Best and Worst Parent's Rooms.

[Milly]

Hello there all!

I have been reading a few threads on Parent's Rooms and it got me thinking...What would be the best and the worst parent's rooms you have been into and why?

Best Parent's Rooms I have found are (that come to mind this moment)
Westfield Indooroopilly & Chermside. (clean with private feeding rooms, ergonomic change mats and lots of space during busy times, TV for long feeds in main area)
Carindale Shopping Centre. (nice and colourful, TV for long feeds, Not a private feeding room, but still comfy)
Myer's Brookside. (Large and clean with some privacy)

Worst Parent's Rooms:
Caloundra Bus Station :eek: Not even a safe place. We went in and walked straight back out. Appalling.
Myer Centre Brisbane City out in the main complex (not the actual Myer's one) (not clean, graffiti in children's toilet, generally untidy)

So, what are your best and worst & what makes them so? :D

[diamonds22]

yay a good note about Westfield Chermside!! :smiliedance: (lol finally...i know everyone hates the parking there! but its the councils fault) anyway I'm going to pass it onto my hubby hes a high executive in Centre Management there...lol I always tell him what the girls say on bub hub about the parents rooms, parking ect!

[Nickster]

I have to agree, Westfield Chermside has an awesome parent's room - lots of cubicles, and very clean. Carindale has a few goodies too, particularly the one near Rockman's, and the Myer at Carindale has a very good one. Capalaba Park has a good one - lots of cubicles, and a fenced off play area for toddlers. Yay!

As for the bad ones -
there are too many to mention. One of the worst was at a certain speedy pasta restaurant (not naming names, but you can guess :rolleyes: ), where I was told "yes there's a change table in there", only to be confronted with a 20cm wide SHELF. Who's going to put their baby on that????!!!!:eek:

[veve]

hmm two great ones -

Carindale Westfield (behind kleins... down the walkway)

and Garden City Shopping Centre- behind the Kings jewellers - top floor...

both have tvs... and fairly comfy chairs ( I dont use private rooms for feeding... cant see the tv :D ) - they are generous in size too...

Grand Plaza is ok (near Bakers Delight) - at least it has a toilet that fits you AND your pram --- major need for all parents!!!

haven't seen any REALLY dodgey ones yet - I will certainly post if I do!!!

xxx

[My3kids]

My children are draw to toilets when we are in the middle of shopping they need to go! So some fav's are, Indro, garden city, toowong, Carindale. Localy Mt Ommaney isn't to bad, never seem to be busy the one ner the post office. Redbank plaza seems to have one on every level, they seem to be clean all the time.

Ipswich mall I must say if the worst we went to a movie down there and there the worst I've seen I made my children stand not sit or touch.

[mum2littleman]

robina is nice -

and the worst not sure where i was{ cant remember} but i walked in and there was poo left over the change bench, bins where full - nothing else would fit in the toliets were a mess and the room was small no microwave and it stunk - i walked out and decided to change luke in his prame and fed him on a seat in one of the shops kinda sad that i had to go ask a coffee shop to heat his bottle as there was no other way..

:eek:


_________
:ecomcity: louise20
:thumbsup: lukey 4months

[SassyMummy]

I really like the ones at Indooroopilly, Garden City, Queen's Plaza (The new plaza on the Queen St Mall) and Pacific Fair at the Gold Coast. I also don't mind the ones in Myer stores...they're so handy to have one in a store.

I don't know what the worst are - but I really hate small ones with room for only one pram...and one's which have toilets that don't fit prams...so annoying! I usually just use the disabled toilet if that's the case...

[maydr]

i also love the one at Queens Plaza in Queen St but not so much of the one in Brisbane Convention Center at Southbank because its so small.

[*Chels*]

:yelclap: yea,robina is so nice and big with comfy chairs!
i hate going into ones that are the size of a shoebox and have one crappy uncomfortable chair!!they suck!!

[sharvs]

I just have a worst:

Muswellbrook Marketplace. It is pathetic. I only changed DS there once but I immediately wanted to go & disinfect him.

[Maghan]

K'mart Plaza at Arana Hills (Brisbane) is disgusting. You can hardly manouvre a pram in there, let alone yourself, bub and quick two year old.

[jaimie]

Northlakes westfield are pretty nice. Ezcept we had an 'incident' there with an elderly lady not so long ago:confused: dont ask me what she was doing in the frigging parents room. ..its not a grandparents room:banghead:

(unless they have the grandkiddies with them of course:) )

[our little treasures]

Westfield fountain gate are really good here in Victoria!! They have around 4 and they are all good for different reasons. They have a large one that has lots of cubicles a play area tv and toilet (great for feed times with baby toddler can run around) another with no toilet with one chair for you to sit and feed baby peacefully my other fav is the one with a toilet and cubicle (so I can put toddler on toilet then feed baby while tot watches tv)!! I am so relaxed when going to the shops because I know if baby needs sleep and won't go down then I can take him into the "quiet" parents room and sing him to sleep!!

