Can You Leave Kids In The Cabin?

[Mickeyhugger]

Our 9 year-old DD did NOT like the clubs, and was much better off (we know her better than anyone) in the stateroom, in bed, doors locked, lights dimly lit, drifting asleep while DH checked in on her every so often. The oceaneer's lab was the last place she wanted to be.

No, DH and I would not leave her at home alone at night to go out UNLESS, we were at a next-door neighbor's house, or across the street, doing the same thing, checking on her, doors securely locked, walkie-talkies,etc. We were in close proximity of the stateroom when we were at the deck party.

I think each parent and each child/situation is different, and only a parent knows what's best for their child.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

On our cruise, we ran into a couple who had left their 2 year old asleep in the room. My heart dropped when I realized they weren't kidding.

 

[jrp]

In the state of Florida this is known as CHILD ABUSE. An adult should use better judgement in leaving children of this age in a room on board a ship.. Use the kids club as they are open late also.. Remember even in fun there is always someone out there watching, no matter what age you must think in terms of what would my parents have dome in this situation..IMHO

 

[HappyLawyer]

I agree with others only you can make that decision, and for something of this level i would not take anyones advice, just remember anything could or could not happen, if i may offer you a suggestion, find a thread with your cruise days and make friends, perhaps someone with kids could keep an eye or check with the dcl and see if they offer any type of sitter services on the ship, i do understand the need for some alone time, trust me, but remember the ages of the kids and especially if they wake up looking for u
good luck

 

[suesings]

Does Disney actually allow parents to leave young children alone in rooms? I thought it was illegal in hotels to do this? Like Las Vegas, Tahoe, etc. I thought you could be arrested for doing that?

We have two young daughters and definitely would not leave them. I know that no matter how many times you tell your children not to open the door, now and then they do it. They are innocent and don't understand the real concept of someone hurting them. Knock at the door or someone says room service, your parents told me to come get you, etc. I'm not sure a young child is capable of always making the right call. They have no lreal ife perspective. Not to mention a boat fire, emergency, etc.

It would be much to scary for us and them. Plus I would be way to embarrassed to run into crew or other passengers we had met and actually tell them we left our young children in the room alone. But if they were 12 or older I think that would probably be okay (depending on the child of course).

Sue

 

[scrapperjill]

As for Flordia State law...and child abuse...while on the ship your not in Flordia nor under any of their laws. Your in international waters at some points and fall under all kinds of diffrent laws. But that's besides the point.

I do think there is a way to use the club pagers on your own....without having the "club CM" do the paging. The pager number is right on the side of the pager. Of course your child would have to be old enough to understand how a pager works and how they would go about sending a page.

Also....I totally disagree with the statement on "would you leave your kids at home alone and go out"...it's SOOOOO diffrent. Your on the ship...not down town miles away from home. And as for someone breaking in or what not...it's not like you have a bunch of windows that could be broken out. Myself I don't think I would be comfortable leaving a child in a room with a verhanda...no matter what age...or how many children there were, nor would I leave them if I didn't think they were old enough to understand not to open the door for anyone....with out the password....just like you would tell your children at home not to go with anyone any where unless they knew the secret family code word.

We never left our kids in the room at night alone and went out...but there were times when we had to leave the adult clubs because it was time for the kids clubs to close...for some reason the kids clubs close an hour or two before the adult clubs close...

 

[jdm]

I agree it's different on the ship than when you're at home. Like all things, it depends on the child and their maturity level etc. I found the age 5 & 7 post a little disturbing. I view children that age as babies, and couldn't imagine leaving them alone in a stateroom. I don't know, everyone is different I guess

My daughter is 12 and I'd feel comfortable with her hanging out in the stateroom if she wants to. My DGD is 7 and I don't think I'd leave her with DD. What if there was some kind of emergency or evacuation drill? Doubtful I know, but with my luck.....!! I wouldn't want DD to have that kind of responsibility. I just don't feel right about it, not sure why. I always go with my gut feeling on these things.

Jenn

 

[Red71]

When I was 18 and a senior in High School I went with my parents to visit a college . We were going to stay over night and because I had my own job and money and thought I was so grown up I wanted to have my own room. It wound up being quite a bit down the hall from my parents. I was watching TV and I heard a key in the door. The oldfashoned kind of key. I screamed a scream that I didn't know I was capabable of, I scrambeled to the phone and called my parents room. Crying gasping telling my mom what happened. My father quickly came to check and found a wayward drunk stumbeling the hall with his key, the hotel had a restaurant/bar and he had too much. My father steered him to hi room came to my room and talked to me thru the door, then I opened it he talked to me & went back to his room. then I called my mom and felt better.

I was terrified being 18 and hearing someone tring to get in my room. What if someone makes an innocent mistake with the door. My girls do often when we are in a "hallway hotel" they make a mad dash the last few doors each one wanting to be in our room first. What about people being loud in the hallway? I have read so many posts about the teens who knock on doors too. What if the cabin steward wants to go in your room? What if your children were afraid and you or any grown up wasn't there to make them feel safe? I'm awake now because DD7 had a couple of bad dreams and I want to make sure she is settled in before I go back to sleep.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I am having a hard time letting my almost 13 stay in the room with my 5 year old son and 6 year old neice! But she babysits him at home, so this really isn't an issue. For the younger kids, I say be the parents and put them in the clubs at night for a few hours so you can enjoy yourselves, just because little susie doesn't like it, shouldn't be the reason you don't enjoy yourselves and put her at risk. They play games and then crash watching movies, were not talking endless hours, who knows, once they get in, they may find that they enjoy it!

