Let the teens sleep or not?

[LindsayDunn228]

Well said, Disneyrsh!!

 

[crazelion]

Me and Mom never got to the parks before 11am. Because we had a hard time getting up and it was a vacation and you is suppose to relax.

i just don't understand what get to parks early all about. I rather stay late then get up early.

My mom never made get up early for any thing except for school because she was still in bed her self.

Now since I am grown both work have get up early will not leave the hotel room untill 11 am. We still got do everything in the parks we won't to do.

 

[Collette]

I am not a morning person - I feel their pain Although I have realized the advantages of rising early at WDW, some days weren't quite as easy as others to drag myself out of bed.

Let them sleep in. For all the reasons already given. I'm guessing there will be huge payoffs for you in ways that aren't even realized yet.

DS and DD are now adults. I have been thanked at different times for letting them sleep in and for not making them attend some things I maybe thought they should. In return, they have also politely gone places they really would rather have not.

They always saw our WDW trips as "vacation" and for them that included extra sleep and a more leisurely pace. We still had lots of family time at meals and at our favorite attractions.

I really don't understand the statements about going with "my rules or stay home". We take our toddlers, or even our tired selves, back to the resort for a swim and a rest. Why wouldn't we accommodate our teens' needs also.

 

[MiaSRN62]

When we're at Disney, they're totally, totally different. What a waste of Disney to 'sleep in'.

Disneyrsh,
I know "tone" is difficult to convey on message boards, so please don't take this the wrong way. But do you have teens ? Because when my kids were little, we ALL got up and out early. But a teenager is a rare breed if ya know what I mean.
Whether my teen son sleeps in or not at WDW is fine with me. What matters is that we still have family time. He eventually catches up to us a few hours later, so what's the harm ? I'm an RN and can vouch for what Krissyh said. Teens DO indeed do much better if they're allowed to sleep in. I'm even noticing that now with my ds in his first year of college. The days he has classes where they start after 10 am he seems to be flourishing in. His 8 am class seems to be the one he struggles with. So who is it really a "waste" for to sleep in ? Not the teen, that's for sure. And as long as the parents are ok with it, then why not ? Why push a teen into doing something he doesn't want to when there's really no need to do so ? It's a vacation ? Different things are going to work differently for some families than others.
Going to Disney might be all about sleeping in and then hanging out 'till midnight or later for some. I just think it's sort of unfair to make a blanket statement like that because all families and individuals are different. So please don't take this as an attack on you Disneyrsh---it's honestly not meant to be. I was just curious if you personally have teenagers. Because before my kids came into "teendom", we were always the morning commando types.... Living with 3 teens has really put things into perspective for our family.

Here's an article about teens and sleeping in later and how beneficial it is to them uniquely :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901561.html

 

[Disneyrsh]

No, I don't have teenagers, see my siggy? But here's the thing, I went to Disney all the time with my parents when my brother and I were teenagers, and we never slept in.

If I could manage to get my butt to school on time and then to college, why should I spend a week in Disney *wasting* it by sleeping? The sooner kids learn they need to wake up in the morning, the better. Yeah, it stinks, but that's life, until they retire...

FWIW, you go to bed at a decent hour, it's not that hard to wake up in the morning, so the reason he's "struggling" with his 8 am class is probably because he's partying his butt off until 2 am the night before. Yeah, tell me THAT's not happening, because I went to college!

I think that if that's what it's all about for the kids, then go somewhere else, like the beach, where sleeping and generally being a slug is the main benefit of a beach vacation.

Now, if the whole family wakes up at 11 and stays in the park until midnight, that's cool, that's your thing together, but letting the kids sleep rather than spend time together as a family to me is a total waste

 

[leighe]

My parents let my brother and me sleep in when we were teens. It made the day better for everyone. We still had plenty of family time. I never felt like I was wasting vacation because I was enjoying myself - and I'm sure my parents enjoyed the time without us as well.

 

[MiaSRN62]

No, I don't have teenagers, see my siggy?

Yah, yah....I saw it. I tend not to take things for granted and try not to make assumptions. Wasn't sure if there might be a teen from a second marriage or anything. I don't know you personally. Was just a simple question.

FWIW, you go to bed at a decent hour, it's not that hard to wake up in the morning, so the reason he's "struggling" with his 8 am class is probably because he's partying his butt off until 2 am the night before.

Though I disagree with you totally (particularily your comment about my son who you know NOTHING about. Are you assuming he's living on campus in a dorm ?) you're entitled to YOUR opinion. I went to college too. Does EVERY college student party every night ? I think not. He's a typical teen. He always went to bed at a decent hour in high school but had to be up pretty early. He can get up early, but just doesn't function best when getting up this early. But I'm talking from personal experience of actually having a teen (3 of them in fact !), so what would I know . I thought I knew what it would be like raising teenagers before I actually had them too. One learns real quick that it's not the same as being a teenager once yourself.
Noone in my family (including my son) "wastes" any time during our vacation. All time spent is doing what we love and enjoy most & we are all different people. As kids grow, sometimes you have to give them a little space of their own.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I never felt like I was wasting vacation because I was enjoying myself .

