Drowning?? Arts of animation

[mummabear]

OMG, what a ditz I am. Now I feel so dumb.
But thank goodness!!!

I assumed you meant the loss of her brother who sadly did pass away.

 

[WEDWDW]

I am at AoA right now visiting-feels really sad here-my heart breaks for the Lifeguards on duty then-WDW lifeguards are so conscientious-this loss has to be hard on all of them.

 

[Ride Junkie]

My heart goes out to the family of this little boy. It really can happen in an instant. I was at Universal recently, and my 6-year-old hopped out of a scooter I was parking, and when I turned around, she was gone. It was near the exit, and there was a huge crowd of people heading for the exit and the restroom. After a frantic search, she returned to the same spot after probably less than 5 minutes. It was the longest 5 minutes of my life. She had run into the bathroom nearby and I didn't see her go since there were so many people in that area of the park. It was terrifying, and I shudder to think what could have happened. I am grateful that my situation did not end in tragedy.

Those poor parents will most likely beat themselves up plenty because of this terrible accident. If the family of that little boy ever reads here, all I can say is I'm so sorry for your loss, and please forgive yourselves.

 

[Disneylover99]

I thought that she was referring to the loss of the PP's brother.

I assumed you meant the loss of her brother who sadly did pass away.

Oh my goodness. I was so distraught by her first paragraph, thinking that her three year old passed away, that I didn't even read the second paragraph where her brother really did pass away.

 

[Disneylover99]

I am at AoA right now visiting-feels really sad here-my heart breaks for the Lifeguards on duty then-WDW lifeguards are so conscientious-this loss has to be hard on all of them.

Wow. Yeah. It must be so hard working there right now.

 

[Angel Ariel]

My deepest condolences to the family. I will be keeping them as well as the lifeguards and witnesses in my thoughts.

 

[britterbell]

I can't even imagine losing a loved one at "the Happiest Place on Earth". What a horrible tragedy. All of those involved will be in my prayers, especially for the little angel that heaven gained this past week

 

[bookgirl]

What are his consequences for getting away from you? My best friend has a 3 year old like this and it scares the crap out of me. He could easily have drowned at Fort Wilderness. While at breakfast at Trails End, he simply just walked out and could've been in the water before anyone noticed. I say that to let you know that I do understand how fast things can happen, but he has no consequences for his actions. That's why he feels like he can walk out of restaurants. If he touched fire, he wouldn't do it again, because it has a consequence attached. Don't get me wrong, this boy was just born this way. But, not enough is done to combat what nature has given them. My point is that some people have runners, and SOME will never change. But, most kids behavior can be adjusted if the guardian is willing to actually discipline their child. Not casting aspersions on you, just giving my experience.

For some kids, consequences don't work. Some are so impulsive, consequences don't even occur to them. They just act. For kids like your friend's and the poster you quoted, you cannot do much to "combat what nature has given them." You have to work WITH what nature gave them. It's a completely different style of parenting than the mainstream styles. What you may see as not disciplining a child may be a parenting using this different style. Until you parent a child like this, you just don't know. So please, do not judge or make assumptions on the parent. If you've never been there, with that kind of kid, don't assume the parents are "bad" or not doing their job. Their job is way different than yours as a parent simply because their kid is different than yours.

I have an "adventurous, free-spirited" daughter. She was like this from birth. Trying to discipline her to adjust behavior has not worked. Either her impulsiveness took over or she was unable to connect the dots to relate the consequence to her behavior. When she was 2 she unbuckled her stroller belt and slipped out of it in the baggage area of LAX while DH and I each grabbed a bag from the carousel. She had never done that before. Thank goodness a woman nearby saw her and scooped her up. I was horrified that I didn't see, but the woman laughed and said she raised a little Houdini, too. My DD is 11 now and has ADHD. I thank God everyday that we made it out of her toddler/preschool years with no major incidents.

I feel horrible for the parents and their family. I can't imagine how it would feel to lose one of the things I love the most in my favorite place on earth. I hope in time they can find the peace they need to continue living their lives.

