A Soft Play Adventure – Small Steps Amazing Achievements

This weekend Ethan was invited to a birthday party at a soft play centre. We have taken Ethan to a few of these places in the past but we haven’t been for a while. A soft play centre for our family also means you get a good workout as one of us has to stay with Ethan at all times. This is for two reasons, firstly to keep Ethan safe as he has no sense of danger, and we did have an incident once where Ethan took quite a tumble because he was freaked out by a smaller child crying. The second is really to be there so show Ethan how to use the space, in other words, how to play!

After settling into the party area Ethan and Darren set off to explore, I watched from a distance. The last time we were at a soft play area was last July when we were in Devon, and I could really notice a change in how Ethan handled the situation. 

Ethan was ahead of Darren, weaving in and out of the other children and going up and down all the slides he could find. It was great to watch because last time Ethan just walked up and down the edge of the soft play area watching the patterns of the fence flash before his eyes. Darren had to lead Ethan and show him what to do on each part of the equipment. This time was totally different, Ethan didn’t need to be shown what to do, and he knew what to do with the space so there was no walking along the edges of the play area. A massive improvement in his development. 

Ethan loved his time in the soft play area and put up a fight when we thought it was time for him to have a pit stop for a drink. I have never seen him move so fast to get back into the play area after his drink! 

Ethan also did really well when it was time for the birthday tea, admittedly he only sat at the table for about ten minutes without the help of Daddy’s iPhone. He also only ate crisps but that’s Ethan for you. 

We loved that Ethan got invited to the party and we hope to take Ethan back to the soft play soon. 

11 thoughts on “A Soft Play Adventure – Small Steps Amazing Achievements”

  1. Sounds like he’s really coming on. We used to have to go round play equipment with H for ages (even though he has no special needs), just because he isn’t desperately physical or adventurous. Once he got the hang of things though, life was much easier.

  2. Wow, great to see such a change in him and lovely to be invited to a party. A lot of kids won’t sit still at a birthday party for more than 10 minutes anyway and my fussy two would only eat crisp as well!

  3. That’s wonderful! To be honest, I am a little nervous about taking my toddler to soft play because there are so many older kids around and he’s so little. Or maybe, I’m just an anxious mommy!

  4. Aww!! Sounds like he had a great time….
    When we’re in soft play my girls hate stopping for a drink and a few minutes sit down…..They’re always keen to get back to playing too x

  5. Dawn, MummyWifeWoman

    WOW! Well done Ethan. It sounds like he has really learnt from his previous visits and remembered how to use the space, thats great! Does he ever want to go in on his own yet?
    I totally get this though. Bruiser is just the same. His birthday last week was the first time he went and played on his own (without me Daddy or Wriggler) in a soft play environment. He refused to join the children for the party food or the games and preferred to sit on his own somewhere quieter but thats Bruiser and thats how he now manages these situations himself now.
    Keep up the great work Ethan 🙂 xx

  6. Brilliant. Funny how we have to work hard to get them to enjoy the things that ‘other’ children easily do, isn’t it?! Exhausting but rewarding. Hope you are keeping well x #SSAA

  7. That is brilliant, well done Ethan. I can totally relate to all of this as Toby used to just run up and down looking at the mesh barrier but in more recent times has got more involved. We go in there with him too 🙂

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