Well said Leighe
As for parents enjoying themselves without teens....not sure about that, maybe just the "grumpy" ones

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

i'd let her do her own thing. not everyone has that "Disney Spirit" that we have on this forum and while some people want to be up and ready by 9am others would just love to sleep in and get to the parks whenever they want to. don't push her or she's just going to be miserable.

 

[Just_Me_06]

lol i actually go to bed at 12ish then get up by 6 and ready by 7 . but thats just my eternal clock lol

 

[Sherrypooh]

Skipping to the bottom. I am going with my two ds (14 & 15) and the first day we always start out early, then with each day, we sleep a bit later. We know we have to be out of there by 9ish but by the end of the trip we are lucky to be out by 10. We just go with the flow..

 

[UrsulasShadow]

Yah, yah....I saw it. I tend not to take things for granted and try not to make assumptions. Wasn't sure if there might be a teen from a second marriage or anything. I don't know you personally. Was just a simple question.


Though I disagree with you totally (particularily your comment about my son who you know NOTHING about. Are you assuming he's living on campus in a dorm ?) you're entitled to YOUR opinion. I went to college too. Does EVERY college student party every night ? I think not. He's a typical teen. He always went to bed at a decent hour in high school but had to be up pretty early. He can get up early, but just doesn't function best when getting up this early. But I'm talking from personal experience of actually having a teen (3 of them in fact !), so what would I know . I thought I knew what it would be like raising teenagers before I actually had them too. One learns real quick that it's not the same as being a teenager once yourself.
Noone in my family (including my son) "wastes" any time during our vacation. All time spent is doing what we love and enjoy most & we are all different people. As kids grow, sometimes you have to give them a little space of their own.

I'm completely with you on this one, MiaSRN62. I just came back from an overplanned, overstressed, WONDERful Disney vacation over the Christmas holidays with my 2 teens. Although it was my dream vacation, it certainly was no dream of my teens. All through my planning, they kept silent, because they knew how much it meant to me to be taking my kids to what was probably the last trip we'd end up taking together to WDW. So I had no idea how worried they were about it...until the plane ride there.

As we were sitting on the plane, getting ready for takeoff, my DD17 started to silently weep. I was baffled...what could possibly be wrong? So I asked. Her reply? "Mom, I know how much you want to have fun on this trip, but I've been working a lot of holiday hours, and working really hard at school, and I know you're not going to let us sleep at all on this trip, and this is the only vacation I get until February, and I don't think I'm going to make it!"

So, in my eagerness to have the perfect final holiday with the kids, I forgot to take the kids into account! I'd been perfectly selfish, thinking that what was good for my idea of the family, wasn't at all that good for my 2 near-adults. So, we made major adjustments. The kids (both my DD17 and her 15yo brother) could decide each evening what they wanted to do in the morning. If it was a park they really wanted to visit, they got up and joined us. If sleep was more important, they slept, joining us later for dinner or shows or whatever. It was the best of both worlds. All of us got what we wanted/needed from the trip, AND we had a lot of quality time together.

DisneyRSH, either you'll learn compromise when they're older, or you'll spend an awful lot of time and energy being "right".

 

[Disneyrsh]

Yah, yah....I saw it. .

Can you explain the rolleyes to me? Is there something wrong with my signature?

Uh, duh, there's something I wanted to add, when we go down to disney, we do a 'day on, day off' plan, because none of us has enough energy to get into every park, every day.

Really, my beef is when the kids aren't spending time with the parents. I want to be with my family when we're on vacation, even if we're all sitting on the couch on the off morning watching Kim Possible. I just don't like the idea of half the family being in the park and the other half sleeping.

And for the people who say I don't have teenagers, they're totally right, I'm probably going to look back on this and say, boy, was I wrong! It just may mean that we don't go to Disney for a few years to avoid what Neal Boortz calls "my serious personality disorder" I don't want my teenagers to cry, either...

 

[traciedee]

I have 3 teens and there is nothing worse than dragging around a miserable teen who would have rather slept in. I agree with compromise. Let them sleep in a bit and don't hold it against them if their thoughts of a great time are different than yours.

Our oldest son needs to do his own teenage thing sometimes and my 2 girls are always ready to be front and center and go, go, go. I know it can be frustrating, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Otherwise you can let something like this make everyone miserable.

I get annoyed too, but at this point in our lives I'm glad our teens still enjoy doing stuff with us and get excited about our next trip. They don't want to bring friends and they don't want to have their own room, cause hanging out and following certain 'family vacation traditions' are half the fun.

So my vote is compromise, don't let this stress you out and have fun.

 

[donac]

I went this past summer with another family. I have 2 teen boys and she had 2 teen boys, 2 teen girls and an daughter who turned 11 when we were on the trip.