 

[Mickeyhugger]

While I still think it depends on the age of the child, responsibility level, parents, situation, I think the orginial poster's children are too young. I wouldn't leave a child in charge of another child. Our DD didn't stay in the cabin alone on our first two cruises. I was appalled when I read the post about the parents who left a two-year old. OMG. What if that poor child had awoken and been terrified wondering where Mommy and Daddy were?

 

[married2grumpy]

Wow, when I read this thread I thought it was a joke. As I continued to read, I couldn't believe that it wasn't. I personally would never leave my kids alone in the room for any period of time, whether sleeping or awake.

I don't care how "mature" people think their kids are, 8 & 6 is way too young to be left alone. Again, this is my opinion.

I love my children with all my heart (as I'm sure you all do!) and no "free time" for my DH and I is worth leaving them unattended like that. The chances of something happening is very, very slim but why take the chance? The kids clubs are open until 12 so that parents do not have to leave their children unattended.

I think rather than asking would you leave them home alone at night at this age you should ask yourself, would they be able to get on their lifevests and get to their muster stations without your help and would you want them to?

I know that scenario is a little extreme but there is always the what if. This is my opinion and I don't think less of anyone who thinks it is the right decision for them. We all parent differently. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so worried about them!

Enjoy your trip and you do what feels right for you.

 

[Sue Sullivan]

I would never dream of leaving my children alone in their room. Why take the chance for an hour out and about, not worth it in my opinion. Would have to kill myself if something terrible happened to them and it was my fault for leaving them unattended.

 

[crisi]

Can I please get a cite on the Florida law? I'm not a lawyer, but spent some time researching this issue, and I'd love to see actual verbage in a law.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Check them into the "lab" get a pager and if you leave them and they get up and need you they can find a CM that can page you.....

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I think international laws prevail on this one, not Florida's.

It's probably better to call DCL direct, regarding their policies.

 

[deedz]

Though the law varies from state to state, the minimum age requirement for unattended children is generally 12 or 13 years of age. The National SAFE KIDS Campaign, a national organization dedicated to child safety, recommends that kids not be left alone before the age of 12.

And I think thats too young!
It only takes one time for something to happen, I personally am NOT willing to take that chance.

Just my opinion.

 

[i12go2wdw]

We cruised when ds was 11 and dd was 7 months (we also have dd8 and ds 5). We were just finishing our dessert one night and dd started to cry so ds offered to go ahead and take her to our room while we finished up, maybe 5 minutes, as we were walking down to our room ds was coming up with dd. He had been told by our room steward that he could not be in the room alone with dd because the steward was ultimatly responsible for them if he knew they were there alone. At first I was a little angry but that passed quickly as I realized he had a point and did not know how long we would be gone. We talked to him and let him know the situation and thanked him for watching out for them. When we told him that DS was 11 he said had he known that he would not have said anything because that is considered and OK age to be alone (ds is very short for his age). I would not feel comfortable leaving them alone for very long at that age but I knew we were hot on his heels and he is like a second father to dd even now. He will be almost 13 this trip and I will be leaving him with all the kids whenever he is slow enough for me to catch him

 

[kellimomo3]

Okay, I know this is a Disney cruise but are people really naive enough to believe that out of the 3000+ "strangers" on board there are no pedafiles?? An 8 and 6 year old are not old enough to make good judgements should a situation arrise. The kid's clubs on board are wonderful and are open late enough that this should not be an issue. On our cruise I saw many children wondering around by themseves. I was particularly troubled by a young girl I met in the elevators. She was all alone around 10:00 at night. I asked her is she was having fun and how old she was. She was SEVEN! She said she was having fun but got scared by a noise she heard in her cabin and was going to look for her parents. I asked her if she was allowed to be wandering around by herself and she said yes and seemed unfazed. I must say I was very shocked at judgemental that any parent would leave a seven year old alone on the ship. Just my opinion, but my kids are the most valuable thing I own!!

Kelli

 

[suesings]

Kellimomo3 - Isn't that something you can report to one of the crew members? I know when I am at the mall and I see a young child who looks lost, I always try to help them. One time we found two young (5 & 3) girls running through a large mall scared and we took them to the information booth and waited until they found their parents.
I would think those parents would get in some sort of trouble for leaving their 7 year old unattended and roaming the ship? The statistics are 1 in 4 girls will be molested. If there are 3,000 people on the ship there will DEFINITELY be someone who finds children attractive (sickly).

I don't know what the difference is between letting your 7 year old roam a ship and letting them roam a shopping mall by themself? The police would be called if you did the latter.

 

[cjsmith]

Though the law varies from state to state, the minimum age requirement for unattended children is generally 12 or 13 years of age. The National SAFE KIDS Campaign, a national organization dedicated to child safety, recommends that kids not be left alone before the age of 12.

And I think thats too young!
It only takes one time for something to happen, I personally am NOT willing to take that chance.

Just my opinion.

While these may be the laws in the USA, the ships are in international waters and these won't apply. I wonder if there are any laws regarding leaving a child unattened at sea as it does differ from leaving a child unattended at your home.
In my humble opinion, it probably boils down to something between each parent and child. Each child is different and each parent is different in their parenting skills and beliefs. There are going to be those who leave their child alone and those who don't, it's really a personal issue deep down. I personally wouldn't leave such young kids alone, especially if there was a balcony in the cabin, but that's just me, that's what I think.