Kids running around ship unsupervised

[castlegazer]

again, another good point I totally agree with!

 

[CruznLexi]

Went to Alaska last month and could not believe how many kids teens were running all over the pool decks during the glacier day and last sea day one even came close to knocking over several older people. It is fun to run around but what if you actually hurt someone one?

 

[SeattleSuz]

I think the only time my kid would want to run would be at 6:30 in the morning, in the hallways, screaming, "WAKE UP YOU SLEEPYHEADS!"



ha ha I kid, I kid. My child is not allowed to run in public, unless we are at a park, then its an acceptable venue for that. It's just way to easy to lose sight of her. That's why we only have one kid, we outnumber her, so she doesnt get away with a lot of stuff. Unsupervised? Yeah right, not gonna happen.

 

[Twofebboys]

Different people raise their kids differently. And more importantly they weigh risk differently. I know plenty of people who think its irresponsible to let your kids play football or hockey - too much risk of injury. Or ride bikes. My girlfriend's college student spent her sixteenth year in Germany as an exchange student, then bummed around Europe by herself - but has never put non-organic food in her mouth - her mother thinks its far too risky and will cause cancer. I used to have a "friend" who was aghast we'd expose our kids to Disney - the broken families, the treatment of women in the movies (Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast are seriously warped in what they teach out daughters about relationships), the rampant commercialism - yet everyone here thinks that is ok. One of my friends has two boys out of high school - neither drives - he won't let them drive his car - too risky - so until the boys are capable of moving out, getting their own license, and their own insurance - its not happening - most of our other friends take their kids down to get their license with their sixteenth birthday. Personally, I rank "stranger danger" for younger kids pretty low - but am scared now that my daughter is fourteen of her male classmates - and will be for the next fifteen years - and my only recourse would be to keep her in a bubble.

Raise your kids. Let other parents raise theirs. If kids are being loud, or running through hallways, ask them to stop - as you'd ask and adult who was being loud in the hallways to stop. If you see a kid being harassed, step in, just like you should if you see a 28 year old woman being harassed.

Well said!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[JnDRader]

Have rules - at that age (IIRC) my kids left the kids club on their own provided they were 1) together and 2) either going to the room or going to meet us (or their grandparents - that was the age we cruised with the grandparents). Likewise, they could check themselves into the kids clubs - they could leave us or the room and go to the clubs. So they were one of three places - supervised with us, in the room or in the kids clubs - or in transition between those places (in which case, they were together).

Turns out with endless grandma, they never left her side

My own two cents, often said around here, is that independence is something you start teaching your kids from the moment they are born. You can't drop a kid off at college unless he has learned enough independence to do so. Now, as the mother of teenagers, I'm learning that teaching my kids to be independent, to know right from wrong, to be well behaved, was really important - because now my fourteen year old daughter goes to parties with boys and little adult supervision - she needs to know how to take care of herself - and fourteen to seventeen year old boys that are her "friends" scare me far more than strangers on a cruise ship when she is nine. My fifteen year old son has to say no to drugs and alcohol - he needs to understand the repercussions. Somedays I wish I could have wrapped them up in bubble wrap so I didn't have these worries, but if I do that, at some point I still need to let go - or they will be living in my basement when they are 30. DCL provides a RELATIVELY safe environment to grant some independence to RESPONSIBLE kids. A truck stop at night? Even I don't feel safe, not somewhere I'm letting my kids run to the bathroom.

Agree. Also, each kid is so different. I can trust my daughter to roam the ship and still meet us on time. Not a chance with my son. He just doesn't pay as much attention.

And I hear you on the boys. My daughter is only 11 but the day is coming. My sis in law is 9 years younger than me and I had to explain to her before a New Years party when she was 17 about not accepting open drinks, always hold your drink, if you set it down throw it away, etc... She lived a somewhat sheltered life and was clueless.

They have to grow up though.

 

[SamIam929]

Agree, Let's face it some folks expect Disney CM or Lifeguards to babysit their children. But Hey, it is the Parent's Vacation!!!!!

It may be the parents' vacation, but if they don't intend to watch their kids, don't bring them or make sure they are in the kids' clubs when they aren't watching them. Everyone else on that ship has paid good money for that cruise and it shouldn't be disrupted by kids running amok.

 

[PATTERSON PARTY OF 3]

 

[crisi]

Sorry, we can't even agree on that. I'm a sexual abuse survivor and I certainly have not allowed it to scar me for life. That would be continuing my own victimization.