Is it me?

[Muushka]

Please don't flame me parents, but I have a question. We were at MVMCP last night (had a very nice time by the way :0) ). We are just 2 hearty adults who braved the cold weather (it got down to about 39 degrees with winds up to about 15 MPH). We decided to skip the early parade and wait till the second parade to enjoy it with less people.

We sat down on the curb and a mother with a baby-about 15 months old sat down next to us. The baby was wrapped in a blanket. And just crying. Not a loud obnoxious cry, but a sad cry. I felt so bad for that baby.

My question is this: Why would a parent do this to baby?

Not to mention all the children we saw with their little heads with no hat or hair either! We went out and bought hats and gloves, but some of these poor kiddos didn't have either. I don't get it.

 

[LibertyBelle]

No flaming here, that makes me . I often see that same scenario and think WHY???? People come on little infants should not be out in that kind of cold, and if they are bundle them up. Kids too, get them hats and gloves... come on, even my dog has her sweater on today...

 

[WDSearcher]

It depends. If the family is from Barrow, Alaska, the kids probably aren't as cold as you are, being from NC. It's all relative. I grew up "up north," and I'm often walking around in short sleeves while other folks in my office are bundled up in turtlenecks and sweaters. If the kids were complaining about being cold or obviously uncomfortable, that's one thing. If you just noticed them without hats, that's something else. Mom may actually have hats in her bag and the kids refuse to wear them. You really don't have enough info there to make a solid judgement.

As for the baby ... I've seen lots of people at WDW carrying around or pushing a stroller with a crying baby or a crying child. I've seen parents bring 3 week old infants to the parks and I wonder how they could do that! But I don't think that the parents are "doing" anything to their kids simply because it's cold and the child is crying. The baby may simply be tired, but perfectly warm enough. Without knowing what the child had on UNDER the blanket they were wrapped in, it's hard to tell. And the parents apparently still wanted to see the fireworks and felt it was fine. Maybe that's selfish of the parents, but it doesn't sound like the baby was being treated badly. Probably just up way past bedtime.

 

[dolphindan1]

I agree...The child was probably tired or hungry...Infants are very good with temps and cannot adapt well to them...That being said I wouldnt dream of having mine out without some sort of protection....Be it sunblock or a coat....Infants cry thats what they do...the parent wanted to see the parade for themselves or fireworks was well within their right too....The infant could of had a wet or nasty diaper too..If it wasnt screaming then it wasnt hurt or anything....

 

[Mymatisse]

Muushka-

I totally see where you are coming from here. I think very often parents try to push kids, be it by staying up late to shop or sit out in the cold to watch a parade because the parents get enjoyment out of the activity. And to add to that I think some parents will push their children to their limits in WDW because it cost so much to vacation and they probably don't go there very often. Stopping for a nap, or to get a hat etc..takes up too much time so they just make their kids suck it up and deal.

Now I'm not saying this goes for every parent in every situation, but I think it's a valid observation in some cases.

 

[Dragonfly8124]

I'm with WDSearcher on this. I too am from NC. Weather is all over the place right now. Warm last week and in mid 20's this week. Brrrr. However, it does depend on the person. My family alone is odd about this. Me and my dad stay cold - if it's under 80 it's cold so we walk around in sweats in the summer too. On the other hand my mom and my brother stay hot. My mom will walk outside with snow on the ground no coat and the wind just freezing and she will say that it feels good. So when we were younger I am sure people looked at us strange. On a cool day me and dad "bundled" up and mom and brother in shorts and a t-shirt. But, speaking as a mom and the temp is cool I will dress my child appropriately - hats, coats and mittens a must when it is cold.

Woo hoo waiting to go to Disney in January. By the way anyone know what the temps are like around mid January? Am I going to have to bring a parka or what?

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I often think the same thing when I see a little baby with no hat on to protect his head and very red skin in the extreme heat of summer.

 

[Mymatisse]

Just another aside and I'll shut up...

