Moritzhof Petting Farm — Attraction in Berlin

Not good. I went in with my seven year old daughter, I guess I broke a rule as I was asked to leave because I was an adult. I had intended to buy my kid a t-shirt, didn't even get a chance to ask.

Next, my daughter went in alone to ask about feeding the animals. She came out not even a minute later, in tears. Not cool. She never cries from just being told No! Whatever you said to her, it scared her.

And next time, don't follow a child out either. That's how you force a parent to get defensive.

As of August 5th.

Thank you for the reply.

I want to address the issue of being asked to leave. Let me be clear here, I have no problem per se with that, it is your place and your rules. However, I was not the only parent there and they did not seem to be asked to leave. But after that (seeming to be singled out from others) would anybody still wish to buy a T-shirt from this place?

Next, my Daughter returned to ask a question (she wanted to know when you feed the animals and if she could join) and was only inside your premises for a matter of seconds. Yet she returned to me in floods of tears! Not just a bit unhappy, but very, very upset and afraid. I know my child, this is not her normal reaction to disappointment, she's a sturdy little thing. This is the reason I became defensive; when the same guy whom not only asked us to leave but had brought my daughter to tears for only asking a question, followed her out. What would you do?

Yes, I reacted by telling him to shut up. But did he also tell you that it was after I had placed my daughter protectively behind my legs, held up my hand and told him to stay back? But he still came forward, so I backed away. Did he tell you that? Did he tell you that I repeatedly had to tell him (in both English and German) to stay back? Did he tell you that I backed away and left as quick as I could?

By the way, my Daughter's Mother and I asked her what happened two days after the event, and she still starts crying, telling us 'he was really rude and angry.'

Finally, why on Earth would I want to talk to you about this, you kicked me out and upset my kid. Are you crazy? And If I want to write an honest review here, I can. Don't try to turn this around and make out that I'm somehow in the wrong for not going all that way back to P'berg to talk to you. I live nowhere near Mitte and I also want this in public view- it is my honest perception of the events as they transpired and I want other parents to know what occurred.

Thank you again...

Today we (me, my partner, their sister and her 6year old child) visited this farm. Presumably due to the snow there were no animals out on the “public side” of the farm. I thought we could go in and ask what’s possible to see. While looking at the chickens and roosters, a young man told us that adults are not allowed inside. We asked what the options are and he said us that we had to come back on the family day. He didn’t invite our 6 year old to participate and so we had to explain to her that we had to leave. There was some resistance understandably because she wanted to see more of the animals and so it was taking us a few minutes. In that time, another employee (a woman with brown hair and blue eyes) came up to us aggressively, yelling at us to leave. We explained that her colleague had already told us and we were just coaxing our kid out and needed a few minutes. She then yelled at us and the child, telling us to leave NOW— scaring our kid. We asked why she would yell at us or at a young kid and she just got more angry and defensive. This behavior was unprovoked and extremely inappropriate. It is never acceptable to yell at a child. This woman and this place is obviously not a welcoming or safe place...

Ich wollte eigentlich mit meinem schwerstbehinderten Kind, das im Rollstuhl sitzt, die Moritz Farm besuchen, um ihr die Freude zu bereiten, die Tiere direkt zu erleben. Doch schon der Anruf, um vorab Informationen zu erhalten, war eine zutiefst enttäuschende Erfahrung.

Mein Anliegen war einfach: Ich wollte wissen, ob wir die Ziegen auch direkt streicheln könnten und wie der Zugang für Rollstuhlfahrer gestaltet ist. Doch die Mitarbeiterin am Telefon war von Beginn an belehrend und zeigte wenig bis gar kein Verständnis für unsere spezielle Situation. Statt hilfreicher Informationen erhielt ich eine lange Belehrung darüber, dass Kinder im Rollstuhl nur mit pflegenden Betreuern, nicht jedoch mit Eltern in den Streichzoo gelassen würden. Begründet wurde dies damit, dass Eltern ihre behinderten Kinder angeblich oft nicht im Griff hätten. Diese Aussage war ein riesiger Affront und hat mich tief verletzt.

Als ich freundlich darauf hinwies, dass solche Belehrungen zu einem Thema, das die Mitarbeiterin nicht einschätzen kann, sehr schmerzhaft sind, wurde ich weiter in einem belehrenden Tonfall abgefertigt. Besonders enttäuschend war, dass wir bereits viele Zoos besucht haben und daher sehr wohl einschätzen können, wie sich unser Kind verhält. Meine Versuche, zu erklären, wie oft wir als Familie mit einem behinderten Kind auf seltsame Ausreden oder Erklärungen stoßen, die uns das Leben unnötig schwer machen, wurden mit den Worten „Das denke ich nicht, dass Sie das oft erleben“ einfach abgetan.

Ich verstehe, dass Sicherheit und bestimmte Voraussetzungen für Rollstuhlfahrer wichtig sind. Doch das übergriffige und empathielose Telefonat hat mir – wie so oft – die Tränen in die Augen getrieben. Es wäre so schön, in einer Welt zu leben, in der man nicht ständig kämpfen muss, sondern in der gesunde Menschen versuchen, uns einen Schritt entgegenzukommen, anstatt uns mit Unverständnis und Vorurteilen zu begegnen.

Dieser Vorfall hat mir leider jegliche Freude auf den geplanten Besuch genommen, und ich hoffe, dass das Personal der Moritz Farm in Zukunft sensibler und mit mehr Verständnis auf die Bedürfnisse von Familien mit behinderten...