Kids in club level lounge?

[AliceIn]

i think anyone that wouldn't allow their 9 and 12 year old to travel two floors up are acting as helicopter parents. At 12 you are entering high school in Canada and that means being exposed to drugs, smoking alcohol and worse. You should teach your kids to be independent and safe. The more you protect them at this age the more you are handicapping them and setting them up for failure.

I find it amazing that people are watching 10 and 12 year olds as if they were 5 or 6. By the time I was 12, I was able to navigate the NYC subway and bus system on my own. At 10 I was allowed to go to the grocery store around the corner to buy candy or snacks. Everybody did this, it was common and normal. The crime rate was MUCH higher back then than it is now, and yet people allowed their children to play outside without constant supervision.

I can see watching your young child (up to age 9 or so) like a hawk, but two children together at 10 and 12 don't need that sort of surveillance. I'd be more wary of a single child, but definitely by 12 I'd let them go to the lounge for a drink or snack by themselves.

 

[brertoad]

Tinkbyday and Donnaduck333...

I agree with both of you. Things can happen anywhere.

Today I was in CVS with my 3 girls and two of my girls, who are teenagers, were in the make-up isle and I was on the end of the isle where you couldn't see me but I could hear what was going on. There was an older man who asked my younger daughter to come with him to pick out some lipstick. My kids ignored him and I immediately went into the isle and he then said never mind. My daughter's were freaked out and stuck by me the rest of the time.

I'm not sure what his intent was, but I'm sure it wasn't to pick out lipstick.

Glad you were close by. That kind of behavior is inappropriate, a normal man wouldn't approach young females. If he needs *genuine* help, he should ask the beauty counter employee.

 

[sherilaine]

The funny thing I thought when I read this thread is, what if the parents who are suggesting you let your kids wander aimlessly about the resort are actually not really parents at all- this is the Internet after all.

That being said, you have to extend the leash one link at a time, eventually your kids are 100% on their own, it takes many years to learn how to deal with that freedom, so if you wait till they are 15, that leaves you a lot of leash in a short time.

This world is full of crazies though, which is why my kids are working towards their black belts in Karate, you never know! If you are uneasy about if that tells you something.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

I always like to lurk on these types of questions just to see the range of answers. Of course it's every parent's discretion. We only have one DD8 and I can't imagine letting her out of my sight in a hotel or at the parks but she doesn't have an older sibling to watch out for her Maybe I'll feel differently when she's a few years older, but I doubt it

 

[DonnaDuck333]

i think anyone that wouldn't allow their 9 and 12 year old to travel two floors up are acting as helicopter parents. At 12 you are entering high school in Canada and that means being exposed to drugs, smoking alcohol and worse. You should teach your kids to be independent and safe. The more you protect them at this age the more you are handicapping them and setting them up for failure.

Funny, if I could I would insert my child yearbook from high school autographs and personal messages on there from his friends, they are kids who have experiemented with drugs and such alcohol and respected my son who chose not to partake in those recreational bad or even worse things and was an A student and a gym rat at 6'2 and 210. He is an Adonis quite frankly and one of the so called popular kids at highschool ( by the way, I was the house they all hung with the smell homemade goodies and always an extra place for diner available for them).Yep, I rather have them here than at the house of the mom who said, "I'm leaving it up to chance, but,"honey make sure ya lock the car there". I take full credit by my hard work as "schooling my kids and having strict rules as I did not put up with such behavior and there was always harsh consequences. And yes even at the younger ages they knew right from wrong, and "No" was my FAvORITE word used as a Mom. Helicoptor Mom huh,Lol!!! Well my kids are 19 and 25, my daughter a teacher and an amazing one too, and she has the most well behaved classroom in that entire school with awards to show for it. Each child had a 3.84/4.0 and both live on there own and was taught and shown by me how to do it with great successful. By the way, I never felt like having "life' teach my kids lessons was the best, I prefer my voice and experience to guide them, as the world is pretty lax about things that can do harm. My mother and father did the same for me and my sisters and brothers, we all own our businesses. Personally I feel I had these children, they are my responsibilty not the worlds. Helicoptor Moms huh, that's humorous and I say it has a better success rate than T-H-U-T-A mother. And I won't be decipher that acronym for you all, there may be pre school toys present on here and that would be wrong

