[A.Abbass]

I took my kid to a playing area in Dubai Mall today, after picking him up, and after we arrived home I discovered his neck and chest was full of bruises and scratches.

I discovered he was bullied in the playing area by a group of kids while they were all unattended. There was no staff supervision whatsoever.

I want to escalate this issue and report the incident, how can I do that ?

 

[iggles]

if that was my kid, I'd go down to that play area and beat the living s*** out of those kids. UAE or not, no one, i mean no one touches my kid.

 

[Stevesolar]

Hi,
As this is a very serious allegation - then you really need to be reporting it to the police - as a case of assault.
The Malls have extensive CCTV and the company should also have a CCTV system with recordings. The sooner you report this - the better chance that the footage is still available.
What details did you need to leave with the play company - as the more information that you needed to give, the more the other parents will have also given. This will make identification of the culprits easier.
Going via the police will ensure that this is not taken lightly by the company - something that would happen if you approach them directly. It will also stop them from mislaying evidence to cover up their incompetence.
Best of luck
Steve

 

[A.Abbass]

So should I go to Dubai Police directly or through the security of Dubai Mall ?

My wife is reluctant on harming the kids, she says they are just infants and it is all the responsibility of the playing area. She also thinks the injuries are minor while I am furious about it.

 

[Stevesolar]

Hi,
Police directly - otherwise it will be trivialised and probably covered up.
Let the police use their powers to get the data and footage they require - before it "disappears"
Cheers
Steve

 

[twowheelsgood]

and it is all the responsibility of the playing area.

Parents are responsible for the actions of their children, not the people who own the playing area. The play area staff are not nannies for parents who cannot control their kids although I'd bet the kids who did it spend more time with a nanny than with their parents judging by their behaviour.

As others have said, straight to the Police and keep calm.

 

[pamela0810]

Sorry but where were you when your kid was being beaten up? It's all well and good to be angry at the Play Area for not paying attention but you've got to accept some responsibility. If you're leaving your kid unattended with a whole bunch of kids who are not his friends, then you run the risk of him getting hurt.

Sorry to be harsh but I feel bad for your kid not being able to run to his parents immediately and tell them that he's being bullied.

 

[Stevesolar]

Sorry but where were you when your kid was being beaten up? It's all well and good to be angry at the Play Area for not paying attention but you've got to accept some responsibility. If you're leaving your kid unattended with a whole bunch of kids who are not his friends, then you run the risk of him getting hurt.

Sorry to be harsh but I feel bad for your kid not being able to run to his parents immediately and tell them that he's being bullied.

Hi,
It all depends on what service was being offered and charged for.
My son goes to school and the school have a responsibility to take care of him during the day and this includes ensuring he does not get harmed or bullied by other kids.
If the mall play area is offering a supervised play service - then their supervision should also extend to preventing groups of kids ganging up and bullying an individual child.
In an ideal world - we would all like to be with our kids 24 hours per day - but the reality is we need to leave them with other responsible adults.
I would also be upset if I left my kid with a company that is supposed to have responsible adults supervising play and preventing harm.
I suspect this place is run by the usual gang of low paid, indifferent, useless, unaccountable, smartphone texting muppets that don't even bother to check what is going on with the kids.
The OPs "crime" was expecting to pay a fee and get the level of service he paid for!
Cheers
Steve

 

[A.Abbass]

Sorry but where were you when your kid was being beaten up? It's all well and good to be angry at the Play Area for not paying attention but you've got to accept some responsibility. If you're leaving your kid unattended with a whole bunch of kids who are not his friends, then you run the risk of him getting hurt.

Sorry to be harsh but I feel bad for your kid not being able to run to his parents immediately and tell them that he's being bullied.

I understand where you come from. And we usually never leave our kids alone, but this particular playing area is licensed to offer this service. So since the regulatory bodies approved them to watch over kids (over 3) un attended then I expect them to do their job.

Even though, we did not leave the place, we were seated just outside the playing area where we can see them through glass, however some parts of the playing area are concealed, and my wife walked into the playing area every 10 minutes to ensure they are ok, suprisingly my son did not complain at all !

I already reported and right now the CCTV is being reviewed.

 

[aleleeson]

I understand where you come from. And we usually never leave our kids alone, but this particular playing area is licensed to offer this service. So since the regulatory bodies approved them to watch over kids (over 3) un attended then I expect them to do their job.

Even though, we did not leave the place, we were seated just outside the playing area where we can see them through glass, however some parts of the playing area are concealed, and my wife walked into the playing area every 10 minutes to ensure they are ok, suprisingly my son did not complain at all !

I already reported and right now the CCTV is being reviewed.

you are definitely not wrong to leave your child in the care of people who claimed to offer a service they that did not. You paid to have your child supervised and he/she was not. Anyone trying to blame you (the victim of false advertising and basically the one who was scammed out of your money) is very wrong. Parents can never be with their kids 100% of the time and we do deserve some down time. Ideally yes, we leave our kids with people we trust and know but if a company offers a service, we put our trust in them and they do not deliver the fault is with them.

My child has never been to school or daycare but she is almost four now and will start school in september... she asks everyday to go to school and we are even thinking of putting her in a summer class for dancing or so... if we do part of the agreement would be that the supervising adults make sure no physical harm comes to her... i would hate to be blamed if they dont do their job. Blaming the parents here is really wrong. I hope your child recovers well though.

on a side note: blaming the kids who beat up your child is also wrong, as kids really just dont know any better.. they are still learning about life. to me the fault is simply with the fact the the adults who were supposed to be supervising did a poor job. They would be the first person I complained to, the police are also a good option.

