Witnessed shocking event & got me wondering about DCL policy on biting

[Gigi22]

I believe the cruise contract gives DCL the right to put unruly passengers off a ship at the next port of call. Not sure how bad it would have to be for them to exercise their option.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

My child was injured in the clubs...I received a text on my wave phone to call the kids club. I called back and a counselor told me he got hurt and was crying but seemed fine now. He asked if I wanted to speak with my son on the phone or come get him, but since he was fine we opted to keep him in the club. When I picked him up later, my son was smiling and happy and didn't seem to remember the incident.

 

[gotomu212]

My then 3 year old was bitten a few years ago on the Panama Canal cruise. He was bitten on the cheek by another 3 year old girl (she apparently wanted to kiss him and got confused). It didn't break the skin but did leave a mark. We got a call from the Club to come check it out, and the other parents got a call too. We all arrived at the same time. Honestly it wasn't bad, what you would expect at a play group or playground. The other parents were uber embarrassed and kept apologizing. We heard the CMs tell the other parents that they would keep an eye on her and if she did it again she wouldn't be allowed into the Club.

That's the only time we've observed anything too rough or out of the norm. I think the other parents were the most tramuatized out of everyone. The CMs are used to kids in this age range and I think they are used to handling issues like this.

 

[bumbershoot]

All the sudden from the check out line NEXT to us a father of two 3 month olds yelled at the top of his lungs. "THAT BOY BIT MY KID!"


What was worse is The three adults in front of us stood there attempting to finish checking out

Wonder how the young kids' dad got so distracted an 8 year old got in under the front of the cart, grabbed the child's foot, and bit that hard? That's a pretty distracted parent!

Oh wait, the cart was likely on the cashier's side? So that explains how he could have gotten in there, but then he's under the watch of potentially many other adults. Weird. Fast 8 year old.

What would you have rather had the other Costco guests do? Stand and stare? Scream? Leave without their food for the week/month?

My son fell at Target and required a ambulance ride to the hospital because everything that was HIM disappeared. For a short time, thank goodness, but I didn't know that at the time. While we sat there, convincing Target employees that yes we needed something to put on his bleeding head, that YES we needed them to call 911, and NO he didn't fall from the cart, the LAST thing we wanted was for strangers to gather around and stare at us. We wanted them to just go about their business.

I promise you, it was for the best that the other people just wanted to finish THEIR business (as the baby and the 8 year old were NOT their business) and get out.

Was he a SN child? I am not trying to start a debate, but that could be a reason, but I would think the parents would be paying close attention to a SN child.

If the mom was possibly in denial about it before, hopefully she'll see now that *something* isn't 100% with her child. That's totally not typical behavior from an 8 year old.

That said, my son would probably still be biting if I still let him eat corn syrup products. That was one of his big things. He'd eat something (an Uncrustable, for instance) and (it turns out) his blood sugar would spike and he just didn't know what to do with it. He would run around, nearly blindly, and when I would try to corral him he would lash out in every way possible. Including head butting, squeezing my face so hard I thought I would break, and, sometimes, biting. Only me, because I'm at home and we didn't do play groups (I'm a hermit, and then he started with the biting LOL). Being bitten on the shoulder blade, by the way, hurts with the strength of a thousand suns. We finally figured out that corn syrup based ingredients were the cause his rages when he was 3 years old, and he never bit again. Thank goodness. (Disney will see fewer tantrums once Uncrustables change their ingredients or are gone, mark my words)

Last year a child that was clearly too old to be in Nemo's Reef barelled into me - narrowly missing our then 21 month son. I had a black baseball sized bruise on my arm for the remainder of the cruise. At the time, I immediately found a CM and asked her to enforce the age limit in NR - which she did. Had that older child rammed into my baby, I'm not sure how I would have reacted, but it would certainly have involved finding her mother/father. Its always difficult to know how to handle older children acting dangerously with no parents in sight - or worse, parents standing right there and doing nothing.

I do have concerns about our 3 year old being in the club/lab with kids up to 12 years old. Frankly, I think having that wide an age group in the same program is inappropriate. General consensus seems to be that really anyone over 10 is not in the club/lab - they bump up to the next age group to get away from the babies - fine by me. But even that age difference it too wide.