Gee I sound like I am advertising them!! :laughing:

[Meg77]

I agree also about Chermside - its really convenient and the location is great too! Kippa Ring Shopping centre is really comfortable too. Strathpine is ok but really cramped. I didn't know that Myer stores have their own parents rooms! Do they all have them? I have actually rushed out of Myer to find a parents room when baby gets upset. If only I had known!

I would love to find a list of places that have parents rooms so that when you are out you can quickly locate one. Does anyone know of where I can find info like that?

[tupper_lady]

Stafford city shopping centre still has those crud old fashioned doors that you have to struggle with to get your pram in and then there is no room to turn it around and heaven forbid if two mothers need to change or feed simultanously, just wouldnt happen. I have written four letters to the centre manangement about this problem over a period of almost 3 years with no response.

Thumbs up for Chermside though.

[Oscar's mum]

K'mart Plaza at Arana Hills (Brisbane) is disgusting. You can hardly manouvre a pram in there, let alone yourself, bub and quick two year old.


:laughing: Welcome to my local parents room, it sucks dosn't it! The part that really annoys me the most about that Parent's Room is they have a toilet in there but you have to leave bub and the pram outside the cubicle!:banghead: That seems like a stupid idea to me!

[FourAngelKisses]

There are no parenting rooms at all in the town where I live, which peeves me off if I go for a walk and need one. Changing a baby in a narrow pram while he's kicking and wiggling isn't much fun.

There are 2 in Bathurst, both of which totally suck. One just has a bench and sink and maybe 1 chair (can't remember if it's one or 2) that is basically a dining chair. It's a rather dirty looking room too.

The other one is hard to get too. You walk up this narrow walkway and there is a heavy door on the righ hand side once you reach the end. If you have twins, tough luck, you wont get in there with either a limo pram or side by side pram. Trying to hold open a heavy door while pushing a pram around a corner is very difficult. There is 1 cubicle for breastfeeding, a room with an adult and childs toilet that looks like it has never seen a mop. A bench, a sink and a change table. It always smells in there when I go in there, so I just change Matthew in the car now.

I'd love to see these nice parents rooms that you guys are talking about, they sound like heaven.

[juliek]

I agree with tupper lady, Stafford is the pits, I had to use the disabled toilet because I refuse to leave bubs outside and if they can put an automatic door on the disabled toilet, why can't they put one on the parents room too. :confused:

Sunshine Plaza has some really good parents rooms and the ones at DFO were really nice too, they even have leather rocking recliners. :D

[tupper_lady]

I agree with tupper lady, Stafford is the pits, I had to use the disabled toilet because I refuse to leave bubs outside and if they can put an automatic door on the disabled toilet, why can't they put one on the parents room too. :confused:

Sunshine Plaza has some really good parents rooms and the ones at DFO were really nice too, they even have leather rocking recliners. :D


There is a petition going around at the moment at Stafford to get management to improve their baby change rooms and about time, lets just hope they take notice.

[mum33]

the worst...centro bankstown. just bigger than a toilet cubicle. only has small couch chair, change table, microwave. is that the only one? i havent looked for a second coz thats not really good enough for a parents room.

the best....centro roselands. lots of couches to site on. discreet breastfeeding area (although i dont breastfeed), plenty of change tables, big toilet which would probably fit (from memory) a pram inside.

burwood westfields is also good.

[OscarTheGrouch]

Chatswood Chase on the north shore have the best parents room that I've come across. Really quite luxurious.:thumbsup:

[Oscar's mum]

There is a petition going around at the moment at Stafford to get management to improve their baby change rooms and about time, lets just hope they take notice.


I actually don't mind Stafford City's parents room it is quite luxurious in comparison to Arana Hills K-mart Plaza~;)

[IAdoreYou]

Indooroopilly is my fav. Springfield Fair have a cool new little one now as well!

[tru]

Best Shopping Centre: Mt Ommaney (they have a big tv :D)

Best Service Station: the 2 big BP's at Caboolture on the highway

Worst Shopping Centre: Booval - it's too small and a couple of times I've been in there it stank so bad I couldn't stay in there to feed.

[abibelsmum]

I like the ones at Macquarie Centre, Rhodes and Parramatta Westfield (near Borders).

Usually Myers ones need a good clean or just some airfreshener.

I hate the one in the QVB downstairs near Victoria's Basement.

I also hate it when parents don't clean up after their child has used the toilet.

[aquarius]

yeh the carindale ones r gr8. the ones at logan hyperdome are good too but NOT the parents room in the myer store at the logan hyperdome, it was vile the day that i went there - smelly, dirty fold-down change table, dirty floor, and there's not even a door so anyone walking past doing their shopping can look in and see you breastfeeding or changing bub's nappy. and they have the nerve to put up a sign in there saying 'these facilities are provided by myer for your convenience so please leave them in the condition you found them in' - ok that would be filthy and smelly!!! i rang the store to complain and they told me to write an email thru the myer website so i did but no response surprise surprise!

