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View Full Version : Truth about Ball Pits, PLEASE READ, esp. if you have kids!!!


kittykat05
03-06-07, 04:56 PM 03-06-07
THIS IS SAD THAT PEOPLE DO THIS CRAP. IT IS DISGUSTING AND IT MAKES ME SICK. SOMEBODY NEEDS THE SHIT KICKED OUT OF THEM FOR DOING THIS.

Fathers & Mothers please read!

McDonalds, Chuck E Cheese, Discovery Zone... Some of you might not be parents, but you may have nieces, nephews, grandchildren or friends with children. This will pertain to you too. As I read the following, my heart sank. I urge each and every one of you to pass this on to as many people as you can. I cannot stress how important this is!

This is very disturbing news.


1st
McDonalds...my son lost his watch, and was very upset. We dug and dug in those balls, trying to find the watch.

Instead, we found vomit, food, feces, and other stuff I do not want to discuss. I went to the manager and raised hell.
Come to find out, the ball pit is only cleaned out once a month. I have doubts that it is even done that often.
My kids will never play in another ball pit.

IT GETS WORSE~

Hi. My name is Lauren Archer, my son Kevin and I lived in Midland,TN. On October 2nd, 1999 I took my only son to McDonald's for his 3rd birthday.

After he finished lunch, I allowed him to play in the ball pit. When he started whining later on, I asked him what was wrong, he pointed to the back of his pull-up and simply said "Mommy, it hurts." I couldn't find anything wrong with him at that time.
I bathed him when we got home, and it was at that point when I found a welt on his left buttock. Upon investigating, it seemed as if there was something like a splinter under the welt.
I made an appointment to see the doctor the next day, but soon
he started vomiting and shaking, then his eyes rolled back into his head.

We went to straight to the emergency room. He died later that night. It turned out that the welt on his buttock was the tip of a hypodermic needle that had broken off inside.
The autopsy revealed that Kevin had died from a heroine overdose.

The next week, the police removed the balls from the ball pit. There was rotten food, several hypodermic needles: some full, some used; knives, half-eaten candy, diapers, feces, and the stench of urine.

If a child is not safe in a child's play area then where? You can find the article on Kevin Archer in the October 10,1999 issue of the Midland Chronicle.

Please forward this to all loving mothers, fathers and anyone who loves and cares for children!

Don't think it's just McDonald's either or that this is something that just started. Its been on the DL for years.

When my oldest son who is now 9 was small, the area Burger King closed their play area for awhile for "remodeling" because in another town there had been an incident similar to the one described above.
BURGER KING
A little boy had been playing in a ball pit & started complaining of his legs hurting.
He later died too.
He was found to have snake bites all over his legs & buttocks.
When they cleaned the ball pit they found that there was a copperhead nest in the ball pit. (yeah, BIG laughs!)
He had suffered numerous bites from a very poisonous snake.


Repost this if you care about a child!

And just FYI~
In Florida and other places on the East Coast a group of people are putting HIV/aids infected and filled needles underneath gas pump handles, so when someone reaches to pick it up and put gas in their car, they get stabbed with it. 16 people have been a victim of this crime so far and 10 tested HIV positive. Instead of posting that stupid crap about how your love life will suck for years to come of you don't re-post, post this. It's important to inform people, even if you don't drive, a family member might, and what if they were next? CHECK UNDER THE HANDLE BEFORE YOU GRAB IT!!! IT MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE! Tell as many people as you can about this serious issue.

Teach your children to be careful & watch out there are SOME crazies out there.

Please REPOST this

dillydally6
03-06-07, 06:10 PM 03-06-07
That is so sad, I can't believe that that has happend.

daddysgurl9245
03-06-07, 06:46 PM 03-06-07
OMG, this only shows how stupid some people can be. They're putting the lives of innocent children AND adults in danger...

DragonSpirit
03-06-07, 07:37 PM 03-06-07
Whoa......

missy0ul0ve
03-09-07, 06:58 AM 03-09-07
when did this happen, and where did you get your information from? these are important things to be aware of when reading things... but if that is true then that's crazy... it's a good thing that here in jersey it's illegal to pump our own gas, so i dont have to worry about that if i dont leave the state. but the ball pit thing is disturbing, but strange... restaurants especially have inspections.... i dont know how often this happens or whatnot but that should be cleaned. that's disgusting.

Punkygirl0101
03-09-07, 08:01 AM 03-09-07
My heart sunk when I read children have died! :: A SNAKE NEST?!?!? WOW!

*Makes sure to check handles before filling up gas tank*..I never thought of that!

Why would someone want to hurt others that way? *Sigh* Some people.

swimqt494
03-09-07, 08:10 AM 03-09-07
Thats so sad....I've read this before, probably a few months ago. I'm a little unsure if it's real or not though. Like...wouldn't you think that they'd regularly check their ball pits after one incident? Think o fthe liability issues! Through the roof. And don't you think if a child got badly hurt, and especially if they die, for a big as Mcdonald's is..that it would be all over the news? I dunno...sometimes I wonder bout these things.

