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Went down again today, lots of kids of all ages and parents down there. Had a great hour, bit of a chat to people. There were some 14ish aged kids that were playing alongside the younger one and although this isn't ideal, they weren't abusive in anyway. It is so hard to place exactly what the age of users should be. Sheli your experience sounds awful and my wife said she experienced some poor behaviour earlier today.
As I said I took my son (aged 3) ...for the second time of the day! And we actually had more problems with the young children there with their parents than with the teenagers, that were on the whole, quite courteous. I personally enjoy these spaces and one of the joys of having children is being able to go on things like this (aswell as dusting off the Hornby set) A boy claiming to be 15 (I have never met before) asked me what I thought of it and I replied "Good, I just hope that it is looked after" He then went on to say that he thought maybe he might be too old. I said that I wouldn't be bothered if everyone was as polite as him.
I find it very hard to make complete sense of the arrangement and do feel torn. Much as I would love for it to be the sole property of children of my son's age, I also appreciate that it is stimulating enough to entice older children (because it entices me!). I like seeing 15 year olds acting like children and although practically adults, they should be allowed to act in this way. Yes I told a teenager to pick up their rubbish and another for swearing, but thankfully didn't the negative response that Sheli did, largely due to the fact there were so many parents there. I did have one parent recklessly throwing their child up the zip-line, and another who seemed to actively encouraging their child to queue jump, which seemed to be sorted out with some mild sarcasm. These are the people we should target (easier said than done sometimes if the're massive of intimidating!) but hopefully in the large numbers of well behaved some of this can be suppressed. (ever the optimist on these matters)
I think I will go again in the morning.