 

[AliceIn]

Funny, if I could I would insert my child yearbook from high school autographs and personal messages on there from his friends, they are kids who have experiemented with drugs and such alcohol and respected my son who chose not to partake in those recreational bad or even worse things and was an A student and a gym rat at 6'2 and 210. He is an Adonis quite frankly and one of the so called popular kids at highschool ( by the way, I was the house they all hung with the smell homemade goodies and always an extra place for diner available for them).Yep, I rather have them here than at the house of the mom who said, "I'm leaving it up to chance, but,"honey make sure ya lock the car there". I take full credit by my hard work as "schooling my kids and having strict rules as I did not put up with such behavior and there was always harsh consequences. And yes even at the younger ages they knew right from wrong, and "No" was my FAvORITE word used as a Mom. Helicoptor Mom huh,Lol!!! Well my kids are 19 and 25, my daughter a teacher and an amazing one too, and she has the most well behaved classroom in that entire school with awards to show for it. Each child had a 3.84/4.0 and both live on there own and was taught and shown by me how to do it with great successful. By the way, I never felt like having "life' teach my kids lessons was the best, I prefer my voice and experience to guide them, as the world is pretty lax about things that can do harm. My mother and father did the same for me and my sisters and brothers, we all own our businesses. Personally I feel I had these children, they are my responsibilty not the worlds. Helicoptor Moms huh, that's humorous and I say it has a better success rate than T-H-U-T-A mother. And I won't be decipher that acronym for you all, there may be pre school toys present on here and that would be wrong

I'm sorry, I don't understand your post at all. Are you saying that by 10 & 12 your kids had learned from your example and they knew how to behave? Or at 10 & 12 you were continuing to watch them constantly?

 

[buzlite]

Funny, if I could I would insert my child yearbook from high school autographs and personal messages on there from his friends, they are kids who have experiemented with drugs and such alcohol and respected my son who chose not to partake in those recreational bad or even worse things and was an A student and a gym rat at 6'2 and 210. He is an Adonis quite frankly and one of the so called popular kids at highschool ( by the way, I was the house they all hung with the smell homemade goodies and always an extra place for diner available for them).Yep, I rather have them here than at the house of the mom who said, "I'm leaving it up to chance, but,"honey make sure ya lock the car there". I take full credit by my hard work as "schooling my kids and having strict rules as I did not put up with such behavior and there was always harsh consequences. And yes even at the younger ages they knew right from wrong, and "No" was my FAvORITE word used as a Mom. Helicoptor Mom huh,Lol!!! Well my kids are 19 and 25, my daughter a teacher and an amazing one too, and she has the most well behaved classroom in that entire school with awards to show for it. Each child had a 3.84/4.0 and both live on there own and was taught and shown by me how to do it with great successful. By the way, I never felt like having "life' teach my kids lessons was the best, I prefer my voice and experience to guide them, as the world is pretty lax about things that can do harm. My mother and father did the same for me and my sisters and brothers, we all own our businesses. Personally I feel I had these children, they are my responsibilty not the worlds. Helicoptor Moms huh, that's humorous and I say it has a better success rate than T-H-U-T-A mother. And I won't be decipher that acronym for you all, there may be pre school toys present on here and that would be wrong

I think you completely misunderstood my point... I was saying that you have to realize kids are eventually going to face tough situations and the best way to deal with it is to give kids to tools to deal with tough situations rather trying to prevent those situations from ever occurring. Teaching them how to go to the lounge and using punishment and positive feedback on them following your lessons. I know so many children that were home schooled because the local school was too "dangerous". These are the same kids that when the leave to college are smoking up because now all of a sudden they have all the freedom in the world from their strict parents. I deal with kids like this everyday in my clinic. Parents that pretend sex doesn't exist having their daughters showing up pregnant getting an abortion all without their parents ever realizing it. Teach them how to deal with problems rather then hiding them from the world.

