Enforcing rules at Disney?

[MyFriendEeyoreUK]

Hello!

Just after some opinions about enforcing rules from home on holidays!

For example, at home we have strict rules about finishing dinner before any dessert, limited snacks that aren't 'healthy' etc.

Do you apply the same rules at Disney? We are going to be on DDP so there will be a temptation for DD to try and eat her own body-weight in ice cream if we're not careful! We obviously want her to have some fun and treats but she will be 3.5 so don't want to set precedents on holiday that she will then expect at home....

What do you guys do? Do you relax the rules or stick to your guns?

Thankyou

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Hello!

Just after some opinions about enforcing rules from home on holidays!

For example, at home we have strict rules about finishing dinner before any dessert, limited snacks that aren't 'healthy' etc.

Do you apply the same rules at Disney? We are going to be on DDP so there will be a temptation for DD to try and eat her own body-weight in ice cream if we're not careful! We obviously want her to have some fun and treats but she will be 3.5 so don't want to set precedents on holiday that she will then expect at home....

What do you guys do? Do you relax the rules or stick to your guns?

Thankyou

We do a mix of both. For the "absolute musts" of parenting -- being respectful to siblings/others, having manners, etc. -- those obviously stay in the program, and we'll enforce those rules. My parenting style is fairly fun-loving, though, so I'm not a super-strict, in-your-face kind of parent -- I'm more apt to say a casual correction than dole out a lot of finger-wagging.

As for other stuff, we're more flexible. Ice cream every night at home? Not happening. But at the Fort, it's our ritual to eat a Mickey ice cream bar while sitting in the rocking chairs at the Trading Post. They don't come home and expect ice cream every night afterward...at least they haven't yet...so I guess it works for us.

You'll find what works for you! Have fun!

 

[msmayor]

Sometimes we have dessert FOR dinner....

 

[MyFriendEeyoreUK]

Sometimes we have dessert FOR dinner....

Between you and me, I like this idea

Might add it to my "bad Mothers list of things I'm not supposed to do but will anyway"

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We are pretty flexible on vacation It depends if the "rule" is really important in the grand scheme of things. DD5 knows how to behave properly and we didn't have any problems at disney. I thought she might get super tired and cranky but we were lucky. We did try to stay on her schedule though in terms of meals, down time and bedtime. Even though she goes to bed at 7:30pm at home. We watched the fireworks from our balcony at the Contemporary at 8pm and then we all went to bed. We are not night owls, we only stayed out "late" twice.

We do not let DD5 have pop at home very often. She kept asking at disney, we were on the DxDDP. I am guilty of enjoying pop with my meals since I don't drink alcohol I always consider it my "treat". DH thought we should relax and let her have pop with meals if she wanted. After a couple days with her complaining that her stomach hurt after drinking pop and not eating anything, I cut her off. We went back to white milk with meals and I let her have a sip of my pop. She didn't complain so it was no big deal. DD5 is a very small eater, she ate nothing on vacation. At the character meals I think she was just too distracted. We still let her have dessert with every meal, she didn't eat that either We never buy toys or treats when shopping at home but at disney we bought her a treat everyday. So many toys we had to buy a new suitcase to bring them home

Oh well, it was our first family visit and we had a blast. We are going back next year and I can't wait

 

[Kimberly Hill]

I agree with the other posters. The basic rules of our family involving good behavior exist no matter where we are, but things like where and when we eat, bedtimes, and such go out the window as long as it doesn't affect that good behavior.

 

[littlbugmom]

We are strict about some rules, tweak other rules and throw some right out the window!

 

[arielmomma]

Sometimes we have dessert FOR dinner....

I have also allowed cake for breakfast.

 

[arielmomma]

In all seriousness, like the PPs, certain rules regarding proper behavior must always be enforced. At home, we eat pretty healthy (with the exception of a few times a year where we do have cake for breakfast or dessert for dinner), but while on vacation we throw that to the wind! I do make my kids (6 & 3) eat veggies and fruits with their meals and they can't eat sugar until they vomit, but they do get to splurge and eat a lot more junk than I allow at home.

