Overall: Quite lovely. Nappy change, rest, feed, toilet. No microwave.
Good Points: Bright murals on the walls. Comfortable armchair for feeding. Water cooler. Quiet hand dryer. Paper towels. Sensor tap in middle of double change bench. Large nappy bins. Automatic door. Push buttons for the door mounted high on the wall. Adult and child size toilets. Sink, soap and hand dryer. Toilet paper dispenser. Touch flush toilets. Powerpoints next to the change bench.
Bad Points: No microwave. Automatic door swings open, so be careful with prams. Not really big enough for more than one pram. One toilet paper dispenser for two toilets.
This is one of the three parent rooms available at St Ives Shopping Village. It’s the biggest one and is the most modern. The room is located just down the hall from Centre Management (or ‘the principal’s office’ hehehe).
From the outside, it’s immediately promising. The frosted door has a big silver button high on the wall (away from little hands), and it opens automatically, slowly swinging inwards. This means you can get in and out of the room without having to keep one hand on the door while you use the other to push the pram inside.
The inside of the room is small yet lovely. The walls have a bright, colourful, fun mural on them, making it an immediately pleasant space to be in for both parents and children. In the corner to the right is a very comfortable armchair, which was tested and chosen to be ideal for feeding. We tested it on this visit, and it’s perfect. The armrests are just the right height for feeding, giving parents enough support without being too high. The water cooler (a nice touch!) is within arms reach of the chair too – very handy 🙂
Along the main wall is the double change bench. It’s not too high, and has a sink with a sensor tap in between the two change bays. This kind of tap is fabulous, as you don’t have to touch anything to activate it – no germs! There’s paper towel at the far end of the bench, just near the powerpoints (handy for those needing to express with an electric pump).
The nappy bins are along the wall adjacent to the change bench. They’re a decent size too. The plan was to have nappy bins in the cupboards underneath the bench, but this was ditched in favour of having larger bins against the wall rather than smaller bins. Fair compromise. We’d rather bigger bins than smaller overflowing bins in a cupboard.
On the left wall is the doorway to the toilets. There’s both adult and kid size toilets, which are touch flush (no tough buttons for little ones to press). It’s very clean in here, and the sink and soap are at a reasonable height for little ones to use. However, there’s only one toilet paper dispenser and it’s on the far wall next to the adult toilet. Not sure what little ones are meant to do. Wait for an adult to get the toilet paper for them? Hmmmm.
Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised with this room. It’s definitely the better of the three in the centre. Check it out and let us know what you think.