 

[JACKNAG]

Funny, if I could I would insert my child yearbook from high school autographs and personal messages on there from his friends, they are kids who have experiemented with drugs and such alcohol and respected my son who chose not to partake in those recreational bad or even worse things and was an A student and a gym rat at 6'2 and 210. He is an Adonis quite frankly and one of the so called popular kids at highschool ( by the way, I was the house they all hung with the smell homemade goodies and always an extra place for diner available for them).Yep, I rather have them here than at the house of the mom who said, "I'm leaving it up to chance, but,"honey make sure ya lock the car there". I take full credit by my hard work as "schooling my kids and having strict rules as I did not put up with such behavior and there was always harsh consequences. And yes even at the younger ages they knew right from wrong, and "No" was my FAvORITE word used as a Mom. Helicoptor Mom huh,Lol!!! Well my kids are 19 and 25, my daughter a teacher and an amazing one too, and she has the most well behaved classroom in that entire school with awards to show for it. Each child had a 3.84/4.0 and both live on there own and was taught and shown by me how to do it with great successful. By the way, I never felt like having "life' teach my kids lessons was the best, I prefer my voice and experience to guide them, as the world is pretty lax about things that can do harm. My mother and father did the same for me and my sisters and brothers, we all own our businesses. Personally I feel I had these children, they are my responsibilty not the worlds. Helicoptor Moms huh, that's humorous and I say it has a better success rate than T-H-U-T-A mother. And I won't be decipher that acronym for you all, there may be pre school toys present on here and that would be wrong

I agree and understand the point you're making. I was brought up this way. I don't leave it up to luck either with my kids. Thank you for sharing that about your kids. They sound like responsible adults. Bravo!!!

 

[DonnaDuck333]

I think you completely misunderstood my point... I was saying that you have to realize kids are eventually going to face tough situations and the best way to deal with it is to give kids to tools to deal with tough situations rather trying to prevent those situations from ever occurring. Teaching them how to go to the lounge and using punishment and positive feedback on them following your lessons. I know so many children that were home schooled because the local school was too "dangerous". These are the same kids that when the leave to college are smoking up because now all of a sudden they have all the freedom in the world from their strict parents. I deal with kids like this everyday in my clinic. Parents that pretend sex doesn't exist having their daughters showing up pregnant getting an abortion all without their parents ever realizing it. Teach them how to deal with problems rather then hiding them from the world.

My kids were out in the world front and center, not at 10 and 12 mind you as again in all due respect you have to agree some life lessons are quite horrible and can impact that child in a way that will take years of therapy. So, I discussed sex frequently and the what haves, and also that drugs are something that make you feel probably amazing and thats why people do them and get addicted because like disney they can escape for a bit. I taught them life is hard and gave them "coping skills" and those kind of tools made them self thinkers. They also went to public schools and did sports and I was at everygame and practice because they loved mom cheering them on. I supported there endeavors and help them to reach there goals by telling them it's all about "hard work" that they have to do that all on thier own. I'm just wondering in your line of work that perhaps you came across a 10 or 12 year old that was harmed in a way that was so tramatic that it impacted thier whole life. Scarey stuff happens in the world, we hear about it everyday with kids. If I put time and countless hours into my business for it to flourish, I personally think that my children deserve that and more from there mother. So you can parent a child well with old fashion hardwork and a strong constitution. Sorry, the proof for me is they're fantastic human beings and a pleasure to be around. One child is done with college and engaged to another fellow teacher, and my son is lookind forward to becoming a business and econmic major. Sounds like pretty well adjusted adults to me. Glad I took this parenting thing seriously, seemed to have paid off for them. You have a zippty do da evening and by the way God being present in our house played a huge role in thier upbringing and sense of right and wrong... just wanted to give a shout out to the big guy

 

[Z28KatCar]

If you are asking you must think they are mature enough to go without you. I would have to see how I felt once I got there. How close is your room to the elevator? The distance would matter to me. I'm a huge worrier but I would probably let them go together with a phone.