 

[pamela0810]

Let us know what happens with this incident and how it turns out. In all likelihood, it's the underpaid supervisors who will get punished and not the bullies. That is just wrong. The people that work in these establishments are not qualified nannies who can supervise kids at all times. Their primary responsibility is to sign in the kids and make sure none of them get out.

They are in no position to control these bullies because they're too scared to lose their jobs.

 

[A.Abbass]

My wife is going to check the CCTV today, accordingly we will decide what to do.

Will update you tonight.

 

[BedouGirl]

Let us know what happens with this incident and how it turns out. In all likelihood, it's the underpaid supervisors who will get punished and not the bullies. That is just wrong. The people that work in these establishments are not qualified nannies who can supervise kids at all times. Their primary responsibility is to sign in the kids and make sure none of them get out. They are in no position to control these bullies because they're too scared to lose their jobs.

Sorry to say but I'm not sure what could be done unless someone knows the names of the families. As Pam says, it's probably going to end up being blamed on the staff.

 

[A.Abbass]

I went with my wife again today and we checked 2 hours of CCTV footage. There were a couple of kids trying to occupy a section of the playing area and not allow other kids in, this is where some pushing and pulling happened. Me and my wife believe there was no definite assault involved or ganging on our son.

We still believe there was lack of supervision from the staff, nobody intervened at time, there is a dedicated staff for this particular section of the playing area since this is the only area with a door, on CCTV she arrived late to solve the dispute after my son complained to her.

As you all expected, this staff was held responsible for the whole thing and they actually wanted to fire her (Me and my wife objected) and she only got a deduction.

The full names and mobile numbers of parents of those kids were available and we had the option to file charges against them to the police through Dubai Mall's security, however we chose not to do that, since what we saw on camera was not something we would want to report to the police, in our opinion.

Thank you all for your advice and concern

 

[aleleeson]

what is a deduction??

 

[pamela0810]

what is a deduction??

The staff member probably got a salary deduction which is quite unfair. She probably barely earns over AED 1,500 a month anyway.

 

[pamela0810]

I went with my wife again today and we checked 2 hours of CCTV footage. There were a couple of kids trying to occupy a section of the playing area and not allow other kids in, this is where some pushing and pulling happened. Me and my wife believe there was no definite assault involved or ganging on our son.

We still believe there was lack of supervision from the staff, nobody intervened at time, there is a dedicated staff for this particular section of the playing area since this is the only area with a door, on CCTV she arrived late to solve the dispute after my son complained to her.

As you all expected, this staff was held responsible for the whole thing and they actually wanted to fire her (Me and my wife objected) and she only got a deduction.

The full names and mobile numbers of parents of those kids were available and we had the option to file charges against them to the police through Dubai Mall's security, however we chose not to do that, since what we saw on camera was not something we would want to report to the police, in our opinion.

Thank you all for your advice and concern

I'm glad it was nothing more serious but this was my concern from the very beginning that the staff member will be blamed instead of the children. If it was me, I would have had a few choice words with the parents myself but that too would have been of no use.

The bullies here are actually little kids who are hungry for attention and have figured out that the best way for them to get this attention is to lash out.

Glad your child is not seriously hurt!

 

[aleleeson]

The staff member probably got a salary deduction which is quite unfair. She probably barely earns over AED 1,500 a month anyway.

i do think it was the fault of the staff but cutting their pay for it is wrong yes. they have financial obligation like everyone else and we are all human and prone to mistakes etc. especially in such a stressful job. Looking at multiple children all day is not easy, it would be unfair if that is what they did. Talking to the staff member would have made much more sense in my opinion. Very strange that it would even be possible to cut someone's pay for something like this.

I would have thought a normal response to this would have been to have the staff member apologize to the parents and child and promise to be more aware in the future and to give the parents and child something as compensation like free time there in the future or so...

 

[A.Abbass]

i do think it was the fault of the staff but cutting their pay for it is wrong yes. they have financial obligation like everyone else and we are all human and prone to mistakes etc. especially in such a stressful job. Looking at multiple children all day is not easy, it would be unfair if that is what they did. Talking to the staff member would have made much more sense in my opinion. Very strange that it would even be possible to cut someone's pay for something like this.

I would have thought a normal response to this would have been to have the staff member apologize to the parents and child and promise to be more aware in the future and to give the parents and child something as compensation like free time there in the future or so...

We did not interfere with the decision to deduce her salary because as per their management, they are over staffed and that particular staff member was purely dedicated to monitor this spot, that she failed to do.

We did try to talk to her, she was standing next to us while we were viewing the footage, my wife pointed out where the quarrel happened and that this should have been stopped, she wasn't willing to talk, she even seemed angry we are complaining, and briefly told us the management is investigating into this and she has nothing to say.

My wife was barely advising her calmly, but still she wasn't willing to interact.

As for compensation, we were not willing to accept anything from the start.

 

[BedouGirl]

i do think it was the fault of the staff but cutting their pay for it is wrong yes. they have financial obligation like everyone else and we are all human and prone to mistakes etc. especially in such a stressful job. Looking at multiple children all day is not easy, it would be unfair if that is what they did. Talking to the staff member would have made much more sense in my opinion. Very strange that it would even be possible to cut someone's pay for something like this. I would have thought a normal response to this would have been to have the staff member apologize to the parents and child and promise to be more aware in the future and to give the parents and child something as compensation like free time there in the future or so...

Welcome to The Sandpit! Sadly, this is not going to be the last time you hear of this kind of story.