Shorts for kids at dinner

[AmandaRG]

My two cents about wearing shorts: I don't care what anyone else does, but as long as DCL requests no shorts in the dining rooms, our entire family will abide by the request. We won't save seats in the WDT or sun loungers on the top deck. We won't put water in our checked bags and if we did smoke, we wouldn't smoke on Deck 4 between 6am and 6pm as requested. In other words, we don't pick and choose what rules apply to us and which ones don't.

This is my feeling as well. I don't want our kids to decide which of our rules they like and will follow, so we don't lead by that example. This is just MY opinion.

 

[princessmom29]

personally, we will follow Disney's requests. I don't see the point in purposely defying them???

 

[braysmommy]

Will be on the transatlantic cruise in May and my DS4 will be in long pants each night for dinner.

 

[MTmomma]

For those of you being hard line on the "no shorts" rule..... Let me ask you this. Would you prefer a three year old with a sensory processing disorder having a full scale screaming meltdown because the texture of ANYTHING on his legs drives him absolutley bat crazy, or would you prefer a three year old, in short khakis? Should my freind, as his mother, not be allowed to use a "normal" rotational resturaunt because of a documented psychological disorder? Yeah. Didnt think so.

 

[drparoo]

personally, we will follow Disney's requests. I don't see the point in purposely defying them???

*sigh* Because life is complicated and we as parents know our children best and sometimes you fulfill requests as best you can while still keeping peace in the family, especially when it's not hurting other customers.

It would bet anything that many of the people here that are judging parents dressing their YOUNG children in NICE shorts for dinner have their own place where they bend the rules where THEY think it's important, whether it's getting their kids to a higher or lower kids club, or finding a way to get two Palo reservations, or showing up at an earlier time to check in and board, or saving loungers on the sun deck or saving seats in the theatre, etc, etc, etc.

This whole discussion just kind of blows my mind.

 

[Bill Seattle]

My two cents about wearing shorts: I don't care what anyone else does, but as long as DCL requests no shorts in the dining rooms, our entire family will abide by the request. We won't save seats in the WDT or sun loungers on the top deck. We won't put water in our checked bags and if we did smoke, we wouldn't smoke on Deck 4 between 6am and 6pm as requested. In other words, we don't pick and choose what rules apply to us and which ones don't.

Those are really words to live by. Allowing your child to wear shorts (even though lots of kids do it) is sort of like the parents that lie about their child's age in front of their child in order to get them cheaper tickets. It's all about your family's values and how you want to raise them. If you want to teach your children to only follow the rules that they feel like following that is up to the parents I guess.

Wearing a suit on formal night is optional but encouraged, wearing long pants at dinner is requested based on the atmosphere Disney wants to create probably from cruiser feedback, and wearing pants at Palo is required.

 

[braysmommy]

*sigh* Because life is complicated and we as parents know our children best and sometimes you fulfill requests as best you can while still keeping peace in the family, especially when it's not hurting other customers.

It would bet anything that many of the people here that are judging parents dressing their YOUNG children in NICE shorts for dinner have their own place where they bend the rules where THEY think it's important, whether it's getting their kids to a higher or lower kids club, or finding a way to get two Palo reservations, or showing up at an earlier time to check in and board, or saving loungers on the sun deck or saving seats in the theatre, etc, etc, etc.

This whole discussion just kind of blows my mind.

I do agree with this and my DS's best friend does suffer from sensory issues along with ADD. In their house there are many other battles that are WAY more important to deal with. He will only wear certain clothing and they would physically have to hold him down to get him dressed in something else. Everyone will do what is best for their child. I am a lucky parent who so far has a DS who will just put on whatever I put out for him...I probably just jinxed myself. Now if my DS does run out of clean pants due to major spills which could happen my back up plan is nice shorts and dress shirt until I do a load of laundry.
I am not sure anyone alive can say that they follow all rules ALL the time

 

[drparoo]

Those are really words to live by. Allowing your child to wear shorts (even though lots of kids do it) is sort of like the parents that lie about their child's age in front of their child in order to get them cheaper tickets. It's all about your family's values and how you want to raise them. If you want to teach your children to only follow the rules that they feel like following that is up to the parents I guess.