 

[khaoskat]

That was going to be my question... regarding rides. Can my 11 year olds go on Star Tours alone if I am waiting at the exit? That's the only ride I can't stomach.... we were there in August and they were able to do that... just didnt know if that age rule has also changed??

From what I remember on the other thread, yes...you do not have to ride it (unless the ride requires someone over a certain height to ride with a child)...

 

[bdklein]

What misinformation is being reported in this thread. If you are talking about people stating the parks unaccompanied minor age being 14, that is correct information. Disney recently (like within the last month or two) put this NEW policy in place.

There have been several discussions about it. I remember participating in one, when the information was softly released and not all details were known, because we usually let our older two wait in ride lines together at non-disney parks...and we were discussing if the new policy would affect doing something like that.

No someone never stated anything about the parks. They talked about age 14 with no mention of lounge or parks. So since this a thread about lounges I stand by my statement regarding misinformation .

 

[bdklein]

Well, here's another that cannot believe people are so flippant about their children. Whether we like it or not, there are sick individuals out there and guess what, many of them hang out at Disney because, quite frankly, it is like a candy store for them.

Every time something awful happens there, there are hundreds of posts reminding why people should NOT let their young children wander around without an adult - just really amazes me how quickly it is forgotten.

I could care less about being the minority and my child does not live in a bubble, but some things are just not worth the risk. Seriously, what is so important that it can't wait until an adult is available to go.

Sorry but you are taking my statement way out of context.

 

[bdklein]

The range of age between 12 - 18 is a HUGE difference in maturity level - not a great comparison in my opinion - even between 12 and 15 is a huge difference in maturity. And if you would like to throw out statistical information, how about this one - over 58,000 children are abducted each year by a non-family member. What I haven't provided is how many children are sexually exploited - I happen to, unfortunately, know that it is far more than this.

I don't live in a state of constant fear at all and yes, my 14 year old daughter has certain freedoms and independence, but I do use common sense and would NEVER let a young child of 12 years old walk around a hotel alone or with a younger child - that is just not a safe thing to do. As parents, it is our duty not only to teach our children how to be independent, but it is also our duty to keep them out of harms way and there isn't a person on this planet that would convince me walking around a hotel alone, of all places, is a safe thing to do for a young child.

I know that we all love Disney and would like to believe it is this safe, magical place, but unfortunately, it is also a haven for child predators and maybe you haven't seen the news reports even in just the last year, but the sex offender registry has grown in Florida by 74% just in the last 5 years whereas the rest of the country has only grown by 23% - these are factual numbers, not something I pulled out of a hat for the sake of trying to prove a point!

So, if some want to choose to wear rose colored glasses and pretend that the world is 99.999999% safe, be my guest - I will continue to live here in reality and take a walk to the club lounge with my daughter - there really isn't anything she needs there that can't wait until I can go with her - after all, I'm on vacation to spend time with her anyway!

I am very passionate about this topic because I do believe some parents are too laid back with their young children. There is a middle ground - one doesn't have to be over protective or completely aloof.

I do use common sense and would NEVER let a young child of 12 walk around a hotel alone or with a younger child. But I have let mine go to the lounge in a self contained area like the Sugarloaf lounge.

 

[bdklein]

I guess I just wouldn't consider going from the room to the CL as "wandering around the resort." For most CL rooms, both the floor and the lounge are limited access, and there is a CM present right outside the lounge and/or inside the lounge. For example, if you are staying at YC/BC do you stay with your 10 year old at all times? Like with the slide there, unless you actually accompany your child to it, it's pretty hard to keep them within view at all times (especially since the slide deposits riders relatively far away from the start). I would be much more worried about something bad befalling my kid in that pool than I would letting them walk down the hall to get a snack at the CL. The CL seems about as safe a place as any, and you can't supervise your children 24/7. If they are mature enough to behave themselves in a CL, then they should be able to handle a trip there themselves.

