Monday night we went to the local mall to get Kai’s hair cut (which it seriously needed!) and then we let them play in the foamy play area.

The one at our mall is pretty roomy with lots of things to climb on, with tunnels and slides and paths to walk.  They even have a hand sanitizer as you go in, so that is a welcome sight since I would imagine there are many germs crawling around there.

We have gone on Saturday mornings before and wild house does not do it justice.  Monday nights are SO MUCH better. 

This place has rules posted outside of it, which are largely ignored by the populace.  Most kids are good and take off their shoes at least.  The height rule of 42 inches is largely ignored (c’mon…Kai’s almost that height!) and the no running rule is very much ignored.  I think there should be an age limit rule and not a height rule, since some of the bigger kids don’t watch for the little babies crawling around and can seriously hurt them.

Watching the kids play there, it is astounding how many parents are not watching their kids and scolding them for being rude.  Anya took out another kid on the slide after me telling her to wait, so I made her apologize to him.  Then later Anya was trying to go down a slide and another kid kept shoving her out of their way so they could go down. 

Manners and caring for others starts now.  It is the parent’s responsibility to show their kids how you are supposed to treat others.  We won’t stop going to these play areas.  I just think they are little reflection ponds showing the different aspects of our society.  You have the parents that watch and help their kids showing them how to navigate everything.  Then you have the parents who just let them run wild as long as they aren’t bothering their cell phone call.

Sadly most of the time there appears to be more of the latter than the former.