2 Year old afraid of rides???

[buzznina]

The worse thing you can do is to force them on a ride that they do not want to go on. If they end up being scared after that ride, they are not going to trust anything you say about rides the rest of the trip. I see so many parents forcing their kids on rides becasue they want to ride them and not the kids. The worst story I remember was a mom, dad and son that were ahead of us for TOT. The son was scared and really did not want to go and we here the dad tell him "you know how you like riding the elevator at my work, it is just like that" I have no idea how it worked out because when they went off to the right, we made sure we went to the left line.
Maybe show them some rides on youtube, this has worked for a few rides for our DD's.

 

[rutgers1]

Our first Disney trip pretty much set the tone for the next 10 years. Our younger son was a toddler at the time, and he was scared of everything. During the next trip when he was about 4, we tried to smooth talk him onto some rides that we felt weren't scary (such as Winnie the Pooh). Little did I know that many Disney rides have some sort of scary element. Well, that did him in, and now he won't go on anything remotely scary to this very day....and he is in middle school.

He might have been forever afraid of rides no matter what we did, but I am nearly certain that things would have been different had we been more selective in what we took him on during those first two trips. It's Tough to be a Bug (I think that is the name) 4D movie at Animal Kingdom ruined him for 3D movies until this year.

 

[cobright]

I have seen rutgers' scenario played out many times.

There is a parenting instinct that tells us to push our baby birds out of the nest from time to time. Add to that an element of social shaming when people lean in and comment on your kid not liking to do something while their kid ~loves~ roller coasters... or whatever.

But more often than not, it's like pushing a rope.

There's a little bit of proper in each approach. it IS a part of being a parent to expose and normalize a certain degree of risk taking. When a parent support a child's absolute risk avoidance they weaken the child's ability to tolerate ambiguity. But there are reasonable limits and this poster's kiddo is less than three.

Pick something where the fear is irrational. Fear of a carousel is not rational, it's simply fear of the unknown. Hold your kid and tell him you're on your way to [insert something he loves to do] but first you have to sit on this musical park bench for 3 minutes. Don't make a big deal about it, don't ask him if he wants to, don't bargain, it's just something you both have to do on the way to getting an ice cream (or whatever). Talk through the ride about the ice cream you'll be getting, or whatever, distract him.

When it's done, if he's unhappy about it, tell him it's over and now you can go get ice cream. Have a similar experience once a week until the behavior is normal and he's not bothered by it.

If he comes off the ride happy about it, then play up what a big ride taker he is. Never push towards a behavior with a rational (for a 3 yr old) element of fear.

This approach comes from a textbook on getting war-recruits to go murder their fellow human beings for king and country. That said, as a practical approach it is very understanding of human nature.

 

[starman314]

You might try warming him up by taking him to more local events with rides or to a local amusement park. Only have him ride the rides that have no chance of being scary for now.

Our 4 year old was afraid to ride a few rides when we went to Disney. One thing we found helped was having a friend ride with him. If any of your sons friends will be at Disney at the same time, you might try having them ride with him.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

On our first trip, our son was 22 months and LOVED everything. Characters, rides, everything.

A year later, at just shy of three, he hated everything--or so it seemed. He screamed getting on most rides, he copped an attitude with most of the characters (except princesses), and generally was a pill the entire trip. However, he still talks about that trip as if it were the BEST THING EVER and that he had the BEST TIME EVER.

Three year olds are crazy and irrational. If you're only have one child, I'd wait until he was a year or two older so he can fully enjoy it. We have an older child (who is six now) so it was worth it for us, but I know I would have been frustrated had he been our only child and he was acting like such a pill. I'm also sure many people labeled us as jerk parents who forced their kid onto rides. We knew that Mr Attitude would like the rides even if he said he didn't want to go on them, but we also had prior experience at Disney, and we know that he's just generally stubborn and claims to not like anything right now. But I do encourage you to really consider objectively whether your son will enjoy this vacation, or if you will enjoy yourself if he isn't going to be able to ride many rides.

 

[DISNEYNV]

2 is the age when they start to fear these kind of things! I would take him on a ride at his BEST time of the day. Not when he is tired or hungry, etc. and be prepared for whatever comes. He might be happy on a ride one minute and terrified the next. Try to make it fun. Show him the ride (say Dumbo) and tell him that the kids on it are having fun and laughing. Ask him if he would like to pet or feed Dumbo (or whatever he likes to do) first when it is your turn to board the ride. Avoid dark rides if that is what scares him, but give it a try only after the tamer rides geared towards toddlers to avoid fear of these too. If he does not want to ride dont push it, give him a snack or let him take a nap, or even take him to a quiet area to relax.

Talk it out and prepare your child for what comes next before you do it. Something like...we are going to ride on the elephant together and it will go around and around. Something age appropriate like that and perhaps even give him a sticker as a little reward after he has ridden without fear. Smile while you are on the ride and make it fun. Try not to get discouraged or upset at his negative behavior if it doesnt go as planned. He may be feeding off the behavior and your reaction as well at this age. Two's tend to want to have some control over themselves and can be quite stubborn at times

The great part of a Disney vacation is that there is something for everyone. If rides are not your thing there is plenty to see and do that is just as magical. Have fun and enjoy the little things