indoor 'fake' playgrounds = sad city thing or sanity saving device for parents?

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yes i realise most of you dont have kids but anyway i just had to post this. i took my son to one of these places today because it was his half-brothers birthday and thats where the party was being held. its a big room, with loud-painted walls and even louder screaming kids everywhere. lots of air-filled slides etc and giant plastic gadgets for kids to go wild on, even toddlers have a separate area.
i hated it. no windows, no fresh air, constant noise bouncing off all those fucking screamingly-loud coloured walls, it was my own personal nightmare, really. i got home with a massive headache and a very exhausted little boy.

what happened to going to the park and having the party there? or hey, a novel idea, how about having it At Home!!

i dunno, it just seemed so unnatural and revolting somehow.

― donna (donna), Saturday, 6 September 2003 05:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i do not see how it could be considered more relaxing than having your childs friends over to play at home. yes ok, no mess etc but the stress-factor of this place was HUGE.

― donna (donna), Saturday, 6 September 2003 05:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Where do you live? It seems like it might be a good idea in colder climates.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 6 September 2003 05:45 (twenty-one years ago)

im in nz. its not THAT cold. we also have some fabulous playgrounds Everywhere.

― donna (donna), Saturday, 6 September 2003 05:49 (twenty-one years ago)

btw thats a lovely new email address, oops :-)

― donna (donna), Saturday, 6 September 2003 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember going to Ronald McDonaldland when I was a tyke. I had to beg my mom to take me and it seemed like it was on the other side of the Earth (only about 10 miles or so in actuality), so it was a big deal when she finally took me. I was hyped.
For some reason, I couldn't get any of my friends to go with me. I was always kind of shy around new people and was intimidated by these swarms of kids who all seemed to know each other, having a gay old time. I ate my cheeseburger or whatever quickly and then begged my mom to get me the hell out of there.

[thanks :-)]

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 6 September 2003 06:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate those places. Even when I was a kid I hated them. They're so streile and lacking of what actually makes a good playground - the dirt.

― Andrew (enneff), Saturday, 6 September 2003 06:35 (twenty-one years ago)

You got something against woodchips?

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 6 September 2003 06:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Hell, lots of these places, today, don't even have woodchips! Last indoor playground I was at (don't ask why I was there) had this horrid spongy/carpety/foamy crap under all of the playground equipment ... maybe safer, but it completely lacked character.*

*Though it was funny to watch this yuppie-ish mother wearing spiked heels, who managed to break the surface of the turf and sink down, struggling valiantly to retain her balance. Think of an elephant in quicksand. I kept waiting for her to go all the way under.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Saturday, 6 September 2003 07:24 (twenty-one years ago)

this place only had carpet, and yeah mslaura i also saw some poor fool in highheels struggling to gain foothold in the spongy area of the 'blow-up slide' thing.
the local playgrounds all have woodchip surfaces, which is cool - better landing zone.
but they also have DIRT and GRASS and FRESH AIR.

― donna (donna), Saturday, 6 September 2003 07:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Heck, in the old days, when *I* spent many hours on the playground, our elementary school had blacktop under the swings. I took it upon myself to prove that if a chaild falls in precisely the right manner onto the blacktop they can A) break their wrist, B) split-open skin on head, and C) puke all over the yard-duty person.

They took out the swings instead of putting in wood chips. I was not impressed in the least.

― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Saturday, 6 September 2003 07:34 (twenty-one years ago)

just take them to a chuck-e-cheese's or a video arcade, hand over a bucket of quarters and they can vege out in front of street-fighter II and mortal kombat

― phil-two (phil-two), Saturday, 6 September 2003 07:35 (twenty-one years ago)

And thus the downfall of modern society is outlined.

― oops (Oops), Saturday, 6 September 2003 07:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I had fun playing in the playground at McDonald's with my other similarly aged cousins when I was little. I loved it.

I also loved going to Chuck E. Cheese's for my birthdays. It was the perfect thing -- those little kids more energetic than I could just play to their hearts' content, while I went and played some (Skee-Ball was and is my favorite game at these places), sat down to some pizza, played a little more, and came back to do the whole "cake and opening presents" thing.

Playing outdoors in a playground? *shakes head* You could get hurt or dirty that way. ;)

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Saturday, 6 September 2003 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)

When I was three I got lost in a Discovery Zone indoor playground for 30 minutes. I kept crying and screaming for my mommy and the staff thought that was so cute.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 6 September 2003 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

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