Confession: I was one of "those parents" today

[cgorn]

This didn't happen at WDW, but I knew you all would be the proper audience to either absolve or scold me, whichever you feel I deserve ;-)

At Sesame Place this afternoon, we were told that Abby Cadabby, our DD's favorite Sesame Street character, was not going to be in any greeting areas. My daughter is only 22 months old, but we had been telling her for two days that we were going to see Abby today, to the point where she was excited about going.

Later in the afternoon, we find out she'll be at the main character area (123 Smile With Me) at 3:30 after all. At this point we've been at SP for over 5 hours, and our DD hadn't napped despite our best efforts (finding quiet areas, pushing her in her reclined stroller, not pushing her, holding her, etc). Also, there's a parade at 4PM, and my wife was invited to a special pre-parade character meet & greet by virtue of us buying an annual pass. Abby was not going to be at that meet & greet, and the park closes at 5. This was going to be our only shot to fulfill our promise.

We arrive at 123 Smile With Me promptly at 3:30. Where Abby should be is a poor representation of Big Bird. We wait. BB says good-bye a few minutes later, and we're staring at a blank area.

All the while, my daughter is wriggling around in my arms. I put her down once or twice, but she ran to the other side of the attraction where Elmo would normally be. He too was MIA. So I had to hold her to keep her away from the line of people waiting for Elmo.

Here's the bad part. She started screaming. She was screaming and crying, that loud, uncontrollable, whole-body scream almost to the point of sickness. It's 3:37, and still no Abby. But we promised, and we were promised. I told my wife we'd wait until 3:40. But I knew right now my poor kid was indeed *not* having a good time. But I knew, or I hoped, that when Abby came out she'd be fine.

After the longest 60 seconds of my life, Abby came out at 3:38. My DD stopped crying immediately and approached Abby, tentatively, and eventually smiled, laughed, played with her wand, etc. and we had a really nice moment.

So even though to anyone else I must have looked like a terrible father -- letting my child scream her fool head off just to meet a big pink fairy -- in the end, I knew what the remedy was, and if Abby *never* came out, well, I had set a time limit so I wasn't going to let it go too far anyway.

To all the parents out there who don't understand why someone would let their child scream like she's being murdered just to get a photo -- and believe me, I am in that camp -- I apologize, but I now understand the mentality a little bit.

See you all in WDW in December! ;-) Thanks for listening!!

P.S. My wife made the Meet & Greet, but only for a few minutes. My daughter liked the Count and was afraid of Bert.

[KellyNY]

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

awww I am glad it worked out!!! Poor thing was probably tired and hot, but I guess Abby has powers in that wand of hers!!! :O)

[Mrs. Charming]

Hey, no flames here. As parents of two year old little girls, we gotta do what we gotta do. We're Abby fans in this household, so I totally understand.

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

If you had let her keep screaming on and on for several minutes, I'm sure all those around you would have been incredibly annoyed. However, as a parent of a toddler who has recently screamed bloody murder in public, I totally understand these things happen. I'm sure other parents do too. If not, well, too bad for them.

[JoMarie]

No flames here! I just wanted to say that I'm extremely jealous that you were at Sesame Place! I was just there in August and went on that Ducky ride 12 times. And Grover's rollercoaster 5 times. Yes, I am an adult- just one that loves Big Bird.

[DizzDoll]

So even though to anyone else I must have looked like a terrible father -- letting my child scream her fool head off just to meet a big pink fairy -- in the end, I knew what the remedy was, and if Abby *never* came out, well, I had set a time limit so I wasn't going to let it go too far anyway.


This is the paragraph that sums the whole thing up - you're realistic about how far to let your little one carry on. Good for you. No flames.

[MareSINY]

I'm surprised Sesame Place is still open, isn't it getting a bit chilly for water rides?

And I think you did the right thing too. Sometimes the kids just don't realize that we really ARE doing it for them! LOL

[tzuhouse]

I'm so glad she finally came out. I think as parents, we know our children better than anyone, and there are times when a stranger feels like we might be harsh, when in fact we are helping the child.

I know on our first trip to WDW, my oldest, who was 6 at the time, was terrified of almost everything. We had to drag him on Star Tours, which he loved once he was in there and did it many times over, by request.

The next day we were at MK and his little brother wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain because it was a train. We had never been on it before but it didn't look too bad so we decided to go. Oldest was crying, clutching the bars in the que, etc. We have always told them that if it's really scary, we won't even attempt to make them go, but if we feel like it's something they'll love if they give it a chance, they need to try it one time.

