M-Monsters- last comment really irritated me!

I posted this in Pregnancy, Babies & Toddlers, but i guess it iwll be answered quicker here Has any one been to MM recenelty? I am invited to a birthday there soon and i am worried about all your concerns as i have 2 kids and will be taking my friend's daughter as well

True - you should be ultimately responsible for your kids - hence you shouldnt take them to places you know are seriously questionable regardng safety and generally putting the parents and children concerns first/ over profits and mini monsters seem to be a prime example of a place to avoid The extra dhirams you may have to spend to go to other venues - may not see like so much when when something goes wrong with you kids E.g of a place that seems to put the kids first Yesterday we went to fav things in marina mall - it was fairly full - cos thier was a few activities happenign at once - but thier was always someone making sure that the gates/doors where locked and LO's couldnt get out (even tho the softplay area has a strict policy requesting LO to be accompanied by thier minders The cafe is seperate from where the kids play but the glass partition still lets you watch them Thier is staff playing with the kids face painting etc so you see thier are places you can take you LO - so if a for a split second you get distracted the chances of an accident is at a minimum

Oh Dear! I have a party booked there for next week, the children are slightly older though. The enterance gate is a big issue for me, you cant possibly keep an eye on your children in there all the time what if you have more than one child?? and someone could easily open that gate and your child could walk out. Very scarey thought. Im lucky when my children are in there they never want to leave and it's a case of dragging them out kicking and screaming, so if they did see the gate open they probably wouldnt go any where near it. (I hope!!) If you can't change the venue, perhaps you should make contact with all the parents and make it clear that they can't just drop off and run. Some parents may think that they can leave their children under your care and the stress will ruin you. Also, perhaps a quick call to MM to ask about their safety and remind them that you have a party may help....

Oh Dear! I have a party booked there for next week, the children are slightly older though. The enterance gate is a big issue for me, you cant possibly keep an eye on your children in there all the time what if you have more than one child?? and someone could easily open that gate and your child could walk out. Very scarey thought. Im lucky when my children are in there they never want to leave and it's a case of dragging them out kicking and screaming, so if they did see the gate open they probably wouldnt go any where near it. (I hope!!)

Never been to MM but was invited to a Bday party for next week. Now am feeling really sorry for the mum who planned it. Is she reading these threads? Is she going to change the venue if she reads it? Should I talk to her about it? We are just acquaintances. And what can she do now at such last moment. Feeling bad about this.

I am certain most of you rely on your nannies/maids to do your parenting job. And when it involves you all needing to step in and watch your children it suddenly becomes a problem. Wow! Wrong time of the month or just trying to stir the pot? *newsflash* but some of us don't even have maids (that puts paid to your "most of you" comment). And, sorry to burst your bubble *snort* but most on here who do have maids, rely on them to clean the houses and do the laundry. If you're wanting to have a gripe at those who do rely on the maids to bring up the kids I suggest you look away from the expats posting on here.

Those safety issues prevent me from going there again. Other than that I found, that the 0-3 section is too small anyway.

The comment was mine. I am certain most of you rely on your nannies/maids to do your parenting job. And when it involves you all needing to step in and watch your children it suddenly becomes a problem. !!!!!, it is completely unfair to say that. you have no idea how some of us suffer to keep their kids safe by all means, and according to me away from nannies and maids too. if i think that a place that has a very low safety issues is unacceptable, that doesn't make me an awful mother that doesn't even bother to take care of her babies. one more thing, do you think if we don't care about our kids we will spend our time researching this subject??

The "Overheard in MacDonalds" thread should be required reading for anyone stepping outside their own door, let alone entering any facility in Dubai. Not a Dubai bash, just stating the simple fact that minimum wage and maximum profit, allied to a fatalistic attitude towards fate (vide the lack of child seat belt use) is an accident waiting to happen.

No the key words are.......remember where you are, and take appropriate extra care. The assumption that any facility in the region will be run according to UK elfin safety standards is dangerous. There's extra care and extra care though. Now having read the original thread, the most worrying thing for me would be the over-crowding. Yup, random people, stairs, even open doors (though naughty), I can mitigate, but in the event of a fire, in an over-crowded centre, it would be horrendous. It's pretty well-known that even people who know the fire drill for their environment off by heart can panic in the event of a fire - that's why all doors leading to the outside should open outwards, because people will surge and push, even if there's a big "pull" sign. Actually, a fire in an overcrowded soft play-centre literally doesn't bear thinking about. Feedback and discussion with their management are the only means for this to change. If/when you go, ask them about their policies on whatever aspect you feel strongly about. Ask a random member of staff what the fire drill is or if they're first-aid trained. THEN leave detailed written feedback. Every time, if necessary.