Its a couple weeks a year. Let 'em live!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I agree with the PP. Certain rules, like safety, minding mommy, being kind and curteous, stay in place. But other things get tossed.

We might have ice cream for dinner. DD is a picky eater, especially when it comes to vegetables. I've learned it's a texture thing related to her sensory problems. But if the vegetables aren't cooked just right, she won't eat them. So I don't press it when we're at WDW. If she wants french fries at every meal, it's fine at WDW when it isn't at home. This past trip, I threw bedtime out the window but learned my lesson. Mid-day naps weren't making up for it so we will be sticking a lot closer to bedtime this next trip.

 

[rcallbeck]

I have also allowed cake for breakfast.

That's what my wife requests every year for Mother's day - chocolate cake breakfast in bed..

 

[PinkRhombus]

I've told mine they can do whatever they want with their snack credits, but If they get a cookie or brownie with their lunch or dinner, I don't give those back to them until later.

 

[VirataMama4]

Sometimes we have dessert FOR dinner....

I have also allowed cake for breakfast.

And here I though I was the only parent that allowed this! In the Summer we have ice cream for dinner about once a month!

 

[v.t.]

Sometimes we have dessert FOR dinner....

I have also allowed cake for breakfast.

And here I though I was the only parent that allowed this! In the Summer we have ice cream for dinner about once a month!

Can I join the club?
The other night we had popcorn (with M&M's of course) and snow cones for dinner!

 

[imthatgirl]

All those little rules go out the window at disney. I'm on vacation...but so are my kids. So I let them live it up. Thats what a vacation is for.

Of course we still expect them to be respectful and use their manners...but food and bedtimes, it's so unimportant in the long run.

And we have also been known to have icecream for dinner...gotta have fun some times

 

[Britgirlus]

I'm with most of the pps - behavior wise, the rules stay the same - but otherwise, we're on vacation, so ds6 gets to eat candy and ice cream, stay up late, and buy more stuff than we would ever buy at home. Can't wait -because the new rules apply to me, too

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Can I join the club?
The other night we had popcorn (with M&M's of course) and snow cones for dinner!

DD had a snowcone for dinner last night, sort of. We'd just gotten home and she heard the icecream truck. She just missed it a few nights ago and had been disappointed. So I let her buy a snowcone. Now later on I got her to eat some fruit and yogurt as dinner, but the snowcone came first.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

We have ice cream and sweet strawberry soup for breakfast at 1900 Park Fare! Really, is that any less healthy than salty, high cholesterol bacon and eggs?

Our one rule for next trip is MANDATORY DOWNTIME. DS4 rarely takes a nap for us... but I want him to have downtime at the resort most afternoons. This is to prevent overtired whining/tantrums. And if we do have whining/tantrums, we will stop and take a break.

Kids age 4+ are usually well behaved anyway. It's the teenagers I worry about. They are not coming with us next trip.... just turned 20 anyway.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I'm not what anyone would call a strict parent, but I have learned that my kids (and now grandkids) are fairly sensitive to things like sugar and overly fatty foods. Too much makes them cranky and feeling sick. So we try to stick pretty close to what we eat at home: plenty of fruits and vegetables, not too much processed or sugary foods. It's not so much about maintaining discipline, it's just that nobody will enjoy the vacation if all the kids are miserable!

Teresa

 

[Tiger926]

Pretty much the same rules apply - not sure why it would be any different? Most kids do well with structure as they know what is coming next and what is expected of them.

We allow the kids to stay up a bit later on the weekends, so we allow a bit later at WDW, but not much later at all. We also don't eat fast foods, drink pop, eat candy, etc., so we don't allow this on vacation either.

I just find that most of the cranky and tired kids I see at the parks are probably that way because they are off schedule, lack of sleep and eating/drinking too much garbage.

Vacation for us means visiting our fav place - it does not mean messing up our daily schedules, changing discipline or changing our eating habits. Those stay with us.

Tiger