play structures. First of all, they are for everyone's safety. Second of all, it teaches that there are rules outside the home as well, whether you are in a play structure, school or someone else's home. If you don't follow the rules, you don't play.

Truth is I've never seen anyone break the rules yet, but there's always a first.

I used to break the sock rule till my kid went down a slide at an inflatable place, put his feet down, and flew off the slide because the friction of his bare feet on the slide stopped his momentum and caused him to fall. Scary moment watching my 6 year old go flying through the air at least 4 feet off the ground, thank goodness the walls at the bottom of the slide were high enough and he hit them and bounced back in, could have been very severe injury.

The rules are in place for a reason, it's for everyone's safety to follow them. And I still get ticked at people who bring their little ones (1-2 yo) to play on the equipment designed for bigger kids then yell at the bigger kids to watch out for the little ones! There are plenty of play areas geared toward little kids, not nearly as many for bigger kids, keep the little ones safe in their own areas don't make the big kids stop because your precious little flower just has to jump on the big trampoline.

My son must fallow all rules at a playcenter. I have spoken up when a child has been doing something to endanger themselves but other than that I usuaslly just ignore it and make sure my son leads a healthy example. If my son just happens to do something that their child does I tell him to stop loud enough for the mother to hear and voice my opinion why he should not do it. If the child bribed him to do it (my 5 year old is gulable) I will explain to the mother what happened and usually they understand that I am only looking at safety issues. Very rarely have I been yelled at for voicing concerns.

One thing that I have noticed that is often broken at the mall play places and at playgrounds is that often they say nobody UNDER 3 is allowed. I personally do not agree and think its probably CYA but still....then the parents of these kids get up in arms about the older kids and don't want these rules pointed out to them. Kinda funny.

Also yes and yes. there are rules and they are there for a reason. Unfortunately, sometimes the parents use the palces as babysitters. I have seen parents on their laptop instead of keeping an eye on their child. What really gets me is when someone that is there to supervise tells the parent or child for the third time to stop or remove whatever and the parent gets mad. A friend told me about a time she took her kids to a cafe palce with a play area. The parent was given 3 warnings about removing her coffee and about her son climbing and throwing. Then she was asked to leave. She started screaming at the poor girl that she paid and had the right to stay there.

Yes, I make my kids follow the rules and yes, I get annoyed at others who don't. The way I see it - most people are selfish. They do what's right for them, whether it breaks the rules or not. Children who grow up with parents that do this usually end up having the same attitude when they are adults. Is it hard to enforce sometimes, as the parent? Yes, because they don't want to deal with the fits that will come if they don't let their kids have their way. Not a good excuse, in my opinion.

It's like the people on the freeway that ALWAYS cut into the carpool lane the second the regular lanes slow down, even if it means crossing the double yellow lines. They don't care that it's both illegal and dangerous, because it benefits them in that moment, and that is all they care about.

Oh god I've never let my children up in those things. My sister worked at one of those not that long ago. She was the smallest person employed so she got the lovely task of crawling through and trying to clean that thing... It was disgusting. I heard about the blood, vomit, pee and even poo she'd find in it every single time she had to clean it. She was 15 at the time. I imagine she did a great job cleaning it... yeah right..... as any teenager I'm sure would do. I'd never send my children in one and am not at all sad to see that in my area at least McDonalds, Burger King and all those places are updating their looks and those are going gone with the update to not return.

Yes, we did abide by the rules. And yes, it bothered me when other parents didn't. One of my biggest pet peeves is the "oh, that doesn't pertain to ME, I'm too special" attitude some parents have about themselves and their kids. It's inconsiderate and immature in my opinion.

At large indoor play structures i make my kids follow all the rules. At places like McDonalds we follow the socks rule if we are going to be there playing for a little while but if we are just going in to eat (and they are only gonna get to play for a few minutes before we have to leave) i ask my kids to keep their shoes on mostly cause its gonna take longer to take them off and put them back on than the time they will actually be in the structure.