The comment was mine. 1st of all it is your job as parents to watch your children. So if things like the gates being open and your children getting out into the street occurs part of the blame would lie on you. So many of you think that you can just go there, sit down chit chat away with your friends and ignore your children while they play. All the while your banshee children are running free to do whatever they want. Not enough high chairs.. Are you kidding me? This is not a safety issue. Most restaurants all over the world only have so many on hand. They can not assume that every person has a child that will need them. After all MOE only has about 6 on hand at each side in their food courts. The in house restaurants usually only contain 2 or 3. Are they a safety hazard too? I agree with the not enforcing the larger children to stay out of the toddler area HOWEVER, the parents have some sort of responsibility there. It is YOUR job to ensure that YOUR children use area's properly. It is not the staffs job to babysit YOUR kids. And god knows after an event with the Fairy God Mothers club I swore I wouldn't attend another event put on by them due to the parents laziness at watching their own kids. I am certain most of you rely on your nannies/maids to do your parenting job. And when it involves you all needing to step in and watch your children it suddenly becomes a problem. I disagree with this, the types of mums on here are the ones that actually care about these issues. They are totally different to the type of mums that you describe in this post. Do you think that a mother who palms her kids off on a nanny/maid would waste her time commenting on this?

Anyway, I only went to MM once on the free morning when they have a Mums' club. I did not like it at all because it was so crowded and I left quite quickly. Frankly, it is not my DDs's type of play area. They're not much into climbing and prefer places like Peekaboo, Favorite Things, and Lamcy...

I agree with many of your points, troublebubble. The said issues would not stop me from taking my kids to MM... indeed - even in soft play areas int eh Uk, where it is highly regulated, no-one would just plonk their toddler in there and go off to have a quiet coffee. I'm going to have to read that thread now! HAK, the key word here is regulated. A place like MM would never be allowed to operate in the form it is now if it were in the UK due to a lack of health and safety standards. It has less to do with parents plonking their children and leaving and more to do with lack of stair gates, open exit doors, no maximum number limitations, and allowing all and sundry to enter the premises to have access to the coffee shop. No the key words are.......remember where you are, and take appropriate extra care. The assumption that any facility in the region will be run according to UK elfin safety standards is dangerous.

I agree with many of your points, troublebubble. The said issues would not stop me from taking my kids to MM... indeed - even in soft play areas int eh Uk, where it is highly regulated, no-one would just plonk their toddler in there and go off to have a quiet coffee. I'm going to have to read that thread now! HAK, the key word here is regulated. A place like MM would never be allowed to operate in the form it is now if it were in the UK due to a lack of health and safety standards. It has less to do with parents plonking their children and leaving and more to do with lack of stair gates, open exit doors, no maximum number limitations, and allowing all and sundry to enter the premises to have access to the coffee shop.

I agree with many of your points, troublebubble. The said issues would not stop me from taking my kids to MM... indeed - even in soft play areas int eh Uk, where it is highly regulated, no-one would just plonk their toddler in there and go off to have a quiet coffee. I'm going to have to read that thread now!

troublebubble, can we please stop generalising parents because of their parenting approach? I for one certainly didn't get the impression that those parents who were uncomfortable with the current security features were blase caretakers who prefered to engage in idle chit chat than watch over their children or just pawn them off to the maid. I would say the lot of us are VIGILANT parents who understand that accidents do happen regardless how attentive we are. If we are going to go that route I would even venture to say that your post reflects a lot of la-la-land-life-is-perfect-accidents-don't-happen naivety that is all too prevalent in Dubai. Well, despite the best of intentions and vigilance they do. Do I expect my children to go all banshee in a play centre? Actually, yes I do! I thought the whole purpose of a play centre is to provide a safe play environment where children can run around and let off steam. Of course it is our responsibility to look after our children and ensure they behave, but it is also the responsibility of the operators to ensure the environment they're offering is in fact safe and establish the guidelines and rules to ensure it remains so. In a perfect world yes, every parent should watch over their children. But this is certainly no utopia. Children misbehave, sneak away from parents, walk out of doors, or fall down stairs. Personally, I'm sure I can manage my two even with these limitations. For me, it is the lack of any sort of fire, health and safety regulations or limitations on the maximum number of children in these play centres that make me quiver in my boots. Have you ever thought what would happen if all those vibrantly coloured, plastic, not-so-fire-repellent play mats caught on fire during one of their full houses? Makes me shudder every time I think of it. Play centres? No thank you. I'd much rather stay at home, arrange a few play dates or spend some one on one time with my girls. Or better yet, pawn them off on the maid while I go get my hair done (yeah right, like that's ever going to happen!) ;) <em>edited by lemondrops on 02/06/2011</em>