I'm from Buffalo, NY. It's COLD in Buffalo in the winter. When I went to Florida in Jan. there were people bundled up and we were fine, so yes to a great extent it does depend on what you're use to. However, even in Buffalo if it were below freezing or even close I would not take my BABY out without being properly bundled up. It just seems like common sense. Okay.. i'm done

 

[Muushka]

I appreciate everyone's comments. However, it was 10:45 at night and the parade had not even come towards us yet. Plus, it was 39 degrees, max, and winds upward of 15 MPH. I really wonder about priorities here.
Perhaps someone who was there on the 14th would make me feel better about what parents are thinking about. Thanks all.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

I was at MVMCP last night and yes, it was cold! I saw kids with no hats, gloves or even coats who indeed looked miserable. I wanted to buy all of them warm hats and give them lots of hot chocolate.

I don't understand keeping your child out when it is cold and they aren't properly dressed, or pushing them to stay out way past their bedtime. You see that too often at Disney. I know MVMCP is expensive for a family, but making anyone miserable just isn't worth it.

We had planned on staying till midnight, but we left at 11. It was just too cold. And we had coats, gloves, and hats.

 

[Alaska Catdog]

When you live in the cold (I'm not in Barrow but I am in Alaska) you get used to it, when you're an adult. But babies just are not capable of keeping themselves warm and mommies and daddies need to put babies needs first. Even here, where 39 degrees is balmy this time of year (and yes some of us do wear shorts at 39 in December) people bundle their babies and move them in and out of the elements as quickly as possible (I can't even buy baby clothes for my neices and nephews here because they live in the lower 48 and the only baby clothes I can find her are to warm and fleecy for their climates) . Chances are if you don't live in the cold, you don't have the proper clothing to handle the cold. If you are a parent and you are cold you should assume that your kiddiewinks are colder. Get those rugrats inside. Goodness Gracious.

 

[eeyore45]

My hope is maybe the baby had colic? I have 3 kids, the last had bouts of colic, and I could do nothing to make her stop, dh would take a shift, so I could take a walk and get away from the incessant crying! Again, I wasnt there, and 15mos dont get colic, but I'll never forget that feeling of helplessness. and my 15 yr DS goes to school in shorts - yesterday windchill was 10deg F!! (no hat, no gloves, but a teenager - but shorts?!!)

 

[vandergriff4]

We were in MK on Saturday Dec. 11th and anyone that saw me and my family probably thought we were bad parents as my 2 yr old son didn't have on a hat. I had one for him but he would not wear it. He kept taking it off. I finally gave up trying to keep it on him after about a hundred times of putting it on him and him taking it off. Although, as we leaving he fell asleep in his stroller and I did put the hat on him then. Even as an infant my son would not tolerate hats. So when you see a baby without a hat it could just be that the baby will not keep it on.

 

[TnTsParty]

When we were in WDW this past weekend we saw a few tiny babies with no hats on - now they weren't old enough to not tolerate hats - they were tiny almost newborn. Also some of those newborns didn't even have socks on.

 

[drumflower]

I live where it gets very cold and I never wear a hat! I guess it wasn't cool in school to do so and plus it messes up my hair! I guess I am still rebelling! lol It is funny becasue my kids want to wear hats! Not me! Heehee

 

[chesirekate]

We were at WDW last week. Not knowing exactly what the temp was going to be, I played it safe and brought each of us gloves, a hat (earmuffs for me), and a scarf, along with a warm jacket. Luckily we did not have to use them as it was 80's during the day and not much cooler at night. I think those parents who did not think ahead should have at least bit the bullet and bought hats and gloves for the kids. I remember seeing them in several stores so they shouldn't have been too hard to find. Thirty-nine degrees is cold, even for this Michigander. I don't know what to say about the baby, I don't know enough about the details.