Wearing a suit on formal night is optional but encouraged, wearing long pants at dinner is requested based on the atmosphere Disney wants to create probably from cruiser feedback, and wearing pants at Palo is required.

My boys, now 16 and 18, always wear pants and a polo and nice shoes to dinner on the ship. Their values and manners are second to none. Thank goodness allowing them to wear nice shorts to dinner when they were 5 and 7 didn't turn them into juvenile delinquents. I assure you they weren't aware of any rules.....oh, sorry, REQUESTS.....against dining room shorts at that age. There was no deception, like lying to get my kids cheaper tickets. If we had been turned away, we would have respected that.

 

[AmandaRG]

For those of you being hard line on the "no shorts" rule..... Let me ask you this. Would you prefer a three year old with a sensory processing disorder having a full scale screaming meltdown because the texture of ANYTHING on his legs drives him absolutley bat crazy, or would you prefer a three year old, in short khakis? Should my freind, as his mother, not be allowed to use a "normal" rotational resturaunt because of a documented psychological disorder? Yeah. Didnt think so.

With my remarks, and I would think most of them here, we are not discussing those with different needs. I understand that there are families that deal with things I will never begin to understand. Part of this is why I will not worry about what everyone else does. This is something that we are working on with our children. We are a transracial family, and not everyone likes that. We tell our children that all we are responsible for is what we do, not what others do.

I think that for the most part, people here share their opinion. Some seem to take it so personally that we think the way we do.

Do what you need to do, just don't ask me what I think.

 

[spacecanada]

Simply put, set a good example and have everyone in trousers or dresses for dinner each night. The more people see others following the dress code the more likely they will feel like they should do it too.

I think it's wonderful to see everyone dressed up for dinner in a fancy restaurant. Remember, they are fancy restaurants... not quick service or casual sit down places like Denny's. They deserve respect as such.

There will always be exceptions for medical conditions, but for your average person wearing trousers or dresses for a few hours in the evening isn't too much to ask.

Just my two bits.

 

[DisneyMark]

Our kids wore dressy shorts and collared shirts. The adults never wore shorts, but did wear nice dark jeans. On the optional dress up night (4-night cruise) the kids did not wear shorts and I wore a jacket and wife wore a dress. I did see some adults wearing shorts on the dress up night. However I don't recommend the adults wearing shorts on any evening, you'll definitely look out of place.

 

[mousejunkie98]

*sigh* Because life is complicated and we as parents know our children best and sometimes you fulfill requests as best you can while still keeping peace in the family, especially when it's not hurting other customers.

It would bet anything that many of the people here that are judging parents dressing their YOUNG children in NICE shorts for dinner have their own place where they bend the rules where THEY think it's important, whether it's getting their kids to a higher or lower kids club, or finding a way to get two Palo reservations, or showing up at an earlier time to check in and board, or saving loungers on the sun deck or saving seats in the theatre, etc, etc, etc.

This whole discussion just kind of blows my mind.

As a ring bearer in a wedding when he was 2, my son wore dressy shorts, a button down short-sleeved shirt and a bowtie. He looked just as dressy as the men in suits. If you look at dressy clothes for little boys through history, very often it's shorts. It's cute. Is it really going to ruin your meal?! Really?!

 

[TinklednPants]

As a ring bearer in a wedding when he was 2, my son wore dressy shorts, a button down short-sleeved shirt and a bowtie. He looked just as dressy as the men in suits. If you look at dressy clothes for little boys through history, very often it's shorts. It's cute. Is it really going to ruin your meal?! Really?!

While a cute story.....this is so completely outside of the point.

It's actually pretty simple. Your host has asked you NOT to wear shorts to the dining rooms. They even said please! That should be the end of the story.

 

[mousejunkie98]

 

[DVCconvert]

......It's actually pretty simple. Your host has asked you NOT to wear shorts to the dining rooms. They even said please! That should be the end of the story.

I think quite a few people see the dynamics differently. In general, you don't pay your "host". Also, unlike say smoking, the wearing of clothes does not export any harm to others.

