For those with shy, clingy kids

[jrydberg]

Just a word of advice about getting shy, clingy kids to try the kids' club. My daughter is 5 and VERY shy around adults she doesn't know very well.

Having read up a bit about things before our 5/1 Eastern cruise, I decided to register her for the club the first night, but not take her to the club until the following evening. Being on the ship can be a very overwhelming experience, even if she was having a great time.

Sunday evening I put her in the club for one hour. I told her it would be just an hour and that I would buy her something from the store if she stayed the hour without paging me. She wasn't thrilled but sorta grudgingly said ok. She didn't page me and I promptly picked her up after an hour.

The next day she went for a couple hours and after that she wanted to go quite often.

Basically, I think it helped an awful lot to ease her into it. Had I taken her to the club at the first opportunity, it would have been chaotic and I think she would have been very uneasy about going back. Buying her a little trinket for $6 from the store didn't hurt either Hope this helps.

Jeff

 

[MamaCrush]

Thanks for sharing your experience on this. We will be cruising with a 3 and 4 yo, both of whom can be clingy. I'm all into trying to manage that. Would love to hear others' experiences on this. For example, both kids are terrified of characters. I assume that the Disney characters are aware of this sort of thing and know when to stear clear!

 

[JJsmama]

MamaCrush,
I'd say you are in a better position since you have the two of them together. My 5 year old is very shy but his 3 year old brother is not. I hope to have them in the same group, even if the older is with the yonger group. He is gentle and helpful with younger children and most of all, they both will be greatly comforted by being together.

All that said, after hearing about the massive number of children in the clubs, I do not expect my children to be in there nearly as much as I had origianlly hoped.

 

[KaitlinsMom]

Jeff -

You hit it right on the nail - Our DD (also 5) is EXTREMELY shy to say the least -

We made the mistake of taking her with us to register - The place is a mad house! she cried and would not even go through the doors! - So I went and registered her while my DH consoled her - Didn't take her in that night at all -

But the next day, we did the same as you - put her in for a little bit and promised to get her something from the shops -

By the end of the cruise - she was in there a lot!!! She was asking us to go! She took to a counselor and we gave her a phone card for taking such great care of our daughter -

 

[jrydberg]

MamaCrush,

The characters and staff were great about making kids as comfortable as possible. My daughter wanted to see the characters, but didn't particularly like to have her picture taken with them. The photographers still tried to "sneak" a picture in there on occasion, but only while my daughter was distracted

If they're really scared of the characters, your kids should be able to avoid them (with the possible exception of the character breakfast, but you can always skip that and eat breakfast at Topsiders or do room service that day).

BTW, any events with characters present have that noted on the Navigator.

 

[MamaCrush]

Originally posted by JJsmama
MamaCrush,
I'd say you are in a better position since you have the two of them together.

Actually, we've timed our cruise so there would be no doubt that they could stay together! DD3 and DS4 love each other like crazy and I thought if they could be together DH and I would have a much better chance of getting a little alone time.

Thanks to everyone for all the hints. I know we're not leaving port for another 8 mos, but this is too important of a detail just to hope for the best!

I also love hearing that many CM's have taken a personal interest in the kids. That would so much add to thier comfort and enjoyment of the cruise. THAT'S why we want to cruise Disney!

 

[TheWog]

Our son is very personable "once he warms up". We brought him on Sunday and he paged us within 15 mins. We hung out for a while, tried it again later or the next day, only with activities he wanted to, but he paged us again within 20 mins. But once he understood we were right there as soon as he paged he was more comfortable and ended staying for the activities he wanted to do. Biggest thing we did was stress that he did not have to be there, it is a family vacation and we want you with us, but if you want to try things, please do it. He was great after that. I did see one family leaving their little boy and this boy was crying his head off. They told him they had plans and off they want, poor Donald, my son took him in and as far as we know he had a good time.

Just be patient and let them know it is just to have fun.

 

[rjones69]

My 6-year old finally warmed up to it the last night of our 4 night cruise. He is so much looking forward to going back this time. He remembers how much fun he had and is over the fear. But that is why we chose to do Disney because I knew that he would be that way and if he never went to the kids club we could still have fun with all the family entertainment aboard.

 

[jin diesel]

My daughter (who will be nearing 8 at the time of our cruise) insists that she's so eager to "hang out" at the Kid's club "ALL DAY LONG"!!

But I know better.

She's somewhat shy, but after she warms-up she's fine. The thing is - she and I pretty much do EVERYTHING (it's just the 2 of us) together. So I'll probably miss her as much as she'll miss me!

Like The Wog said, this our family vacation so I plan on spending as much time with her as she wants to spend with me. I can't imagine leaving her in there all day! But if there are enough activities to keep her busy, I will SURELY find plenty of things to keep me busy!