Enforcement of 14 yr old restriction

[mjkacmom]

Sorry you do not see the problems with it. I was not refering to help, I was referring to the fact a young teen is likely to feel responsible to a younger brother or sister being hurt or even kidnapped.

Any number of stranger things can happen at a busy park.

AKK

Kidnapped?! Please. I have five teenagers, and all of them would be perfectly capable of babysitting a younger child while in an amusement park, I'm amazed at the paranoia and hovering of some parents these days. I'm so glad I let my kids grow up without living in fear.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Kidnapped?! Please. I have five teenagers, and all of them would be perfectly capable of babysitting a younger child while in an amusement park, I'm amazed at the paranoia and hovering of some parents these days. I'm so glad I let my kids grow up without living in fear.

That is your opinion and your free to have it. But don't use *please*. Today a kidnappers can in the blink of a eye , make off with a 10 year old, on problem. A shot in the child to dope them up, into a bathroom or corner to change clothes with something premade, cut the hair in a stall and out the gate they go!

Then the 14 year old spends the rest of their lives in emotional pain over not stopping the whole thing. Sorry no matter which way you look at it, a 10 or younger is still the parents or a adults job in a busy and confusing theme park or a mall or any number of other venues. Home of course i another story.

AKK

 

[mom2rtk]

That is your opinion and your free to have it. But don't use *please*. Today a kidnappers can in the blink of a eye , make off with a 10 year old, on problem. A shot in the child to dope them up, into a bathroom or corner to change clothes with something premade, cut the hair in a stall and out the gate they go!

Then the 14 year old spends the rest of their lives in emotional pain over not stopping the whole thing. Sorry no matter which way you look at it, a 10 or younger is still the parents or a adults job in a busy and confusing theme park or a mall or any number of other venues. Home of course i another story.

AKK

My apologies if I have you confused with another poster. But didn't you comment recently in a thread about college drop-offs about parents hanging around too long and having a hard time letting go? That's not something that happens over night. You lay the groundwork in the teen years when you give your kids opportunities like this for independence.

 

[mjkacmom]

That is your opinion and your free to have it. But don't use *please*. Today a kidnappers can in the blink of a eye , make off with a 10 year old, on problem. A shot in the child to dope them up, into a bathroom or corner to change clothes with something premade, cut the hair in a stall and out the gate they go!

Then the 14 year old spends the rest of their lives in emotional pain over not stopping the whole thing. Sorry no matter which way you look at it, a 10 or younger is still the parents or a adults job in a busy and confusing theme park or a mall or any number of other venues. Home of course i another story.

AKK

Wow. Just wow. Step away from your Law and Order episodes. Exactly how many kids have been kidnapped at WDW? Let's say zero? How many attempted abductions? Let's say zero? So, 14 year olds should never be left in public with a 10 year old? You can't really believe the scenario you just described.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

My apologies if I have you confused with another poster. But didn't you comment recently in a thread about college drop-offs about parents hanging around too long and having a hard time letting go? That's not something that happens over night. You lay the groundwork in the teen years when you give your kids opportunities like this for independence.

That's me and I don't see how that has anything to do with this risking your children.

AKK

 

[mom2rtk]

That's me and I don't see how that has anything to do with this risking your children.

AKK

I guess it depends on your definition of "risking".

And I see the 2 as very connected. The type of parent that sees risk around every corner is the very type of parent who has trouble separating from their child when they leave for college.

No, Disney is not a magic bubble. But logistically it's just a much safer place than the local mall or a rest stop along the highway. Where is someone going to go with a kidnapped child? It's not like they have a car parked close enough for a quick getaway. There's only one (two at Epcot) entrances to a park. It limits what a kidnapper could do.

I was babysitting at 12. I would have no issue with my 14 year old being in charge of a sibling for a while in a park. Of course, that varies a lot by child, but I certainly would not make a blanket statement against it.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Wow. Just wow. Step away from your Law and Order episodes. Exactly how many kids have been kidnapped at WDW? Let's say zero? How many attempted abductions? Let's say zero? So, 14 year olds should never be left in public with a 10 year old? You can't really believe the scenario you just described.

Well you can try and mock all you wish, and I never said *never*. Home, local town that is one thing. A busy and confusing theme park, or other busy strange venue, is my point.

This is not a unusual possibility. It happens, ask any law enforcement. Then if it happens to your 14 year old, how to you stop their lives from being emotionally wrecked, knowing they lost their little brother or sister? Maybe you should turn off Law and Order and watch real news and events.