Darn right about the lounge. Repeatedly on this thread people are repeatedly mistaking going to the lounge with wandering a hotel or resort. Either ignorance or just looking to stir the pot.

 

[tinkbyday]

Sorry but you are taking my statement way out of context.

No, I'm afraid I didn't take your statement out of context at all.

I do use common sense and would NEVER let a young child of 12 walk around a hotel alone or with a younger child. But I have let mine go to the lounge in a self contained area like the Sugarloaf lounge.

Really - because in an earlier post you indicated that your children also go to the pool alone.

Darn right about the lounge. Repeatedly on this thread people are repeatedly mistaking going to the lounge with wandering a hotel or resort. Either ignorance or just looking to stir the pot.

My point is that it really doesn't matter if it's just going to the lounge, the pool, or anywhere in the hotel, quite frankly - a hotel is not a safe place where young children should walk around unattended - EVEN on a CL floor.

The CL floors are quite large with many, many rooms (and guests staying in them), cleaning crew, maintenance people, etc. - you just keep on believing that everyone staying and working on CL must be kind, decent, loving people and that no one person would even dream of harming your children. I'll err on the side of caution and spend some quality time with my child while we take that walk together - independence and life lessons really don't have to be taught at WDW. There are plenty of other opportunities in life for those.

And, by the way, I'm most definitely not ignorant and have no desire to stir the pot - are you stirring the pot by repeatedly giving your opinion as well?

 

[bdklein]

Show me where I said I would let my kids go alone to the pool? Not me.

 

[tinkbyday]

Show me where I said I would let my kids go alone to the pool? Not me.

Sure thing - here you go

It's "knew" because it was past tense. Now I would allow them to leave the bulding. I "know" that.

And it's "There are" and not "there's" since people is plural. Would you say "there is people" or "there are people"?

But the main point is "there's" (not "there are" since difference is singular) a big difference between kids wandering around a resort vs going to the CL and then back to the room. Or in our case also going from the Courtyard Pool at the GF to SL CL and then back to the pool.

Realizing that you probably meant that you were also at the pool and they were allowed to walk to and from the CL lounge to where you were at the pool, but nevertheless, that is quite a hike from a pool to a CL lounge for young children to make on their own.

Oh and btw, I noticed that you've pointed out that you have stayed at SL several times in your posts - it really is irrelevant which hotel - the risks are identical - I'm fairly certain that bad people are in every economic status.

 

[bdklein]

No, I'm afraid I didn't take your statement out of context at all.

Really - because in an earlier post you indicated that your children also go to the pool alone.

My point is that it really doesn't matter if it's just going to the lounge, the pool, or anywhere in the hotel, quite frankly - a hotel is not a safe place where young children should walk around unattended - EVEN on a CL floor.

The CL floors are quite large with many, many rooms (and guests staying in them), cleaning crew, maintenance people, etc. - you just keep on believing that everyone staying and working on CL must be kind, decent, loving people and that no one person would even dream of harming your children. I'll err on the side of caution and spend some quality time with my child while we take that walk together - independence and life lessons really don't have to be taught at WDW. There are plenty of other opportunities in life for those.

And, by the way, I'm most definitely not ignorant and have no desire to stir the pot - are you stirring the pot by repeatedly giving your opinion as well?

So at what age do you think is ok for 2 children to go to the CL in the Sugarloaf building at the GF? And what do you think are better opportunities to give your children a little independence? Any of the ones I think of involve the greater possibility of interaction with strangers.

 

[bdklein]

Sure thing - here you go and yes you actually did

Realizing that you probably meant that you were also at the pool and they were allowed to walk to the CL lounge from where you were at the pool, but nevertheless, that is quite a hike from a pool to a CL lounge for young children to make on their own.

That is what I meant. And at the GF the CL to which I am referring is the Sugarloaf building, which I would hardly describe as quite a hike since it is in very close proximity to the Courtyard pool. Not even a minute walk and clearly visible.