Character Shyness Help

[MadHookUp]

My family is doing our first Disney trip in December. One of my concerns is my 3.5 year old daughter's initial shyness. She is the one of those kids that buries her chin into her chest and stares at the ground when meeting people. Sometimes even people she knows well. Then 15 minutes later she is their best friend and sitting on their lap.

Anyone have some advice to help kids get over this? I am not going to force her into doing anything she doesn't want. But I know she WANTS to meet the characters, she just clams up when the time comes. There were times she missed out on seeing Cinderella and Minnie at state fairs because of this. Then when her chance was lost, she said that she wanted to meet them.

So any advice on helping a kid get over this? I was thinking about possibly running past her to give a character a hug instead of making her initiate the contact. I will also have a 1.5 year old son that I could maybe introduce first.

 

[HappyHaunts999]

If you can, I would start at a character breakfast. She will see them walking around and getting closer slowly. When ds was little, he ran under the table and Alice talked to him for a few minutes until he came out. It really helped and was fine after that.

 

[cath1979]

show her video on youtube and... let her see a parade first.. after seeing how friendly they where on the parade, that how my almost 3 years old when crazy for caracters

 

[kcpinwdw]

I agree with videos on youtube of character meets. I think they help. Also meals are good, because if they are really shy, you have another opportunity when the next character comes around. Sometimes when you are meeting characters there is a little wait in the room where you can see the character with another family or two before its your turn.

My daughter was really shy at 2.5, but her brother was not, and gave everyone big hugs. By the second day she was running up to them too. I was actually pretty surprised! It was fun to get some pictures of them with the characters alone...on our trip before this there always needed to be a parent near her to approach characters. See my avatar for example, actually! Son is thrilled, and I am getting a death grip!

 

[Aliceacc]

When we faced the issues, it wasn't "shyness." It was out of the blue, mind numbing terror!!

What helped a little was letting my daughter push the (empty) stroller. Having that physical barrier between her and any characters who might appear from out of the blue(year, I know: not gonna happen. But we couldn't convince her) really, really helped.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I really like the idea of you going over first and then letting her go at her own pace and meet them how she wants. She may be happy to just watch Mom be silly and that's ok too!

 

[goofy4tink]

Show her youtube videos, but be prepared for her feeling differently in person!!! This is what I would do....try a character meal first. The characters are very good at judging a child's receptiveness. In lines to meet characters, you can wait in the line, while your dd stands off to the side watching others meet the character. When you get to 'your' turn with the character, just walk right up, and ask your dd if she wants to join you, on your other side. She won't be right up next to the character, she'll have you inbetween...huge help. After a bit, she may very well be ready to go up without you.
One of my favorite photos is of my dd, when she was 5, almost 6, in DHS (MGM then). She is standing next to director Mickey....with the most terrified face I've ever seen. It's almost as if she is thinking...'Seriously? A mouse that's bigger than me? Really? And it writes? Yeah, I doubt it!!!'
That was then...now? She's 'hanging out' with Foghorn Leghorn and other characters at Six Flags NE....looks like she's getting it from the other side of things now. She can really imagine how the little ones feel when they see that giant chicken. She loves being able to get the littlest ones to come up to her and relax.

 

[tlmadden73]

My 2 year old had some issues with characters. He didn't mind SEEING them .. but was a little hesitant to stand next to them (who wouldn't be when you are half their height?)

The character meals we had helped immensely as he could watch them interact with others and "take them in" before they came to our table. By the time the character would come to our table (Crystal Palace) he was itching to get his picture taken.

Goofy (at Tusker house) taught us an easy trick too. Hold your child so you are between them and the character.

 

[Berlioz70]

My daughter was 10 days old for her first M&G. She's continued to meet characters nearly weekly since then. She's now 2 and has recently become randomly very shy. She loves watching them on-line, in parades/shows, while she's in the queue... but suddenly when we get within about 2 feet she gets shy. We find she does better with the VIPS and face characters, and even better if there's only 1 of them.

I recommend starting by watching the M&G from the side and then asking if DD wants to meet that character. Get into line and start talking about what to do with the character: say hello, give a hug, show a toy/shirt/etc. Once you're about 1 or 2 families back, knee to the ground to allow her to be on the same level as the character. Right before it's her turn ask if she wants to go alone or if she wants you to join her.

Even if she does become shy, I still recommend taking the photo so you have the memory. Even though my DD will sometimes shy her head, she's never scared and she loves looking at the photo once we leave. A lot of the Attendants or DPI will try to get your DDs attention by yelling at her, I find that the Attendants end up making her more upset then the characters, so I just say "It's alright, she's just shy and wants to hide."

Here are two photos within just a couple weeks - the differences being an enclosed private area with 1 character v an open area with multiple characters. But she loves looking at the Scooby photo and saying 'doggy! woof, woof!'

 

[nherbert]

My DS was really worried in the long lines as there was nothing to distract during the wait. We eventually had more success at the meals, but it took a few to warm up enough to stand up with the characters. Get her to sit on the outside edge it is easier for character to interact gently this way. The other thing I discovered that he warmed up to the ones with out real faces ok, but was very very shy and nervous with the ones that could talk (eg princesses). We had more success after a few days at the parks after he was used to seeing them around, rather than on first day. Towards the end of a trip we had lots of success in queues for rarer characters that we didn't see a lot of eg Phineas & Ferb and Dug from UP and the monsters inc characters. He was super excited to meet those but I suspect because we warmed him up with the others.

 

[disnut8]

I really like the idea of you going over first and then letting her go at her own pace and meet them how she wants. She may be happy to just watch Mom be silly and that's ok too!

I like this idea. We went to a character breakfast with a friend's family which included a small daughter. All the characters came around since there was a young one there (the rest of us were very old teenagers and adults) but the little one was just not having it and her mother was disappointed. Until Chip came over and, once the little one turned away from him, he went to the Mom (wh was right by the little one's side) and started "playing" with Mom. First he touched her and she smiled and then he rubbed her head and she laughed and then he hunkered down and "asked" if the little one was hers and she said yes so he patted her on the back and "congratulated" her. By that time, the spell had broken and Chip was able to go back to the little one and, with Mom right next door, be able to shake the little one's hand and then rub her head. She squealed with delight so Chip "called over" Dale, and well, about ten minutes later, they both left.