We heard recently about an incident at another spa, and we’re interested in having the conversation it brought up.
Apparently, a client came in for a mini-facial and brought along her infant, who is breastfed and needed to be with Momma. The spa has a policy that doesn’t allow unattended children under 12, and that includes a child with a client receiving a service and unable to tend to the child. The spa turned away this client.
This situation is complicated, right?
A new mom came in, excited to relax a bit. But she can’t be far away from her baby because of the feeding schedule. Maybe she tried but couldn’t find a babysitter, or maybe her sitter cancelled at the last minute and she didn’t have time to reschedule her appointment. It would certainly be frustrating and disappointing to not get the spa day you’d hoped for.
Many of us at Oasis are parents, and we can empathize with the frustration of feeling like the world we live in isn’t very accommodating to parents or children. Our society sometimes expects kids to act like adults, and expects parents to always be “on top of it” when it comes to managing their needs and behaviors. As fellow parents or aunts/uncles, we at Oasis know that kids are always kids — full of life and energy — and not so easily controlled, and certainly not “adult.” So we understand the client’s side in this situation.
But we also wanted to explore the spa’s side of the argument.
We are fortunate to never have had to turn away a client in a situation like this, and we try very hard to accommodate to our client’s needs, even the unusual or awkward situations. But we, too, have a policy about children posted on our FAQ page:
For your own relaxation and for the benefit of our other clients and service providers, we ask that children not come along unless they are receiving treatments themselves.
Here are some of the reasons a spa might have such a policy:
- The point of coming to the spa is to relax. It is not relaxing if you are worried about how your child is behaving or about meeting your child’s needs.
- Your child’s safety and well-being are important to us. If you bring a child into an esthetics room, for instance, there are many machines that are potentially dangerous. Of course, we would never want any harm to come to your child. Similarly, if you leave your child in the waiting area, the front-desk staff members have other duties and will not be able to give your child the supervision or attention they need.
- We have other clients who have come to the spa for the same reason you did: to relax. Even though you would try very hard to keep your child’s behavior in check, you can’t absolutely control it. And we don’t expect your child to act like an adult, to be sensitive to the situation and adjust their behavior and noise level, to be constantly content. We know too much about our own kids.
It is our job to take care of our clients. And that is what this policy is really about. While we would try very hard to come up with alternative solutions, we can definitely see both the side of the mom and the side of our fellow spa in this situation.
Weigh in: We want to know what you think!
