Good Points: Private locking door feeding room. Big main room. Armchairs and side tables in the private feeding room. Loads of bench space. Separate sinks for food prep and hand washing. Microwave. Nappy bins. Nappy change mats. Additional powerpoints. Soap and paper towel. Locking door to Parent Room.
Bad Points: Marked, worn and dirty furniture and walls. No extra powerpoints in the feeding room. Old wooden square playpen in main room with nothing in it. Nappy bins stored away from the nappy change bench. Change mats move around on the bench (not built-in). Main door too narrow for a double side-by-side pram. No toilets.
I finally got around to checking out the Myer Castle Towers Parent Room recently. I’d heard from different people in the past it was meant to be great, so my hopes were fairly high but quickly fell through the floor when my little one and I walked in.
The Parent Room is located on the far right wall of Level 3, between the boys and girls tweens/toddler clothing section. There’s a bit of signage hanging from the ceiling when you first enter the floor, but if you miss it then just head to the kids clothing on the right hand side of the floor.
The door of the Parent Room can be locked from the inside, so if it’s closed when you find it, try opening it. But if it’s locked, head to one of the other Parent Rooms in the Towers. For anyone with a double side-by-side pram, it might be a struggle/impossible task getting the pram inside.
The main room is pretty spacious, but it’s bland, old, worn and dirty. There’s two armchairs in here, in case the private feeding room is occupied, but they are so marked and dirty. It’s just not a clean feeling environment. Absolutely nothing has been done to give other children some distraction/entertainment while your looking after the littlest ones. A plain square wooden play pen is all that’s available for kids in terms of play equipment. What a joke.
Some good features of the room are the microwave, separate sinks for food prep and hand washing, and loads of bench space. The food prep bench and nappy change bench are on opposite sides of the room, which is good for hygiene. Sadly though, bins for both benches are not really within easy reach. The regular rubbish bin is next to the main doorway. The nappy bins are on either side of the sink, rather than tucked underneath the nappy change bench. There’s loads of room under the bench for the bins, so they really would be much better placed under there.
The change bench itself is only ok. It has two vinyl change mats, which move about if you haven’t got a firm grip on them. It’d be much better for mum and bub if the change mats were attached to the bench.
The private feeding room is very big, which is lovely. It has three armchairs, each with a side table. The room is also marked, dirty and worn, like the main room. There aren’t any additional powerpoints in here, although this would be the best place for them. You could fit a couple of prams in here, so if you’re not too shy then it’s a good space to share with other mums and bubs. Next to the size of the room, the best feature would be being able to lock the door from the inside. Most mums want privacy when feeding their babies, and also like to feel safe and secure. Curtains don’t provide that, and neither do toilet-stall style feeding cubicles. This private feeding room is great for giving mums and bubs the privacy they need when feeding or just having a rest.
Obviously, maintaining the Parent Room is not high on the priority list for Myers. Although if they do put some time, attention and money into it, they might find more mums happy to stay there and shop. There are cleaner Parent Rooms throughout Castle Towers, even on the same floor. And most of the others also have adult and child toilets in them. This is another let down with this Parent Room. It doesn’t have a toilet. If your little one is learning to use the toilet, or just needs one that is their size, then definitely head to one of the other Parent Rooms in the Towers.