Character Courage

[sas_mk]

I wanted to share a cute story with all of you -- it is about my youngest DS who was almost 2 years old when we went to DL.

On our first morning we stopped for brunch at Minnie's Breakfast. My DS(7) and DD(3) were loving all of the character interactions, but my DS(2) wanted nothing to do with any of the characters.

Then, my genius DH had an idea. Captain Hook came to our table for a visit and my DH put his "magic" sunglasses on our DS. He told him they would protect him from anybody. From that moment on, my DS had no fear. He hugged all of the characters and "posed" for pictures with each one. The best part of those pictures are the enormous sunglasses covering his little face!

Later in the day we realized that my DS(2) was also pretty scared in many of the dark rides. Once again, my DH came to the rescue. I had some glow sticks that my DH lit up and told my DS to "shoot it" at anything that scared him.

My DS used that glow stick to shoot a lot of Disneyland that day. He used it in all of the dark rides and especially used it to shoot all of the loud fireworks that night.

It changed a frustrating experience into a happy one. My DS was empowered to fight his fears and we made some excellent memories at Disneyland!

 

[tomato]

Great tips! So glad you and your DH cared enough to help out your kids to feel brave and have a great experience.

Sadly, we saw too many parents forcing their kids into rides and situations last week -- literally kicking and screaming that they did not want to do it. But mom and dad were making them do it come hell or high water anyway. Sad.

 

[Flitterific]

Aww...that's a really cute story. Thanks for sharing! I don't have any kiddies yet but my coworker is bringing her 5 yr old daughter (who is afraid of a lot of things) to DL for the first time next week so I will share your story with her

 

[Eeee-va]

That's darling and sweet! I wonder if those glow sticks would work for adults too; there's a couple rides that scare me....

 

[sonnyjane]

Great tips! So glad you and your DH cared enough to help out your kids to feel brave and have a great experience.

Sadly, we saw too many parents forcing their kids into rides and situations last week -- literally kicking and screaming that they did not want to do it. But mom and dad were making them do it come hell or high water anyway. Sad.

What a cute story, OP!!!!

tomato, I know what you mean! I was there last week and there were small children screaming "DON'T MAKE ME, DON'T MAKE ME!" and crying on some of the rides, again, forced by their parents. I would think the point of taking your child to DL would be to give them a MAGICAL experience, not force them onto something that scared them!