I can't imagine letting myself get torqued out of shape over the length of some other person's pants - so long as they are not exposing themselves.

I guess I keep my focus on my group and just hope everyone is having as good a time as we do.

 

[princessmom29]

*sigh* Because life is complicated and we as parents know our children best and sometimes you fulfill requests as best you can while still keeping peace in the family, especially when it's not hurting other customers.

It would bet anything that many of the people here that are judging parents dressing their YOUNG children in NICE shorts for dinner have their own place where they bend the rules where THEY think it's important, whether it's getting their kids to a higher or lower kids club, or finding a way to get two Palo reservations, or showing up at an earlier time to check in and board, or saving loungers on the sun deck or saving seats in the theatre, etc, etc, etc.

This whole discussion just kind of blows my mind.

I don't think you understood what I was saying. I don't see the point in purposely defying the rules just because you can. Doing something that is outside the rules when there is some kind of valid reason (sensory disorder, ect) is one thing and I don't see that as defiance. I don't get defying the rule just because everyone else is doing it, as some posters on this thread have suggested. I say that if it is reasonably possible to operate within the rules then one should do so. I would include all of the other things you listed here in that statement. If you don't have some sort of need that mandates violating the policy, then you should follow the rules. Period. It is up to each person to decide how thier moral compass points on these things and wether they truly have a valid need for breaking the rules or if they are just doing so for convinence sake. I try to teach my DD that we don't ask for special treatment or violate rules and policies unless there is a real need to do so.

 

[drparoo]

I don't think you understood what I was saying. I don't see the point in purposely defying the rules just because you can. Doing something that is outside the rules when there is some kind of valid reason (sensory disorder, ect) is one thing and I don't see that as defiance. I don't get defying the rule just because everyone else is doing it, as some posters on this thread have suggested. I say that if it is reasonably possible to operate within the rules then one should do so. I would include all of the other things you listed here in that statement. If you don't have some sort of need that mandates violating the policy, then you should follow the rules. Period. It is up to each person to decide how thier moral compass points on these things and wether they truly have a valid need for breaking the rules or if they are just doing so for convinence sake. I try to teach my DD that we don't ask for special treatment or violate rules and policies unless there is a real need to do so.

I agree. I can't think of anyone here that said they wanted to defy it just because they CAN, did they? But we can agree it's all about interpretation, correct? Surely an infant doesn't need to wear pants.....where's the cut off? Some truly feel it doesn't apply to toddlers or school aged kids. We all can agree that it applies to adults. Different people interpret guidelines differently. Same with everything else. Is it ok to save a seat for 5 minutes while someone is getting a drink? One seat? A whole row? For 15 minutes? For 30? See....I'm just saying that whatever issues someone has in their life, they will probably interpret it to fit their needs and situation, so those who are making blanket statements like "rules are rules" probably don't follow their own advice all the time.

I don't mean to be confrontational, I really don't. I actually don't have a dog in this fight, as my kids are teens now and dress for dinner and are as polite as can be and follow rules. I guess I get frustrated by threads on this board that turn into judgements about parenting, etc, on issues that just seem so unimportant. Saying "I have my family wear pants" is one thing. Saying that allowing your young kids to wear shorts to dinner says something about your values is quite another.

Perhaps I''m just in a mood today.

 

[Queen of Oakville]

Between this thread and the DVD thread, I'm wondering what we've got ourselves into. I've got visions of people playing with iphones, ipads, dvds, and breaking dress code left, right and center, and the noise level so high it doesn't matter that no one is using head phones with their DVD player.

We're used to cruising (non-DCL) and we're used to following the rules.

The problem happens when cruiselines create rules, but don't enforce them.

I was pleased to see on a recent RCCI cruise, more than one person turned away from the MDR because they didn't follow the dress code. It sounds like DCL needs to do that too. By that I mean, DCL needs to decide to enforce their dress code; or change it to reflect what the majority of their passengers want.

As an avid cruiser, I make every effort to comply with the dress codes, and that also applies to my 3 and 5 year olds.

 

[Bill Seattle]

 

[drparoo]

Yeah, pass me one of those, please. No butter. I'm done.