I here a lot of people giving playpens a bad wrap. I have one and I think it is great. Not as a place to keep baby all the time, but when you need a quick, safe place to put the baby down they are great. What do other people think?

Our son, (second child 26 months younger than sister) loved his playpen and was in it a lot...he was in the center of all that was going on without the possiblity of getting hurt...I don't see the down side at all .... except of course keeping a child prisoner in one, and that isn't at all what they are intended for. I think they keep a child safe, much better than laying them on the floor while you run to the bath, etc.

I am really shocked at the play pen/play yards they have now. I remember mine was nothing that cute, or use friendly, I'm fairly certain its a good thing I was able to come out of it with all fingers attached. It had the side locks that were metal from the 70's and 80's, fun stuff.

My girl only made it for awhile in the bassinet part of it, but pack and plays now are so quick to pop up and pack up, its crazy. This one is my girls, and I can wheel it through the house when I am cleaning, and now since we have learned how to work it (did take abit at first) it can be popped up or broken down in less than a minute.

http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pTRU1-3857902reg.jpg

They have definitely come a long way since the ones with pressboard on the bottom that used to catch and squish baby's fingers when I had kids in the 80's. I never used them much, but when you need to use the bathroom or get dinner started they couldn't be topped. Now if you stick the kid in the play pen and put them in front of the TV all day thats bad, but a little time in them now and then isn't going to cause any damage.

We used our playpen a lot....but it was much bigger than todays models, we just left it up all the time....and put them in it throughout the day as needed....and the one my mom used with me! wow! you could about put a head thru the slats, it was solid wood!

I remember when my youngest brother was 1 and a half year old. They place him in a wooden play pen and he would try to climb out of it. Sometimes he would go over it by half his body but never would actually get out of it.

My little cousin is somewhat afraid of being placed in a play pen. I think he develop claustrophobia because he is just scared when we put him there.

My girl runs laps in heres, and when I say run I mean it, shes starting to move quicker without holding on anymore in there. The other evening she did a full lap w/o touching the sides at all. We didn't get it on video but it was still awesome. :)