Unsafe play.

Last week, K and I took the girls to Safra Jurong after church because Alison wanted to go to Kids Amaze, which we couldn’t see the first time we visited the place because it was too crowded. Turns out, it wasn’t just crowded because it was opening day that day. It’s crowded. And dangerous. Let me show you:

There was zero crowd control, resulting in human jams as above.

See the boy in the light blue shirt?

He and the girl next to him struggled for more than five minutes to get past the steps on the right.

Trying to squeeze their way up.

Just imagine what would happen if a fire were to break out. Even if the people in the playground were to survive smoke inhalation, the ensuing panic and stampede would no doubt result in tragedy. Everyone would be trying to push their way through the convoluted climbs and steps – things that usually take time to navigate.

This playground is huge and fun for older kids, but younger children who don’t like loud noises and who can’t keep up in a crush of people should stay far, far away. I hope the Safra management relooks the layout or at least takes steps to control the number of people in the playground at any one time on peak days. The kids running the show when we were there (literally, they were teens or at most in their very early 20s) didn’t seem to be doing anything about it, for sure.

In the meantime, we’re taking the kids to better planned playgrounds like Fidgets and ExplorerKid.