I am trying not to take offense at this. We have tried time outs, reward charts, all types of positive reinforcement, taking toys away, spanking, etc. Everything. And yes, we are consistent. We've tried it all, and NOTHING works. We may be looking at a bigger issue with him. Since we also have an 18-month-old, for safety's sake we go almost nowhere. He hasn't been in a pool since he was a baby. This is such a sensitive issue with me - my cousin lost her son to drowning as a toddler. In part due to that, and also just my nature, I am the very definition of a helicopter parent. I realize you don't know me, and I am certainly not a perfect parent, but I don't like the implication that better parenting will "fix" my child. In some cases yes, but in some, definitely no. I might not have believed that if I didn't have the child that I do (although I have 2 younger sisters who acted similarly, so it wasn't a complete shock). No matter the type of child I was blessed with, I cannot imagine ever being presumptuous enough to think it could never happen to me.

My heart is breaking for this family.

As previously posted I had a hyper vigilant mother and was a wanderer even she would lose track of me due to my nature. My parents believed in discipline, spanking, grounding to my room, loss of rewards, nope nothing worked for me, I was a firm rule follower in every other circumstances but I was constantly looking around and eager to explore. I wasn't wandering to be naughty I just had that nature. My mom finally had to work with me and build skills so that when I did disappear I knew how to resolve the problem. Didn't help my moms worry but it did make me a lot more aware and as I got to elementary school I learned to stop and tell my mom I was going and she sucked it up and LET me have some independence. It wasn't her first choice but it was a working system. Those first 4 or 5 years were hard because anything could have happened. Don't assume that every child can be 'trained'.

 

[smidgy]

Prayers going out for this family!! I don't know the circumstances behind this incident but I witness what could possibly have been a tragic incident at POR pool last trip. We we're in the deepest part of the pool and a small child came over to us holding onto the side of the pool. It was obvious that he was having trouble swimming and he was trying to get out of the pool but he could not lift himself over the side. He asked me and my niece for help. He said he was 4 yrs old and he could not find his parents. We took him to the lifeguard for help. We watched as a CM circled the pool with him for more than 30 mins until they finally found his parents sitting over in a corner near the pool bar with no view of the pool!!

this post almost sounds like an accusation. of course those parents at POR that time were neglectful, but why mention it here? speculating at all on blaming these parents is cruel. this was a horrible accident.

 

[sharadoc]

Many posts have been removed from this thread in order for it to remain open.

Insensitive and/or accusatory posts will not be tolerated here due to the nature of this horrific tragedy.

Thank you. It's such a terrible tragedy and it helps those of us who want to console and grieve together, and the insensitive posts negated that.

 

[mummabear]

THIS! When my nephew was that age he was notorious for getting away from the family. You would blink and he was gone. We were six adults on one vacation searching the entire pool area to make sure he hadn't fallen in. And no, we were not "at" the pool, we had just arrived and were walking near the area.

Terrible things can happen to the most vigilant of parents. My prayers go out to this family.

We went to Chip and Dales campfire last trip and as I was helping DD3 I lost track of DD20 months for what must have been less then a minute but I was terrified thinking there were two fires and open water nearby. It took everything to keep calm and search (and by this I mean I didnt have to even move from where I was standing to spot her) but it felt like eternity. It was a good reminder that (where possible) to assess danger and take steps to avoid it (like in this case making sure DH had active eyes on DD20 months), but also those things seem simple in hindsight.
But if we were in the foodcourt at AOA I dont think a danger I would have assessed was the gated pool.
As PP have noted it is very important to not let unattended children through gates (in or out) even if that means you come across as being rude and shutting the gate on them (in bigger crowds where multiple people are passing gate holding duties from person to person it can be unclear who is with who)

 

[danny1649]

Fellow Board Members please when you post to this Thread don't be judgemental and blame anyone.We all are heartbroken over this tragedy. Webmaster Jackie and I are following posts to this thread.WE can't be here 24 hours a day though.So please report inappropriate posts in your mind and we will take appropriate action on posts if we are in agreement on them. Thanks Danny TP&S Board moderator