Happy Castle responds to parent's Stomp report about boy, 3, who went missing at indoor playground

Indoor kids playground Happy Castle has responded to an earlier report about Stomper ellyxz's three-year-old son going missing at the establishment in City Square Mall, at around 9pm on Feb 18.

In a previous Stomp article, ellyxz said that she had left her son and daughter at Happy Castle at around 8pm, while she and her husband went to shop for groceries with their two-month-old baby.

She was distraught after returning to find her son missing, after he left the premises unnoticed.

Fortunately, an announcement from the customer service counter informed her of the whereabouts of her child, whom she was later reunited with.

The Stomper expressed disappointment at Happy Castle's service and noted how there was only one employee around to watch so many children.

Happy Castle has responded to the incident and said:

"Thanks a lot for those who expressed concern about this issue. We feel very sorry that it happened in Happy Castle.

"The parents had left their children in the playground without any notice to the staff, who did not know that the parents were already gone.

"We are a playground and not a childcare centre. Our responsibility is to make sure that all the facilities are safe for children, but we do not take care of children without any notice.

"However, the parents left the playground without telling our staff that they would be leaving. If they had wanted us to take special care of their children, they should have at least told us, right?"

"Next, all adults go into the playground to accompany their children for free. Even when three to four adults accompany one child, we only charge the ticket fee for one child.

"We encourage all parents to enjoy their family time in the playground. The aim of Happy Castle is for kids to have fun and enjoy their childhood. There is no reason for parents to leave their children in the playground and blame our service.

"Furthermore, the parent said we only had one staff in the playground during peak hours, but the incident happened at around 8pm-9pm, which are not peak hours.

"Only eight kids were inside the playground and when all of them entered, they had the company of their parents, so we never knew that this kid's parents were gone.

"If the parents had told us that they would be leaving and asked the staff to specially focus on their child as well as show us which kids they are, I do not think this will happen.

"All our staff have undergone special training to handle kids.

"It cannot be denied that some parents would ask us for help in taking care of their child when they need to leave for a few minutes, but they would tell us which kids and our staff would tell them whether they are able to help, because sometimes only one or two kids are playing and the staff can manage.

"Happy Castle will strengthen measures and staff training to improve our management from this lesson, but we also hope all parents can share the responsibility to properly ensure that this does not happen again.

"Thank you."

* Stomp has edited the official response for clarity.