 

[WDWorBUST]

We were there 12/4-12/12 - we were very lucky that it was warm when we were there. But I had warm clothes and cool clothes - that's why we had 5 checked bags and the max carryon (I will figure something different out next time though - that was insane) Back to the crying baby - why the baby was crying - who knows. BUT - I do think people go to WDW and decide they will get their moneys worth. We bought APs this time just so we wouldn't be as commando. We are used to being two adults that go go go....this trip we didn't get out of the room until 9-10 every morning and were back by 1-2pm for a nap and then not out again until anywhere between 5 & 7pm depending on DD's nap and we all know the parks close early in December. Not to mention if we got back out by 5pm we were usually back in the room no later than 8 or 9pm because she was tired. She could make it until 9 or 10pm the days she took longer naps. But I would never have pushed her. There were times I was frustrated - the first day we went to AK - we did Tarzan, Triceratop Spin, and Conservation Station before she needed a nap. In the past we would have done everything in the park and then stayed for the parade and ate somewhere in there. But we decided that this trip was for her and for her enjoyment. And in turn we enjoyed it because she is my joy!! She absolutely loved the Christmas Parade at MVMCP and we watched the 10:45pm one - we were walking out and found a great spot 5 minutes before it started....I told DH that we would try it but if she got fussy we were out of there. She LOVED it!! She sat there waving at all the characters in the parade. It was well worth it. She slept late the next day though. One big frustration was that she only saw that one parade because all the others fell during her nap time. And we don't have a rigid schedule with her....she just couldn't make it that late in the day without her nap. I did comment do DH that it would be really hard to take a baby her age AND an older child because as it was we catered completely to her. We will have to swap more when/if we have another one and take him/her that young with Sammi. Every family is different. We planned this year going 12/04, May 05, and a week earlier 12/05 so the AP's would be worth the money to us. And we didn't mind spending 4-5 hours in the park in a day because we didn't have passes expiring that we used a WHOLE day off of for that amount of time. That would have made me crazy. I went to the mall the other night and it was probably somewhere between 35 & 45 degrees outside (I'm not good with temperatures - but it was cold) Sammi would not keep her shoes on so I gave in and took them off and had her in her stroller in her sock feet....then she wouldn't keep her socks on. I finally gave up but I know I looked like the worst mother in the world.

 

[wdw4us2]

No matter what time of year it is, I can't stand being at WDW and seeing children screaming and crying when they're tired, too cold or too hot. It's hard for me to understand whey parents don't see they're tired and take them back to the hotel for a break.

That said, we have the good fortune of living 2 hours from WDW so we get to visit quite often. When our kids were younger and they'd get cranky, we'd just leave. I guess people that are taking that "once in a lifetime trip" to WDW just want to make sure they get their money's worth.

Even our kids comment when they see unhappy kids at WDW. They don't ever remember having a trip like that. I just tell them we did what I wrote above.

 

[FatCow]

The situation is reversed with me.

I kept asking my DD6 whether she wants to go back to the hotel and she's the who insisted on staying (she already wore a T, sweater and a jacket, but I can tell that she still felt cold, so I insisted that she wore an extra fleece throw around her).

 

[minkydog]

I well remember two years ago when we took our "dream vacation" to WDW at Christmas. It was cold, but magical, as we lined up for Spectra. All of a sudden, my then-8yo DD couldn't take it another minute. She absolutely dissolved in tears. There was no consoling her, so we picked her up and carried her out of the park. A good snuggle in the bed and a warm cup of cocoa was just the thing she needed.

I think the whole thing comes down to a we-paid-a-lotta-money-for-this, we're-gonna-enjoy-it-if-it-kills-us attitude. Every time we go to WDW i see parents pushing their kids beyond their limits and then getting mad when the kids are crying (or sick or whatever). I know it costs a lot, but it's only money. You'll get more! I'd much rather have memories of comforting my child (and doing the right thing!) than memories of my miserable child whining, crying, and clearly not enjoying herself.

Cathy