A heavily pregnant mother has expressed her fury after her two-year-old son was punched in the face by another child at a soft play centre in South Wales, with the alleged perpetrator's grandparents reportedly watching without intervening.
Incident at Soft Play Centre
Jasmine Willcox, who is eight months pregnant with her second child, took her two-and-a-half-year-old son to a quiet soft play centre in South Wales. She described the venue as having around 10 adults and 10 children present. While her son was playing in the under-3s section, a boy of a similar age approached and punched him in the face.
According to Jasmine, her son held his nose and pushed the other child away. Initially, she believed the children had resolved the disagreement themselves. However, the situation escalated when the younger boy brought his older brother, aged around five or six, into the baby area.
Escalation and Mother's Intervention
Jasmine recounted: "The little kid that punched my kid goes and gets an older brother who looks quite a bit older, maybe five or six. Brings him over to my son, who's now just back to playing with his friend. He brings this older kid over, he points to my son, and then the older kid starts to grab the back of my son's t-shirt. At this point, I flew up from my seat and I'm walking across the soft play going 'no, no, no'."
She continued: "My instinct was just to keep saying no, because I was like, what is he going to do to my tiny little two year old? I'm like, 'don't touch him, don't touch him' having to parent these kids that are not my kids." The older child then claimed that her son had pushed his little brother, to which Jasmine replied: "Yeah, he punched him in the face first, so you need to back off."
Grandparents' Inaction and Autism Excuse
Jasmine stood guard over her son until the brothers left the area. She later discovered that the children were accompanied by their grandparents, who had witnessed the entire incident without taking any action. Another parent informed Jasmine that the younger child was reportedly autistic, and that this was used as an explanation for his behaviour.
Jasmine expressed her frustration: "I don't think that's a good enough excuse to just let it happen, not do anything and be like, 'he's autistic. It is what it is'."
Social Media Reaction
Jasmine shared her experience on TikTok, asking other parents for their opinions. One commenter said: "Never an excuse, as a parent of 2 autistic sons one of them who can be quite hands on I follow him everywhere. Where he goes I go. It’s that simple because I know my son doesn’t understand but I do." Another added: "Your calmer than me! I would have gone straight over and asked who his parents was, no body hits my child for no apparent reason and gets away with it." A third commented: "Why do so many people use that as an excuse? It's not an excuse at all. It annoys me so much. These kids still need rules, boundaries and consequences. Well done to all the parents who do parent their kids properly. Proud of you."