However you can do as you wish, but the facts is still this kind of watching the kids is for the parents and a adult.

AKK

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I really think the rule was developed more for DL than WDW, anyway. Parents were buying annual passes to DL for their children & using it as daycare (drop off in morning, pick up in evening).

Sounds like the best summer camp ever!

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I guess it depends on your definition of "risking".

And I see the 2 as very connected. They type of parent that sees risk around every corner is the very type of parent who has trouble separating from their child when they leave for college.

No, Disney is not a magic bubble. But logistically it's just a much safer place than the local mall or a rest stop along the highway. Where is someone going to go with a kidnapped child? It's not like they have a car parked close enough for a quick getaway. There's only one (two at Epcot) entrances to a park. It limits what a kidnapper could do.

I was babysitting at 12. I would have no issue with my 14 year old being in charge of a sibling for a while in a park. Of course, that varies a lot by child, but I certainly would not make a blanket statement against it.

I do not see it, the other post was about college. We are talking about a 14 year old being saddled with watching 10 or younger brothers or sisters in a busy theme park or other venue and the risk to the younger children and emotional damage to the older child. This is the parents responsibility not the 14 year olds. Home, local town, that is one thing, a busy and confusing theme park or other venue another.

AKK

 

[Jennasis]

MANY years ago, my parents left me and my sisters alone in the parks for the afternoon. It was my older sister 15, me 12, and my little sister 6. They gave us cash and our room keys (for a FT. Wilderness cabin) and told us to come back after the park closed. We were in Epcot, stayed there for a while, got bored, hopped to MK and rode around everything before hopping a boat to the resort. We thought it was pretty cool and we were very well behaved...even ate a sit down with no reservation! Turns out the reason we'd been turned loose was because my Dad had a MASSIVE asthma attack earlier that day while we were all in Epcot. He wound up being medically evac'd from the back of the park via ambulance to the hospital with my mom. We kids were completely unaware of what happened. I remember that trip fondly...Mom and Dad do not.

 

[Magpie]

That is your opinion and your free to have it. But don't use *please*. Today a kidnappers can in the blink of a eye , make off with a 10 year old, on problem. A shot in the child to dope them up, into a bathroom or corner to change clothes with something premade, cut the hair in a stall and out the gate they go!

Then the 14 year old spends the rest of their lives in emotional pain over not stopping the whole thing. Sorry no matter which way you look at it, a 10 or younger is still the parents or a adults job in a busy and confusing theme park or a mall or any number of other venues. Home of course i another story.

AKK

Yes, well... by that standard the 10yo is no safer in my care than in my theoretical 14yo's care. And ALL of us will be living the rest of our lives in (arguably irrational) emotional pain over not stopping the whole thing, regardless of who was "in charge" when it happened and who wasn't.

So, "I must protect my 14yo from the emotional pain of a kidnapped younger sibling!" is a meaningless argument.

You do know, I assume, that no child has ever been kidnapped by a stranger in a Disney theme park? And of course, I assume you are aware that child abductions as a whole (of which stranger abductions consist of only the tiniest fraction) are way down "today", compared to any time in the last 50 years. It's never been safer to be an unaccompanied child.

Some stats for you:

There are 73,941,848 children under age 18 in the USA. About 100 are kidnapped by strangers in a typical year. That means any individual child has a 0.0001 percent chance of being kidnapped by a stranger. This percentage chance is even lower in a crowded place such as a theme park, with cameras and parents and cast members all watching. And yes, you can come back with, "Numbers mean nothing if it's MY child!" But, by that standard, you should never allow your child to get into a car. Or cross the street. Or play in the park (where they might get stung by a bee and discover a heretofore unknown allergy). Or go to school (because while children have never been kidnapped by a stranger in a Disney theme park, they actually HAVE been kidnapped, killed and sexually assaulted in school).

http://children-laws.laws.com/child-abduction/abduction-statistics/trends-in-child-abduction

As far as I'm concerned a parent's "job" isn't to keep their child under constant supervision for the safety of themselves and others. A parent's job isn't to ensure their child grows up without ever experiencing any emotional pain, either. A parent's job is simply to equip these new human beings with the skills to navigate the world independently and with confidence, and also to civilize them and ensure they can become functioning, respectable members of society. It's a long, gradual process (18 years, give or take!) and involves giving the child increasing amounts of freedom and independence.

For some, that might mean allowing a 14yo to supervise a pair of 8yos in a theme park. For others, they may decide their particular teenager isn't up to that level of responsibility. Neither parent is necessarily wrong.

