Parents, Please Control your Children

[piccolopat]

If kids can't be kids in Disney World, I'm not sure where they can be. I'm not suggesting that just anything goes, obviously, but I try really hard not to judge other families. I know with 100% certainty that there are times that my family must look like a complete disaster, and I hope people can be understanding of it. Just my take.

IMHO, there's a difference between kids being kids and kids being undisciplined, obnoxious brats.

 

[HM]

I got knocked over by a kid once. I'd forgotten all about that. This little boy was running through Fantasyland and when he started coming our way, I tried to avoid him but he swerved right where I was trying to get out of his way. In order to not knock him over, I went over on my rear side. His parents were fairly apologetic because I was the one on the ground with their kid standing over me, but you could tell they had no idea what had happened by the time they got over to us and they were actually thinking they should be angry with me. My DD had to pull me off the ground. The kid just looked stunned.

 

[starjazz]

IMHO, there's a difference between kids being kids and kids being undisciplined, obnoxious brats.

Lol - name calling is a perfect example of proper discipline....imho.

 

[Pkltm]

If kids can't be kids in Disney World, I'm not sure where they can be. I'm not suggesting that just anything goes, obviously, but I try really hard not to judge other families. I know with 100% certainty that there are times that my family must look like a complete disaster, and I hope people can be understanding of it. Just my take.

Although you may think your family looks like a disaster, I am sure that you as a parent would not allow them to interfere with a performance or steal from a fountain. Kids can be kids at WDW, heck we all can but you still have to have consideration for other people and your surroundings. We have had a few issues with rude or poorly behaved adults and kids, we hope that we or our children never made other people's vacation awkward or uncomfortable.

I did not see any security. And to be honest, I didn't think it was an issue for security. It was a time for good parenting. I believe that parenting does not take a vacation. Growing, learning is a continuous process and parenting is also. As a child matures and develops, they need less and less guidance, since they would have learned such things while growing up (with proper guidance and direction). It is so unfair to the child when the parents put that responsibility on their sons and daughters.

I used to work at a very popular children's retail teddy bear store, sadly poor parenting is not just at wdw, the number of times I felt like I was losing my faith in humans was crazy. I was actually asked by a parent before her child's party started to ensure that the word "no" was never used, as she did not want the kids to get a negative self esteem, but keep them on budget.

 

[OZMom]

It really does amaze me how many "parenting experts" out there now will just keep pushing the time outs as if it is the only possible discipline method. I am also amazed that so many people think there must always be a reason for the poor behavior. Oh my DD is defiant because she doesn't feel like she can control anything or my DS just has lots of energy and needs to be allowed to run around the table in the restaurant, etc. Sometimes, kids just act up because they know they can. In fact, I would venture to say that more often than not kids act up because they know they can get away with it. I'm not saying there aren't kids with genuine behavior problems, of course there are, but let's be real, too many parents have totally checked out of parenting, won't discipline, and are more interested in making sure their kid is happy all the time than in actually parenting.

Kind of like the "parenting experts" who insist all children who aren't spanked are "undisciplined". Just because someone doesn't subscribe to corporal punishment when raising their kids, doesn't mean the children are destined to be to be criminals. Just like there are lots of kids who are spanked and still act obnoxious. I am sure there were plenty of unruly children in generations past as well, and just as many "parenting experts" sitting around talking about what they do right and everyone else does wrong.

 

[starjazz]

Although you may think your family looks like a disaster, I am sure that you as a parent would not allow them to interfere with a performance or steal from a fountain. Kids can be kids at WDW, heck we all can but you still have to have consideration for other people and your surroundings. We have had a few issues with rude or poorly behaved adults and kids, we hope that we or our children never made other people's vacation awkward or uncomfortable.

You're correct - I wouldn't want my kid to make anyone's vacation awkward, and I'd do my best to avoid it. Stealing from a fountain, I might not catch at first. If I saw it, I'd make them put the change back. And I'd probably ask them to add some of their own change as a consequence.

As far as the piano, if the performer didn't have an issue, I might allow them to enjoy the duet for a bit. My kids are often at my sister's house, where she performs on her piano for them quite often. She frequently asks them to join her. Its not music to my ears, but its fun for my sister and my kids, and they're getting interested in music and instruments. So my kids might think it was totally acceptable to "perform" with the guy at Coke Corner.

If those things make me a bad parent, so be it.

 

[Turn the Page]

Kind of like the "parenting experts" who insist all children who aren't spanked are "undisciplined". Just because someone doesn't subscribe to corporal punishment when raising their kids, doesn't mean the children are destined to be to be criminals. Just like there are lots of kids who are spanked and still act obnoxious. I am sure there were plenty of unruly children in generations past as well, and just as many "parenting experts" sitting around talking about what they do right and everyone else does wrong.

I don't think I said anything at all about spanking in my post. All I said was time outs don't work for every kid and if it becomes obvious that it isn't working then it's time to try something else. Taking things away, losing privileges, going to bed early, extra chores, whatever it is.