I agree with many of your points, troublebubble. The said issues would not stop me from taking my kids to MM...

The comment was mine. 1st of all it is your job as parents to watch your children. So if things like the gates being open and your children getting out into the street occurs part of the blame would lie on you. So many of you think that you can just go there, sit down chit chat away with your friends and ignore your children while they play. All the while your banshee children are running free to do whatever they want. Not enough high chairs.. Are you kidding me? This is not a safety issue. Most restaurants all over the world only have so many on hand. They can not assume that every person has a child that will need them. After all MOE only has about 6 on hand at each side in their food courts. The in house restaurants usually only contain 2 or 3. Are they a safety hazard too? I agree with the not enforcing the larger children to stay out of the toddler area HOWEVER, the parents have some sort of responsibility there. It is YOUR job to ensure that YOUR children use area's properly. It is not the staffs job to babysit YOUR kids. And god knows after an event with the Fairy God Mothers club I swore I wouldn't attend another event put on by them due to the parents laziness at watching their own kids. I am certain most of you rely on your nannies/maids to do your parenting job. And when it involves you all needing to step in and watch your children it suddenly becomes a problem.

I just had to add to that thread seeing as it was closed but that last comment really got to me! Maybe MM is just like anywhere else in Dubai but thats the whole idea with our comments so that it gets changed for the better and does not continue to stay "just like anywhere else in Dubai". What irked me more though was the person( can't remember the name) said that she/he was sure most of the people who had negative comments would still end up taking their kids there. Hello, I don't think so, I won't be for one until it improves and as many have already said they won't be either. Anyone else???? No I don't think that's the case. Those that have said they won't go back probably won't return. The problem is that it is very prevalent in this part of the world to completely ignore child safety. If a parent doesn't see the importance of buckling his or her child in an age appropriate car seat/restraint, then he or she will be completely oblivious to the nuances of child safety issues in play centres. There's a horrible sort of blaze-ness about it all in this part of the world, and if regulators don't step up to fill in the gap, then places like MM will continue to flourish unabated...until disaster strikes I'm afraid :( <em>edited by lemondrops on 02/06/2011</em>

nope, not going to go now. haven't been there before and was super excited about taking my daughter. but sorry, if that's what the value of a child is to Mini Monsters, then too bad for them, they've lost one more potential customer.

You can look for the thread, currently on page 4, which is headed "Please read this before you next go to Mini Monsters" - for me, the safety concerns are encapsulated in this post from Maid Marion: Quote: This is a great thread RebeccaS and think that MM would be wise to read and learn rather than critise after all we are its target market!! I have been a few times and 18month old DD loves it but I too have my reservations like some of the other posters. 1. The safety issues of doors 2. People wandering in and out without children 3. Lack of highchairs 4. Cafe being open for children to run behind 5. Very steep steers, one set metal, with no stairgate 6. Only one changing table, up the steep stairs 7. Large children being allowed into the baby/toddler soft play 8. Volume that the music is played at 9. No apparent maximum limit for children safety or fire regulations 10. Lack of baby food available to purchase 11. No loyalty/membership programme Unquote.

Oh dear. Was going to go next week for the first time. Can I ask what the problem is? And did they actually say that they were a business and not interested in the concerns of mums and dads??

I wont' be going there. This whole "this is Dubai" doesnt' sit well with me, particularly when it comes to my children and their safety. Theres' enough places here that do take our (mothers/fathers) concerns seriously.

Definitely will never go and take the kids there. The management said that they are running a business and are not going to consider mothers' concerns. they do what is best for them, and i do what is best for my kids. And no, not all places in Dubai are unsafe, or inconsiderate, plenty of the kids areas treat it as a kids area not a "BUSINESS" that uses babies to increase their income.