I wouldn't be so worried. My son is now of the age that you're scared of, but he's participating in fun activities, not over running through crowds of 3 year olds. And I imagine it's hard to get up to speed when in the club/lab; there are people and tables and CMs to work your way through.

My guy at 3 was barreled into by a 12ish year old boy, playing in a splash area that he sholdn't have been in, at California Adventure. (which is such a bummer...splash areas are awesome for older kids! Why do parents of toddlers, like I was, let their kids who can barely walk without falling play in them, when far more advantage would be taken of the areas by the olders? sigh, the pre-teens have nowhere to go...they still like kid things, but play in a different way...) Now he's approaching that age, and is that size. And he's very cautious around youngers. At the Club/Lab there are CMs there who monitor behavior.

I do understand this can happen.. Littles are at that age..
However I've never seen a little one make another bleed!

But I was wondering if it does happen is there a policy?

Littles can be at that age, but an 8 year old is years older than that age.

The kid wouldn't be allowed back, either the next time or if another thing happened, depending on the severity and age. I wouldn't worry about this.

Plus, your child is 3. That baby was 3 months. There's a HUGE difference in how much a 3 year old is going to yelp and move and kick while another kid is trying to put their teeth on them...

 

[kmedina]

Plus, your child is 3. That baby was 3 months. There's a HUGE difference in how much a 3 year old is going to yelp and move and kick while another kid is trying to put their teeth on them...

Her kid is 6. I know that because every time I see her signature and notice she uses a fairy to identify her husband, it makes me chuckle. My husband would freak if he saw that, but her husband has either never seen it or is more secure in his manhood.

 

[lbgraves]

....

What would you have rather had the other Costco guests do? Stand and stare? Scream? Leave without their food for the week/month?


...

Two of the adults who were in front of the OP were the 8 yo's parents, and the third was possibly the cashier assisting them. If this happened while I was somewhere, I would stop what I was doing and look to see if there was anything I could do to help. I would expect the parents to, at the very least, try to restrain their own child who was at that time running away from the register area where the attack happened. If my child did that I would be shocked and mortified and asking if the injured child was okay. Of course, the fact that the 8 yo was already moving around freely without being watched doesn't lead you to think his parents were acting responsibly to begin with.

Regarding your comment that the parent of the 3 mo was at fault for this happening in any way, that is just ridiculous. At our warehouse stores the parent stays with the cart if a child is secured in it. You have to unload the cart and eventually pay for the items you are purchasing. You can do all of this while keeping one hand on the cart to ensure it doesn't topple over for some reason. I've never even considered that I would have to keep a lookout for anyone to come up to the cart and try to bite my child while secured in the cart.

 

[tigerfan2012]

This is something I worry about from the other end of things. My son is 29 months old and we have been trying to get him to stop biting for a while. Its very rare, but he has done it at his daycare a few times. He is still learning to communicate and will often resort to biting when another child tries to take a toy from him. Never breaks the skin or anything. But its disheartening as a parent when you are away from them not being able to do anything about it and I don't want him to hurt anyone else. Feels like all we can do is try to teach him that its not ok and it hurts. An 8 year old however.. that's something entirely different in my mind.

 

[Zeppelin]

i wonder if this family can be found in the "strangest table mates you've ever had" thread?

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Her kid is 6. I know that because every time I see her signature and notice she uses a fairy to identify her husband, it makes me chuckle. My husband would freak if he saw that, but her husband has either never seen it or is more secure in his manhood.

Sorry I haven't updated my sig. In while. ( and no my DH does not know) ;-)
My oldest is now 8 and my youngest is due to turn 3 right before our cruise.
I normally use the app and can not see or edit the sig. Through the app..

 

[lbgraves]

Sorry I haven't updated my sig. In while. ( and no my DH does not know) ;-)
My oldest is now 8 and my youngest is due to turn 3 right before our cruise.
I normally use the app and can not see or edit the sig. Through the app..

LOL! Looking at the GIF of Tink I have to wonder if the fact that she is giving something a swift kick has some significance.

 

[kmedina]

Sorry I haven't updated my sig. In while. ( and no my DH does not know) ;-)
My oldest is now 8 and my youngest is due to turn 3 right before our cruise.
I normally use the app and can not see or edit the sig. Through the app..