 

[OZMom]

I don't think I said anything at all about spanking in my post. All I said was time outs don't work for every kid and if it becomes obvious that it isn't working then it's time to try something else. Taking things away, losing privileges, going to bed early, extra chores, whatever it is.

I realize that, I apologize for misinterpreting your post. I think I was just gut reacting to previous posters comments about spanking and the usual "in my day" observations. FWIW, I wasn't criticizing your post, just adding my 2 cents to it. I agree whole heartedly about their needing to be more than just time-outs, especially as kids get older. I just don't think that physical discipline is the only answer.

 

[larryz]

Lol - name calling is a perfect example of proper discipline....imho.

There's a difference between describing behavior and name calling.

 

[Jarmo]

I don't get why parents bring their kids to an adult oriented place like WDW in the first place.

 

[larryz]

Kind of like the "parenting experts" who insist all children who aren't spanked are "undisciplined". Just because someone doesn't subscribe to corporal punishment when raising their kids, doesn't mean the children are destined to be to be criminals. Just like there are lots of kids who are spanked and still act obnoxious. I am sure there were plenty of unruly children in generations past as well, and just as many "parenting experts" sitting around talking about what they do right and everyone else does wrong.

The proof of the pudding, so to speak, is in the behavior exhibited by the parents and children in OP's example. I have to agree with their assessment -- allowing their snowflake to basically interrupt the performance by banging on the piano tells me they are either afraid to or don't know how to discipline their child for inappropriate behavior. It wouldn't have taken Corporal Punishment (or even Captain America) to take the kid by the hand and lead him away from the piano.

 

[svltvl]

I understand that Disney is a place for kids to be kids but the op is correct. Parents should keep an eye on their kids. This thread brought back a memory of an incident that we witnessed. We were having dinner at the Concourse Steakhouse and there was a child running around the restaurant. He went up to other tables while people were eating. We did our best to try to ignore him. He started crawling on the floor near the kitchen entrance and one of the poor waiters ended up tripping over him, falling backwards and hitting his head on the wall. This was many trips ago and we've seen some other incidents since then but this one really sticks in my mind. Luckily, the waiter wasn't hurt badly but he was very shaken up.

 

[Boski]

I don't get why parents bring their kids to an adult oriented place like WDW in the first place.

8/10 on the wind up score!

 

[starjazz]

There's a difference between describing behavior and name calling.

Really? Because it seems like you're just justifying the behavior of, presumably, an adult with semantics.

 

[larryz]

Really? Because it seems like you're just justifying the behavior of, presumably, an adult with semantics.

Here's some semantics for you:
Kid banging on bass keys of a piano during a public performance = "obnoxious."
Kid allowed to bang on bass keys of a piano during a public performance = "undisciplined."
"Obnoxious" + "Undisciplined" = "brat"

 

[starjazz]

Here's some semantics for you:
Kid banging on bass keys of a piano during a public performance = "obnoxious."
Kid allowed to bang on bass keys of a piano during a public performance = "undisciplined."
"Obnoxious" + "Undisciplined" = "brat"

You're allowed your opinion. Mine is that I don't typically call other people's children brats.

 

[Jarmo]

8/10 on the wind up score!

I should have added something about ECVs to get to 10/10

 

[J'aime Paris]

As far as the piano, if the performer didn't have an issue, I might allow them to enjoy the duet for a bit. My kids are often at my sister's house, where she performs on her piano for them quite often. She frequently asks them to join her. Its not music to my ears, but its fun for my sister and my kids, and they're getting interested in music and instruments. So my kids might think it was totally acceptable to "perform" with the guy at Coke Corner.

If those things make me a bad parent, so be it.

The OP did not indicate that the children were asked to join the piano player. This venue is also not a private home of a relative, where "joining in" would be acceptable. Not the same scenario at all...

 

[ForeverAlice]

My son loves to say quietly to me "Parents please control your bad children" whenever that announcement comes on... It's become our inside joke...
Everyone, children or adults have a bad day but right is right and wrong is wrong no matter where you are. Sometimes children and adults are hungry, tired-etc but there is nothing stopping them from addressing those issues. I have seen many disturbing things at Disney but nothing really shocks me anymore!!!

 

[showers2flowers]

For the most part, our recent trip was thankfully devoid of badly behaved guests, child or adult. With one notable exception: one night, we were in the club lounge at AKL and saw three kids full on running back and forth through the entire lounge. They bounced into tables (occupied tables); they ricocheted off the buffet area, where there are of course hot beverages; they ran into and nearly knocked over guests and CMs who were carrying said hot beverages. Where were the parents? Dad was visibly intoxicated, laying (yes, laying) on the couch in front of the lounge TV, occasionally putting his head up to carry on very loud and obnoxious exchanges with the rest of his party, who were sitting at one of the tables (there were a couple of women at the table; I assume one of them was mom, but never heard any of the kids call her that, so cannot be sure). All the adults completely ignored the children. It was easy to see the irritation on the faces of both the other guests and the CMs. We didn't stick around to find out whether they were ever called on their behavior, but I'd bet that the x factor of Dad's intoxication prevented anyone from intervening.

While most people do recognize that there is no vacation from parenting, there are always those who are the exception to the general rule.