City Treehouse, Chelsea, NYC

Running late.  Again.  There was a time when NYCity Mama was early for everything.  But that was before she had two toddlers to run after at each stage of dressing.

Mama was getting ready to try a new indoor playground.  She was a bit skeptical of any place that would require a reservation and hourly fee to play. It seemed that there were a lot of places in NYC popping up like this and she wondered if this was going to be another one of these overly pretentious, somewhat exclusive children’s play area, catered to just a specific group of parents in the city.  She had her doubts, but did not want to form an opinion, before experiencing it herself.

She decided to visit City Treehouse because she had read several reviews, all noting how great it was. Plus from now till April 30th, they are offering a free playtime hour to first time visitors.

Mama’s biggest hurdle was trying to make it possible for a scatter brain like herself actually keep a scheduled playtime appointment. First she forgot what time she had scheduled it, almost immediately after having made the appointment online (she received confirmation via email that the time slot she requested was available, but not what that time slot was).  She called.  Ryan answered the phone, greeting in a polite and friendly voice.

“Hi. I have an appointment today.  I think it’s for 10:00AM.  Can you please confirm?” asked Mama waiting for the confirmation.

“Um…(pause)…” and Mama realized she hadn’t told him who she was.  ”Oh, of course, you need my name!”  

After providing him with the info he needed and vice versa, Mama hung up just grateful that he remained friendly the entire time. And she took note.

But they were still running late.  Mama decided that it doesn’t matter how close anything is to her, she must give herself an entire hour. Poor 3.5 year old jogged the entire way from the 23rd St and 8th Ave. station to their location on 20th and 6th!

They arrive, with Mama frazzled and sweating, expecting the worst because they were about 15 minutes late. “They’ll turn me away, after all, I’m not paying.” “I’ll have to plea for the next open time slot.” “Ok, no, they’ll just be rude.”

Though it may sound like Mama was being overly sensitive, turns out that she has found the adults at some kid friendly places aren’t friendly at all, not to adults, especially those running late.

The front area was busy, with parents and caretakers checking in for one class or another, and signing in for the play area. As Mama stood there catching her breath, she was greeted by Annie, who happily gave her paperwork to fill out, while Melissa checked her in.  No looks, comments, or attitude.  Mama relaxed.

After taking off their coats, shoes, and socks, they entered the play space. Their website states that if you want to “enjoy an area designed to calm, engage, and enrich” this is the place to come to. Mama suddenly appreciated the schedule, for she could see enough kids in the area to animate her boys into play, but not so many that it would give a sense of overwhelming, noisy chaos. Not only did this keep her kids calm, it also allowed for Mama to just sit and watch her boys happily play, even chat it up a bit with some other adults in the area.

Her boys couldn’t get enough of the water table.  It was spacious, clean, and colorful, inspiring the curiosity and imagination of her boys through the various interactive elements.

In and out, up and down the tree house they went.  Ryan was there, engaging the kids and helping them get comfortable with the space.  He is obviously beloved as you could hear, “Ryan! Ryan!” followed by laughter.

As the end of Mama’s free hour approached, she started wondering how she was going to get her kids out of there. They were having a blast!  Ryan gave her a few tips that he has seen work, Melissa offered stickers and hand stamps, and Ray, another wonderful staff member, offered help.

Mama was incredibly appreciative.  She headed to the front desk and paid for a membership for her two boys.  Yes, the place is awesome. Yes, the boys love it. Yes, it is clean, and engaging.  But the reason Mama signed up for a membership is because of how incredibly friendly and helpful everyone was to her.  As far as Mama is concerned, there are a lot of places out there that her boys will love and enjoy, but not that many that has a group of people to make her feel comfortable and at ease too.  Their list of classes is also impressive and they often have free events that one can take part in. 

And thank goodness they are so awesome, because of all of the kids leaving at the end of their playtime, it was Mama’s 3.5 year old who screamed the loudest, fought the hardest, and made the biggest scene.  So much so that when Mama later called because she had forgotten to pick up her contract from the front desk, Sydney, the owner, knew exactly whose Mama she was…but was really sweet about it too!

With Melissa promising him stickers and stamps, Mama was able to get her 3.5 year old dressed and out the door. He cried for a few seconds more as they walked down the street, but soon stopped and looked at Mama, tears still hanging from the corners of his eyes, “Mama, I wu-ove the water ‘wee’, sorry I was a bad boy. Can we go to water wee again?” (Wee = park )

Mama knelt down in front of him, “Do you promise to be a good boy and not scream and cry like that if we go again?”

“Yes Mama, I promise.” (She knows he’ll forget.)

“Ok, we will come back soon.”

“I wu-ove you, Mama.”  This was followed by a hug.

Train ride to playtime: $2.00

Membership for two at City Treehouse: $95.00

First hour of playtime experience: $0.00

Finding support and not being made to feel like crap when Jekyll and Hyde 3.5 year old throws the biggest tantrum ever displayed there, enough to make Mama want to come back: Priceless.

Thank you City Treehouse.  Turns out Mama too wu-oves you.

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Tags: kid friendly
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