Where a Kid Can Be...Ignored

Today marked the first birthday party of my son's first grade year. This is saying something, since school just started Tuesday and here it is Saturday. (The invitations came home THURSDAY. As in two days prior. Is she INSANE?) Anyway, so we picked out a present for a kid we don't know AT ALL and headed out to Chuck E's place. Since this schoolmate (and his family) are not known to us, the man he calls Daddy and I decided to hang around and lurk for the duration. I have had worse dates actually. At least there was pizza.

The first part of the party was a junior Vegas-style free-for-all, with kids cramming coins into machines and pulling out tickets. Kids had trails of tickets trailing behind them five feet long. Which (for someone who can't manage to roll a ball straight up the middle of a skeeball ramp TO SAVE MY LIFE) I found quite impressive. Then the child I call Son disappeared into plastic tubes mounted on the ceiling. I couldn't really see him except in small glimpses, and I looked nervously at the structure shaking around as the kids climbed through it. Then the voice from above (does she love her job that much or is that cheerfulness fake???) announced that it was time for the party to meet in the "showroom." So hubby and I got our own food and drink and tokens and proceeded to play the Spongebob roulette wheel six hundred and twelve times. I think we shouted WHEEEEEE on at least one occasion as I tried to pull the tickets out a bit harder than I needed to in order to get out an extra ticket or two. Please don't tell.

When I came up for air, I noticed a disturbing trend going on all around me. All over the crowded game room, I noticed very small children walking around unaccompanied. This became quite obvious as I watched a not-yet-or-just-barely two-year-old climb up the chicken wire cover on a soccer game. I kept waiting for some concerned adult to rush over and lift him down. When he was high enough to see the nice white skunk stripe I am growing on top of my head, I decided I would have to be that concerned adult. So I picked up the Spiderman wannabe and placed him on the ground, telling him that climbing here was not safe. I did not say GO FIND YOUR MOM AND TELL HER HOW YOU ALMOST KILLED YOURSELF! -- Even though I fully wanted to. But what was really scary is, even as I was picking this boy up and putting him on the ground, STILL no related adult came over.

In the two hours I was there, I watched AT LEAST three kids under three walking around on their own. One was upset and beginning to panic, as he had just realized his related adults had wondered off. (Hey kid, check the Spongebob game...it is SOOO addicting!) Even Son's best (girl)friend lost sight of her Dad and was verging on a breakdown when I got to her. Eventually we determined Dad was outside having a smoke. *sigh*

OK, so Chuck E Cheese advertises that parents can bring their kids in and can rest assured that their kids are safe. Indeed, they do have a stamping system in which no kid can leave with an adult he or she did not come in with. But once inside, whose responsibility is your child's safety? With due respect, there were several members of the Chuck E crew on the floor, but they were either retrieving lost coins, emptying coin slots, or delivering hot food, to watch the kids play.

Do the parents realize that I, A STRANGER, put my hands on their little boy, and talked to him with a voice intending to instill trust? Do you realize that I LED your daughter around by the hand, looking for a Chuck E crew member to hand her off to so they could find you piling your plate at the salad bar ignorant to the fact that YOUR kid is TERRIFIED and ALONE?

Worse case scenarios, people....the bathrooms are not monitored and ANYTHING could happen in there. There are sharp corners to crash into and little slots to cram little fingers into. There are bigger kids to push,mock, and rob yours. And an ominously swaying plastic structure overhead. So WATCH YOUR CHILDREN!

Granted, I am a worrywart and a bit of an overprotective parent. But God help me if my kid is running around a busy play center without his being aware of where I am and without my eyes watching, even from across the room. Chuck E Cheese is "where a kid can be a kid." Do you realize that 90% of the time THAT BOILS DOWN TO T-R-O-U-B-L-E?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Chuck E Cheeses is a fun place to go. and they do have a certain degree of security. But Chuck E is NOT YOUR BABYSITTER. Nor am I. But lucky for you, people do still care, even when you don't.