When I first arrived in Shanghai it was January, the air was grey and the skies were even greyer. I was 10 weeks pregnant and Kai was a big ball of 2 year old sass-mouth with a ton of energy to burn. I had just spent the first week lying on the couch in the apartment with all of the furniture pushed into the living room to corner Kai off in the attempt to keep him in one spot just in case I fell asleep at any moment. Going outside for me was a mixture of fear and denial with thought’s of: “Where will we eat?”, “What do I do if I get lost?”, “Will my driver just wait for me outside?”, “Where did my driver go, I thought he was supposed to wait outside?”.
I would never admit it at the time but I was completely lost in my new surroundings and Kai was getting more and more bored by the day. We spent our waking hours avoiding grocery shopping by eating at Element Fresh, buying any DVD that would keep him quiet for an hour, and fighting with the internet because I really missed Facebook. By the way, Kai had just turned 2 and about a week into it he decided to turn into an absolute nightmare. I knew about the terrible twos but nothing prepared me for this. So, cooping up an absolutely insane toddler with a pregnant lady who could barely engage long enough to heat up a leftover macaroni kid’s meal from Element Fresh was a ticking time bomb.
I decided I had to get out. And so with elaborate sign language I asked my driver to take us to the Kerry and instead ended up at Thumb Plaza, but I rolled with it. Trying my best to steer Kai away from the toy kiosk, I took him up an escalator and there it was: an indoor playground in all its glory. Sure, it was a little worn, dirty, and had a highly questionable ball pit; but it was somewhere Kai could run and I could SIT!
Since that moment, every other day was spent frequenting the latest and greatest indoor playground I could find. And when I couldn’t find another I would rotate back to the first because he was two and had the memory span of a hamster so it wasn’t like he knew the difference.
Indoor playgrounds became my saving grace. Would I travel all the way to Honqiao just because they also had a cafe where I could supervise while drinking a tea latte? Oh yes I would! Would I pay exorbitant prices *cough* Adventure Zone at the Kerry *cough* just to spend a rainy day and ensure that Kai goes down for a solid 3 hour nap? Oh yes I would!
I imagine that the need for indoor playgrounds came about due to the combination of bad air quality and rainy season. Playtime had to be brought inside because with the hazardous AQI it just wasn’t possible to play outside. That in itself is kinda sad - that these areas of such fun and joy for kids were created because there was no other option.
So far, the kids’ favorite places to play are at Thumb Plaza and also Laya Plaza, the Himalayas (Wonderland on the basement level), and at the Children’s Market on Pu’an Lu. All of these places have great playgrounds guaranteed to keep your wee ones busy until nap time.
So on your next rainy day where the kids are driving you crazy and you just don’t know what to do - visit your nearest mall because chances are there will be an indoor playground to kill a few hours.
Just remember: bring hand sanitizer and always be suspicious of the ball pit.
So gross.
xoNiki