We got him on it and as soon as the thing took off, the youngest one, that had requested to go, threw his head in my lap and cried the entire ride. The older one got off exhilarated and has loved any and every roller coaster, ever since. Even ones I wouldn't want to ride. If I had let him cry and not try it, he would still be scared of everything. Now, he'll try anything once and generally, he loves it.

I'm sure there were many whispers and stares at us that day and I guess if I saw someone forcing their child on BTM and hadn't been through what we have, I would judge also. But experiences make the difference and my son, now 10, tells us thank you for forcing him on it because he grew up on that ride and would have missed many great coasters if we had allowed him to continue being scared. I guess we were very lucky that he didn't come off completely traumatized, but it was a lesson for both of them that if you don't try it, you have no idea if you'll like it or not.

Mary

[MrsSpratt]

Disclaimer: I am not blessed with children yet.

Good parenting. All around.

A) Your number one concern was fulfilling the promise you made to your daughter. When my DB was explaining to the Littlest Princess (DN) that she was going to meet Tinkerbelle (at 2.5, that was the only way she could "get" going to WDW) she was very excited ABOUT THAT. "When do I meet Tink?" daily - thank goodness it was a last minute trip!

Point being - she was excited about meeting Abby, and you were doing your darndest to make that happen.

B) You planned really, really well...you tried for napping (HARD!)

C) She probably still talks about meeting Abby.

I have seen parents "let their kid" have a tantrum and been revolted; more often than not, I see parents doing their best and sometimes, a tantrum is involved in that best. No harm, no foul, just a toddler being a toddler.

So good job, good parenting, awesome exit strategy -

Thanks for the tips!

Mrs.Spratt (hoping for a toddler in 2015.)

[cgorn]

Thanks, all! I feel much better.

To answer MareSINY's question, Sesame Place is opened weekends through the end of October. Yesterday it happened to be plenty warm for water rides (high of 75, but quite sunny), but I imagine in October, they'll have closed them off. I'm sure I'll find out.

And for tzuhouse -- that's good to know as well. We struggle with getting our little one down a sliding board. She will walk to the edge, look down, and say "no." If you ask her again, she says, "no no no no no." But if I sit her on the slope of the slide so she has no choice but to go down, she loves it. Finally, she's starting to go down on her own. Not 100% of the time, but we're getting there.

And by the way, Sesame Place is certainly no Magic Kingdom, but they do have some great spots for toddlers. The best is the simplest of ideas: It's a large inflated vinyl surface (like a moonbounce, but not at all bouncy so a kid can actually walk on it) with several foam blocks to play with. That's it. No characters, no whimsy, no frills. And it's completely shaded. She could probably spend 5 hours there if we let her. When we go to WDW in December, I know there are a few toddler play areas, but I'm not sure she'll have the freedom to run around and unwind that she does in this one area of SP. I've looked at pictures of Pooh's thoughtful spot, and that might keep her busy for a few minutes.

Thanks, everyone!

[erincon23]

I too had one of those kids who refused to try anything even if I knew he would enjoy it. When he was 4 or 5, he really wanted to do gymnastics. We checked out a couple of places in the area, and selected one that had a boys only class. The first class period, he REFUSED to go out on the floor. He cried, he threw himself to the ground... I picked him up and delivered him to the coach. Boy, did I get nasty looks! But what was I supposed to do, give in to him and lose my fee? And within 5 minutes, he had settled down and had a great time. I've had to do that more than once with this one (he's now almost 14, and will try things within reason, that's all I ask). You do what you have to do. Kids cry, they scream -- if you're a concerned parent, watching out for your child, letting them get it out for a reasonable amount of time and then stepping in to set some limits, that's the way to go. What are you supposed to do, give them no ability to express their frustration? As they get older, they learn to express that in an appropriate manner, but at 22 months, her tantrum did seem appropriate. And so did your behavior.

Erin

[2greatkids]

Hi! We were actually at Sesame Place on Saturday and my DD who is 21 months was the same way!! She is totally obsessed with the characters and had sesame overload. While in line waiting to see them she would scream, shake and yell their name. I hated to be "that parent" with the screaming child. I am actually worried that when we go to Disney next week she will be wondering where Elmo is when she sees Mickey.

[RyeCrimsonMoon]

As someone who doesn't have kids, I don't see anything wrong with it. Walking into a theme park (especially one like sesame place, made for children), I expect to hear at least 5 kids crying and screaming bloody murder. Something is wrong if there isn't any lol

And none of those parents can scowl and consider you a bad parent, their kid just did the same thing 20 minutes ago.