[bel84]

mothers room at Robina Town Centre, on Gold Coast:thumbsup: very comfy lounges and very clean

[nemosmum]

BEST~

Westfields Miranda, Clean, roomy, bright and fun with leather couches, TV, private area for feeding, parents/childrens combined toilets with room for prams, older childrens play area with gate fab fab fabulous!


WORST~

Almost every DJ's ive ever been to in sydney they are gross

BUT the worst so far is Macarthur Square it smells sooooo very bad and its pretty surreal

You walk from the ambience of the DJ store, calm music and perfumed air lol to this yucky ucky smelly dingy lil room its gross!
The bad bit is its pretty much brand new facility so no excuses DJ's :shame:

[Emma 80]

K'mart Plaza at Arana Hills (Brisbane) is disgusting. You can hardly manouvre a pram in there, let alone yourself, bub and quick two year old.


:laughing: Welcome to my local parents room, it sucks dosn't it! The part that really annoys me the most about that Parent's Room is they have a toilet in there but you have to leave bub and the pram outside the cubicle!:banghead: That seems like a stupid idea to me!
That is a very appalling change room. I badly needed to go to the toilet, and so I had to leave DS outside in the change room but I kept the toilet door open. So lucky no one else was in there...not that they would have been able to fit.

[Susan Mac]

I couldn't believe the parents room at Chermside when we went in there when down in Brisbane at Christmas time. My husband thought it was fantastic - they were showing the cricket on the tv!!!

At Castletown in Townsville the parents room is the best one in town. There is no door to negotiate. The toilet fits a pram/trolley in it. But it's a bit hard to get round to the chairs to feed in. But i'm never over that side of town. The parents rooms anywhere I normally go are useless. Hard to open the doors, can't go to the toilet, don't have decent change tables, nowhere comfortable to sit if you need to feed.
I avoid using parents rooms unless there is poo. I use the disabled if I have to go to the loo because they are usually easier to get into (and you can take the pram in with you...) .
If we are out long enough that I need to feed while I'm out it usually means I'm with someone such as my husband and we go and have a coffee and I feed there.

[lovebeingamum!]

anyone gonna say the Gladstone's Kin Kora one sucks?? Tara? Erin?? :laughing:

It's pathetic, so's the shopping centre, but it's just ****. I nearly cry when i go to brissy and see thy're lubly mums rooms... like a penthouse compared to our.. sob

good thing is though they installed an auto door not long ago... beats trying to wrestle over the trolly/pram to get the door open... yeah, that was a bright idea!!

[Lipsmacker01]

Westfield fountain gate are really good here in Victoria!! They have around 4 and they are all good for different reasons. They have a large one that has lots of cubicles a play area tv and toilet (great for feed times with baby toddler can run around) another with no toilet with one chair for you to sit and feed baby peacefully my other fav is the one with a toilet and cubicle (so I can put toddler on toilet then feed baby while tot watches tv)!! I am so relaxed when going to the shops because I know if baby needs sleep and won't go down then I can take him into the "quiet" parents room and sing him to sleep!!

Gee I sound like I am advertising them!! :laughing:


Yep I agree with u on that large parents room at fountain gate!
I used it for the first time with DD#1 and it was huge!! My little girl loves the tv's hanging off the ceilings :). Ive only been to 2 of them so Im not speaking from experience however this one had very wide benches, lots of extra wide paper towel dispensers for bubs. I use them but still bring my own towels just in case! Bit of a germ freak LOL! It had playroom!! with strong plastic toy equipment for kids to play on, 3 clean cubicles, microwaves, a toilet and extra seating. Hidden drawers for dumping nappies. Gorgeous farm animal tiles and artwork- What more could you ask for? Ive been to the smaller one at F.Gate near cinemas and its tiny. Still looked clean though compared to some things Ive read on these threads! I was a bit wary of going to them for the first time esp after that molesting case recently :eek: and would be in and out of the shops in a hurry but I was definitely impressed. With the hugely young population, the City of Casey needs more of them!!

Only thing that puts me off is screaming mothers yelling obscenities at their kids, telling them off for misbehaving while I'm hiding behind cubicles trying to quietly breastfeed my newborn. Not pleasant at all. Its quit disgusting actually. Surely theres other ways.
Id like to know what others think of this.
Apart from this, a great experience:thumbsup:

[hayleysmummy]

Yep Robina Town Centre has to be the best 4 me huge area and microwave also a bottle warmer theres 2 big change rooms and two toilets each toilet has a big seat for mummy and a little one next to it for bub they also have scales to weigh your bub at a cost of $1 and a little play area for the older kids

[charlen49]

Yep Robina Town Centre has to be the best 4 me huge area and microwave also a bottle warmer theres 2 big change rooms and two toilets each toilet has a big seat for mummy and a little one next to it for bub they also have scales to weigh your bub at a cost of $1 and a little play area for the older kids
ive been in ones with toddler play areas etc...but scales! scales! wow what a great idea!

[filmgirlgail]

Yep Indooroopilly by the Food Court is nice, as is the Myer one there too with comfy seats, microwave and a gated play area so the littel ones can't escape