No need to apologize. I enjoyed it when I thought the fairy was for your husband. Now that I realize you have two children and there is a & sign after the Eric and Ariel picture, I realize the fairy is your older daughter and the puppy is your 2 year old. That takes away my fun and also makes me think I cannot read. My kids will be freshly 8 and about 3 1/2 on our next cruise, so our kids are close in age. I have both boys though.

LOL! Looking at the GIF of Tink I have to wonder if the fact that she is giving something a swift kick has some significance.

I've considered that very thought too, but I find the fairy aspect to be funnier. My husband has a DIS account, although he rarely checks in. I have thought about assigning him a fairy ever since I first saw the one from the op. It is mostly because he cannot stand using or doing "girly" things, so I thought it would be funny if he ever happened upon it.

 

[truck1]

Wonder how the young kids' dad got so distracted an 8 year old got in under the front of the cart, grabbed the child's foot, and bit that hard? That's a pretty distracted parent!

Oh wait, the cart was likely on the cashier's side? So that explains how he could have gotten in there, but then he's under the watch of potentially many other adults. Weird. Fast 8 year old.


My son fell at Target and required a ambulance ride to the hospital because everything that was HIM disappeared. For a short time, thank goodness, but I didn't know that at the time. While we sat there, convincing Target employees that yes we needed something to put on his bleeding head, that YES we needed them to call 911, and NO he didn't fall from the cart, the LAST thing we wanted was for strangers to gather around and stare at us. We wanted them to just go about their business.


If the mom was possibly in denial about it before, hopefully she'll see now that *something* isn't 100% with her child. That's totally not typical behavior from an 8 year old.

..

I can see how a person can get distracted long enough for something to happen. If the cashier was asking a question, or the dad was looking for his wallet, trying to pay etc. I work pt in a dive shop and we had 2 of our regular customers come in with full face mask issues. I had taken them over by the regulator counter and we were working through their issues. A child from a different customer wandered over, and started to play with the cylinder we were using to work out the issue. I asked him nicely not to do it sine he was only maybe 2 or 3. He wandered away. A few minutes later, as I was talking to 1 of the customers about his mask, I heard the other say don't touch that. Looked down and the kid was back. Never saw him walk back up because I was talking to the other customer at the time. So I can see how quick and easy it is for something to happen.

This is just me, but I think generally speaking, that a lot of parents for 1 reason or another, don't parent any more. Whether its out of ignorance, fear, or the kid is unwanted or just a number, the parents don't care. It seems I see it more and more. Whether the kid(s) are running wild, loud, or both. If I tried half of what the kids get away with today, Id still be grounded.
As far as Target, it depends on how well trained some people are or informed. wife and I had a issue with a restaurant in Orlando. My wife is allergic to something we, after extensive testing, cant identify. Just before the testing we were having dinner, with friends of ours, who the husband happens to be a firefighter also, and my wife said, I cant breathe and got up and walked out side. I went out after her and she was sitting on a bench, saying she couldn't get a full breath of air in her lungs. Ended up calling 911. The ambulance as luck would have it was parked across the street. The ambulance gets there literally seconds after we call and here comes the manager, ticked off. As soon as he found out that we had eaten there and she had a reaction to something his demeanor changed. (problem one solved. Took a little longer to get the medic truck squared away) Called him a day or 2 later, explained in more detail what had happened, and that we were talking to her doctor, I asked if we could get the ingredients for what we had, just trying to pin down what it might be, since she had had a milder reaction a few days before at a different restaurant. He went one better. Not only did we get the ingredients, but we got the recipes for everything we ate that night.

 

[truck1]

I would assume it would be treated as an assault. But as they are minor, laws are useless. Then again, in international waters..... one can get creative.

The Art of the Theme Show Ship Tour didn't show captain hook's brig, nor did I see any plank, nor any provision for keel hauling.

Its semantics but a bite is actually battery. Assault is saying a person will do something,( threat for example, with the intention and ability to follow through) and battery is actually doing or un wanted touching. I got the 2 terms backwards also until I had to take a legal and ethical class for work.


Could they get creative in international waters, kinda sort of, but with some of the newer disclosures that cruise lines now have to follow, I think that sweeping things under the rug, is becoming harder to accomplish nowadays on cruises. Not saying it doesn't happen, but harder to accomplish.