KidZania — Attraction in Rai

KidZania Kuwait have inexcusably managed to impose a crass framework of injustice and sexist discrimination amongst children. In so doing, you have succeeded in supporting and nurturing inequality in young children, and for this I hold them entirely accountable. Suffice to say, they will never receive another penny from my family (not that they care); however, I will provide the following information so that others may see what a pathetic organisation they have become in Kuwait.

I have raised my daughter to understand that she has exactly the same rights as anyone else and, as is important in this case, that her gender has zero bearing in the justification of equality. One of the reasons we chose to come to Kuwait is because the country and its leadership clearly promote equality amongst its people and the hosted expatriate communities.

The latest #SpiritOfKuwait campaign launched in the first week of May 2017 highlighted the importance of Article 29; “Kuwait, Article 29: Religion, Equality and Freedom: 1) All people are equal in human dignity and in public rights and duties before the law, without distinction to race, origin, language, or religion. 2) Personal liberty is guaranteed.” (Kuwait Times, 2017)

My daughter attended KidZania Kuwait with a group of her school friends. They were so excited and the opportunity to create positive childhood memories was one which they all looked forward to. Having arrived at the facility in the Avenues Mall, KidZania Kuwait decided it was appropriate to tell a group of 10 year old girls that they could not scale the climbing wall, because their shorts were too short…

For starters, the girls were wearing exactly the same conventional sports shorts the boys were wearing. In fact, they were all dressed uniformly. Interestingly enough, KidZania Kuwait didn’t hesitate to strap one of the boys into his harness; a point which will become apparent shortly. My daughter questioned the rule to disallow girls onto the climbing wall, and the response from the attending member of staff was that they would have to wear leggings due to the fact that failing to do so would expose their underwear to passers-by (aka other children, because as far as I am aware adults have no business looking at other children's 'personal belongings'). The boy in the harness came over and immediately demonstrated that the harness he was wearing in preparation for the climbing wall could in fact just as easily expose his underwear; therefore, he did not understand why there was one rule for girls and one rule for boys.

KidZania Kuwait states that; “...The various playful activities of KidZania are specifically designed to aid physical and intellectual growth, and contribute to the development of skills and attitudes” (Kidzania Kuwait, 2017).

Their Instagram account then goes further to state that; “KidZania is an award-winning concept that is globally recognized for its unique blend of entertainment and education - edutainment.” (Kidzania, 2017)

The children actually walked away as a collective, when one of the girls who was wearing leggings went back to ask if she could climb the wall, to which your member of staff said; "Yes." The same girl then walked away, changed her hair style and raised the leggings to just above her knee. Upon her 2nd attempt, your member of staff didn’t recognise her and told her that she could not climb as her leggings were too short (just above the knee).

Was the rule in order to prevent the girls’ underwear from showing (despite the boys facing the same risk), or was it because leggings (which don’t show underwear) were just above the knee, or was it because the same leggings (once well below the knee) were acceptable to use in the 1st place?

In closing, I would recommend KidZania Kuwait stops falling into the trap of blurring the definition of modesty with inequality.

There is common sense, and then there is...

It would have been 3 stars or 4 if the day was not ended with a disaster by the two administration members Lloyd and Waseem, we had a pleasant day the employees and trainees were nice and welcoming the kids, we went as a group so we had 5 kids running around safely. One of our kids finished his orange passport but it was very hard because so many of the attractions had lights on and seemed to be operating but no one was there to operate and the doors were locked (the employee said they had 27 OPEN attractions only) so it is impossible to finish one passport since they need 30 different stamps (or is that the goal? Not to finish in one day?) but this is not our first time in kidzania so the kids knew they had to collect the stamps, but they sent one employee to operate several attractions to let them play, not sure why it wasn’t working since they had so many trainees setting around. Fast forward, our kid went to get the upgrade and they called several employee to get the system working (we had the same issue in the morning they made the kid wait for so long to get his passport and had to call an IT) but the action started, Waseem couldn’t do the upgrade on the system and had to call another employee and it went on and on, they couldn’t do anything and the system seemed very old and slow, and then when Lloyd came he made a a new rule for Kidzania saying “you can only get an upgrade from the original Kidzania where the passport was issued “! This was a big joke cause we used and upgraded the kids passports in at least two different Kidzanias in different countries and the site states that clearly that the pazzport works in all of Kidzania branches around the world. And they were trying to Google the rule 🤣 We had a long big argument they clearly had no idea about the Kidzania rules and just wanted to get rid of us. The main thing is that it was heartbreaking for the kid to have him work for a goal through the whole day and then end it with a lie....

Within the bustling confines of a mall, the Kids Zone emerges as a vibrant haven designed specifically for the young ones, fostering an environment of play and exploration. This dedicated space is a colorful mosaic of creativity and amusement, where children can unleash their boundless energy.

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For parents, the Kids Zone offers a welcome respite during shopping excursions, providing a guilt-free opportunity to explore the mall while knowing their children are engaged in a supervised and enriching environment. Overall, the Kids Zone within a mall becomes a dynamic realm where fun, learning, and socialization converge to create lasting...