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How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

meghanboilard.substack.com

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Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#71

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

willcipriano wrote: post #59
chrisco255 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're still common in Chick-Fil-A, and they complement the playgrounds with family night activities for kids on certain days of the week. Chick-fil-A prob doing better than ever too.

I've never been to Chick-Fil-A, I'm not a big chicken guy, but now I think about it the one near me does have a spot for play place and none of the other chains do. Guess I'll have to try them out, any business that goes out of their way to make the experience fun for kids will get some of my money.

Research their political donations first before deciding to patronize them.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#72

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

bpodgursky wrote: post #48
chrisco255 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're still common in Chick-Fil-A, and they complement the playgrounds with family night activities for kids on certain days of the week. Chick-fil-A prob doing better than ever too.

Chick-Fil-A's core demographic is somewhat wealthier than McDonalds (the food is somewhat more expensive), and I think that helps keep the play areas clean and organized. (fewer parents trying to use it as free daycare...)

They require the franchisee to be a full time manager so they are more invested in the cleanliness of the store.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#73

Post by foolfoolz »

mlyle wrote: post #14
chomp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, ball pits are ubiquitous at most indoor play parks here too, the author is extrapolating their disappearance from fast food restaurants, and correlating it to the 90s rumor mill. These rumors were definitely a thing, but more than just ball pits have been removed; most McDonald’s locations have had their entire PlayPlaces removed, due to the fact that people don’t sit down in fast food restaurants anymore, and al…

Yah, and to be honest-- good riddance. PlayPlace was definitely non-core, not-well maintained, etc.

because they used to market to kids. the whole place was kid oriented. fast food switched their demographic to adults about 15 years ago with great success

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#75

Post by jazzyjackson »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #71
willcipriano wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never been to Chick-Fil-A, I'm not a big chicken guy, but now I think about it the one near me does have a spot for play place and none of the other chains do. Guess I'll have to try them out, any business that goes out of their way to make the experience fun for kids will get some of my money.

Research their political donations first before deciding to patronize them.

given that they're closed on sunday you don't really have to do any research to know they're a christian organization

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#76

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

I really hope the adventure playgrounds mentioned are still a thing.

The ones in Germany were a bit more organized than just a pile of junk, but you basically went there, maybe parents paid some (nominal) fee or deposit, and you got a toolbox with basic hand tools like a saw, hammer and nails and there was plenty of wood to build with.

Larger structures were clearly built with some guidance and probably a civil engineer because there were multi-story buildings.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#77

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #75
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Research their political donations first before deciding to patronize them.

given that they're closed on sunday you don't really have to do any research to know they're a christian organization

That isn't the issue. Lobbying the government to strip people of their liberty is.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#78

Post by hgomersall »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #62
yxwvut wrote: post #45

The article describes the lack of sanitation as a baseless part of the negative mythology, but a dearth of scientific studies (and questions of generalizability of the existing studies) does not mean that their reputation is without merit. When your kid finds turds in the ball pit you don't need a study to know there's a sanitation problem. Anecdotally, as a child I had a near 100% rate of coming down with an infecti…

Based on the frequency of my kids getting infected at daycare, I assume any activity where toddlers or even a little older get together has a near certain chance of transmission. Although, I still would not take my chances with a ball pit that I doubt is ever thoroughly cleaned.

Except, strangely enough, according to my anecdata, not COVID-19. For nearly 2 years there were, AFAICT, almost no cases of COVID transmission through our nursery. I'd love this to be followed up properly. I have a theory that not only are the kids more resistant, but the parents are too due to the circulation of the other coronaviruses in pre-school children, along with all the other various infections.

It's all changed somewhat with Omicron, but then it has everywhere.

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#79

Post by [deleted] »

plasma_beam wrote: post #70
x0x0 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And ignores all the people saying that cleaning them is the problem. I'm yet another person who worked at a place with a ballpit as a teen. I loathed it. One Karen lets her brat with diarrhea in, and it's closed for 2+ hours as someone making minimum wage loads every single ball, some with shit on them, into a net bag and runs it through the commercial dishwasher. Then hand wipes every tube. Meanwhile, a line of othe…

Is there any other term than "Karen" you can use here? It's pretty offensive to anyone with a Karen in their life.

[deleted]

Re: How Urban Legend Destroyed the Ball Pit

#80

Post by jazzyjackson »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #77
jazzyjackson wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

given that they're closed on sunday you don't really have to do any research to know they're a christian organization

That isn't the issue. Lobbying the government to strip people of their liberty is.

yea, like i said, christian organization
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