 

[mom2rtk]

I do not see it, the other post was about college. We are talking about a 14 year old being saddled with watching 10 or younger brothers or sisters in a busy theme park or other venue and the risk to the younger children and emotional damage to the older child. This is the parents responsibility not the 14 year olds. Home, local town, that is one thing, a busy and confusing theme park or other venue another.

AKK

Kids are the sum total of their childhood experience when they reach college. Independence needs to be cultivated prior to that day.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Well Ladies. I am not going to keep going back and forth. My points and facts are well established. You are free to do as you wish. I would only make two more points!.. What are you going to be telling your 14 year old, who by the time you get to him or her, is likely a emotional wreck?. Then what are you going to be thinking that night when you know the younger child's safety was the parents responsibility?

AKK

 

[mjkacmom]

Well you can try and mock all you wish, and I never said *never*. Home, local town that is one thing. A busy and confusing theme park, or other busy strange venue, is my point.

This is not a unusual possibility. It happens, ask any law enforcement. Then if it happens to your 14 year old, how to you stop their lives from being emotionally wrecked, knowing they lost their little brother or sister? Maybe you should turn off Law and Order and watch real news and events.

However you can do as you wish, but the facts is still this kind of watching the kids is for the parents and a adult.

AKK

No, it's giving a teen some real life responsibility, which is important. The teen gains confidence. I watch the news - heck, I live 10 miles from NYC, so not all the news is pretty (murder, fires, injuries, rape, drugs, car crashes, pretty much daily). I'm not going to let the media skew my perception that the chances of kidnapping is slimmer that being struck by lightening many times.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Kids are the sum total of their childhood experience when they reach college. Independence needs to be cultivated prior to that day.

I totally agree. That was my point on the other thread.......that is why your college freshman/ mug does not need mommy and daddy following them into induction session and their dorm room.

AKK

 

[mom2rtk]

I totally agree. That was my point on the other thread.......that is why your college freshman/ mug does not need mommy and daddy following them into induction session and their dorm room.

AKK

I don't recall anyone advocating for following them into an induction session.

 

[Hibiscus]

That is your opinion and your free to have it. But don't use *please*. Today a kidnappers can in the blink of a eye , make off with a 10 year old, on problem. A shot in the child to dope them up, into a bathroom or corner to change clothes with something premade, cut the hair in a stall and out the gate they go!

Then the 14 year old spends the rest of their lives in emotional pain over not stopping the whole thing. Sorry no matter which way you look at it, a 10 or younger is still the parents or a adults job in a busy and confusing theme park or a mall or any number of other venues. Home of course i another story.

AKK

That doesn't happen and has never happened, but ignorant people love to keep spreading the story as though it were gospel truth.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/kidnap.asp

An episode of NBC's Law & Order: SVU ("Stolen"; original air date 12 October 2001) opens with a baby girl being kidnapped from a grocery store; the abductor takes her to a bathroom, drugs her, changes her clothes, and cuts her hair.

Hmm... I wonder who needs to turn off Law & Order.

 

[ssreward]

Well Ladies. I am not going to keep going back and forth. My points and facts are well established. You are free to do as you wish. I would only make two more points!.. What are you going to be telling your 14 year old, who by the time you get to him or her, is likely a emotional wreck?. Then what are you going to be thinking that night when you know the younger child's safety was the parents responsibility?

AKK

What "facts" did you even mention, much less ones that are well established? The PP gave the actual statistics, which you choose to ignore. The fact born out by those is children are incredibly unlikely to be abducted by a stranger...more so now than ever

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

That doesn't happen and has never happened, but ignorant people love to keep spreading the story as though it were gospel truth.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/kidnap.asp

An episode of NBC's Law & Order: SVU ("Stolen"; original air date 12 October 2001) opens with a baby girl being kidnapped from a grocery store; the abductor takes her to a bathroom, drugs her, changes her clothes, and cuts her hair.

Hmm... I wonder who needs to turn off Law & Order.

You may want to look at the above..............by that post, and I believe its more,100 kids are kidnapped every year.

AKK

 

[ssreward]

That doesn't happen and has never happened, but ignorant people love to keep spreading the story as though it were gospel truth.

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/kidnap.asp

An episode of NBC's Law & Order: SVU ("Stolen"; original air date 12 October 2001) opens with a baby girl being kidnapped from a grocery store; the abductor takes her to a bathroom, drugs her, changes her clothes, and cuts her hair.

Hmm... I wonder who needs to turn off Law & Order.

Yay, a fellow Snopes-er!! Can we figure out a way to make that site required reading for using the Internet? Lol