Jennicat
03-09-07, 08:19 AM 03-09-07
These are urban legends, and are not true:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/ballpit.asp
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/archer.asp

This is the second time you've posted things that weren't true without doing the least bit of research about them and getting people all riled up. Don't just post things that people forward you as true.

bruises
03-09-07, 08:22 AM 03-09-07
And that's when we loves Snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/gaspump.asp
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/archer.asp
http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/ballpit.asp

So, yes, urban legends. Tho apparently there has been needles (very much doubt they were filled tho) and knives found in some ball pits on occasion. How does those things even end up there? o_O;;; I doubt it's a regular occurence tho.

But, yes, even if it's not as bad as people would have you believe, ball pits are still a safety hazard. I don't let my kid play in them, they're filthy and disgusting. Disregarding the possible dangers of needles, the things that kids themselves bring and leave there are disgusting as well. There are kids throwing up there, eating there, they don't have control of their bodily functions. And it's not cleaned nearly often enough, IMO. Ball pits are filled of germs. I didn't like them even when I myself was a kid.

Edit: Oh darn, Jennicat beat me about the Snopes.

missy0ul0ve
03-09-07, 10:11 AM 03-09-07
as i said you have to be careful reading these things... always post where your information comes from. if it is not a creditable source it's just rambling. it makes more anger in the world...

thank you for providing a source those who proved it wrong.

Runky
03-09-07, 11:40 AM 03-09-07
Yeah. I figured those weren't real too. P:

But yeah, ball pits are pretty nasty. Hah. But I used to play in them as a kid. I remember one time they had these furby things in the happy meals and me and my brother found like 10 in the ball pit. We were, like, diving for furbies. Haha. xD

Punkygirl0101
03-09-07, 12:01 PM 03-09-07
lol, thats funny you mentioned that! A few years ago they did mini beanie babies..and I collect those..and Instead of buying a bunch of happy meals (Which I would do) all I had to do was go in the little kiddy play area and found plenty! :).

mynoven
03-09-07, 12:26 PM 03-09-07
But, yes, even if it's not as bad as people would have you believe, ball pits are still a safety hazard. I don't let my kid play in them, they're filthy and disgusting. Disregarding the possible dangers of needles, the things that kids themselves bring and leave there are disgusting as well. There are kids throwing up there, eating there, they don't have control of their bodily functions. And it's not cleaned nearly often enough, IMO. Ball pits are filled of germs. I didn't like them even when I myself was a kid.


This is exactly how I feel. I won't let my daughter play in them either. I remember one time at McD's, this kid came outta the ball pitt crying because her brother peed on her in the pit.

I did inform the manager, and she closed the ball pitt area off, and sent someone in to clean it up.....

Jennicat
03-09-07, 12:49 PM 03-09-07
Well, no offense to anyone with kids, but just about anywhere kids go is going to be quite filthy and germ ridden.

I work for a janitorial company, and we get calls constantly from the libraries about feces, urine, and vomit all over the children's areas.

Runky
03-09-07, 01:48 PM 03-09-07
^ Hah. Kids can be gross. I used to be a janitor at my church (Oh yeah. ;D) which has a daycare during the week and some of that stuff is just gross.

And even in just keeping the daycare. Kids stick things in their mouth that are just unsanitary. The little play fake foods, the put those in their mouth all the time. Really icky. P:

But kids are like that. Hah. ;D

Caitandcritters
03-09-07, 02:02 PM 03-09-07
Mm, yes, little kids aren't necessarily the cleanest creatures in the world. I try to keep Tanner well groomed and we always have Purel and baby wipes on hand. Sticky kids are gross.

And ball pits are nasty. I remember in TX when I was little, we played in one and there were dead crickets and dead mice in the bottom. Completely disgusting. Not to mention all the other kids... Not everyone is as considerate and they take their kids places when they are sick or just getting over something so they leave their sick germs everywhere. Egh.

muse
03-09-07, 06:42 PM 03-09-07
They used to clean the ball pit every night after closing at the McDonalds here. When I was a kid I used to play for hours in it, to recollection I never found anything other than toys and most of the time it smelled like Pine-Sol.

rabbitdogcatluv
03-11-07, 06:34 AM 03-11-07
I wonder how they even go about cleaning those things, because how are they supposed to wash off each ball! gross.

Jennicat
03-11-07, 06:38 AM 03-11-07
If I had to guess, I'd say they probably spray down the pit with a disinfectant, and then scrub the bottom and let it dry naturally on the balls. We have disinfectants like that.

PooingCavy
03-12-07, 05:00 PM 03-12-07
WARNING:

This is NOT true. This is an urban legend proven false by many, many websites, including SNOPES

Jennicat
03-12-07, 05:06 PM 03-12-07
Yeah, the links were posted almost a page ago.

dillydally6
03-12-07, 05:37 PM 03-12-07
cavy what are you talking about how do you know that they are not true

kittykat05
03-13-07, 07:12 AM 03-13-07
cavy what are you talking about how do you know that they are not true

Look at the links on the first few pages.

Amanda427
03-13-07, 12:11 PM 03-13-07
This is so sad! I swear some people do need the shit kicked outta them!!