MY sons can get up early when they have to so they went with us to the parks early every day so they could do as much as possible. MY friend's family were also up early every morning but it took them a little longer to get out in the morning. We ended up letting our guys sleep a little longer each morning so that they wouldn't be waiting around too much.

The difference between the two families was that they would go all day long because the mother felt that this would be their last trip to Disney. We would go back to our campsite and let the boys sleep or swim or play in the arcade. Many times they would rest, take a shower and then play video games for a while and then we would go back to a park. We would meet up with our friends and the kids would be exhausted. They did this for 7 days. The other mother let them go back to the campsite one night but the kids were told that they could not go swimming even thought they were going back with my 20 yr old son and the pool had a lifeguard.


You need to learn to compromise when you are dealing with teens.

My sister lets her older daughter sleep in and then meet them at a park when she wakes up.

 

[Paisleyjane]

My two are now 22 and 21 years old, and are maturing into wonderful adults, so I must have done something right. I would let them sleep. Yes, there may be a morning we all have a character breakfast together, and I would want them up. But do you really want to have to drag two grumpy teens around with you who would rather be sleeping? No, I want to have a good time too. My kids knew there way around the parks very well, and with a buddy with cell phones, I would feel my 15 year old would have been fine to just meet up with us later. They never complained that they missed stuff by sleeping in. My two worked from 15 on, so it was their vacation from work and school, too, so I felt they should get to do some of what they wanted, even if it was just sleep in.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Disneyrsh says : Can you explain the rolleyes to me? Is there something wrong with my signature?

No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your siggy. Your kids are cute, but I was not going to just assume you didn't have teens. The way you repled to me :

Disneyrsh says :No, I don't have teenagers, see my siggy?

was almost a tad snippy....or at least that's the way it came off to me. I simply asked a question because I don't know you at all......you almost acted like I should just look at your siggy and not ask the question of you. I guess had you just said "nope....don't have teens" I would have taken it very differently. Then you went on to make assumptions about my son and insinuated that our family "wasted" our vacation time without knowing a thing about us. What works for one family, does not necessarily work for another. As your kids grow, your vacations habits will change a bit. When they're young, it can be difficult to stay up until the parks close at midnight. And when they're teens, you may find yourself going strong until 1 am, but may want to sleep-in the morning. I think the tone of your comments about the reason my ds is struggling with his early morning classes is based upon his "partying his a** off" was just that.....an unfair assumption you made based on perhaps your college experience ? My son hasn't been to one party at college yet. He actually told me he'd love to go to one but hasn't gotten around to it yet.
UrsulasShadow, traciedee, donac, and Paisleyjane.....totally agree with everything you all said. I truly believe compromise in what the entire family wants and in everyone's preference/desires is the key to a happy, fun vacation. When my kids were very little, we had to compromise and leave the parks early----even though my dh and myself may have wanted to keep going. I remember leaving midday for their nap time as well. Now that they're teens, naps and early bedtime are not issues......but other things come into play.....like sleeping in some mornings. It's all good. I feel individual families know best what works for them.

 

[Disneyrsh]

No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your siggy. Your kids are cute, but I was not going to just assume you didn't have teens. The way you repled to me :

was almost a tad snippy....or at least that's the way it came off to me. I simply asked a question because I don't know you at all......you almost acted like I should just look at your siggy and not ask the question of you. I guess had you just said "nope....don't have teens" I would have taken it very differently. Then you went on to make assumptions about my son and insinuated that our family "wasted" our vacation time without knowing a thing about us. What works for one family, does not necessarily work for another. As your kids grow, your vacations habits will change a bit. When they're young, it can be difficult to stay up until the parks close at midnight. And when they're teens, you may find yourself going strong until 1 am, but may want to sleep-in the morning. I think the tone of your comments about the reason my ds is struggling with his early morning classes is based upon his "partying his a** off" was just that.....an unfair assumption you made based on perhaps your college experience ? My son hasn't been to one party at college yet. He actually told me he'd love to go to one but hasn't gotten around to it yet. .

Ok, yeah, it was just that I couldn't confer tone when I was writing, I didn't intend the remark about my signature to be snippy. If I had other kids, say, from a previous marriage, they'd *definitely* be in my signature, too, of course!

I'm pretty sure I never said to you "You're wasting YOUR vacation by letting them sleep in while you go to the parks." Can you find that part? When you use words like "insinuated" it's very insidious. It requires that you assume that whatever I posted was meant for you, specifically. What I said was that I thought it WAS a waste to go in while other family members slept.

Let's put it another way, would it be ok for your hubby to sleep in while you took the rest of the family in to Disney? Why is it ok for some members to blow off the rest of the family and not others?

As for the college thing, *shrug*, it's just what college kids do, go to parties. And I don't just mean the debauched drunken frat parties, I mean, the parties that the kid across the hall from you has in her dorm room until two am, and you can hear it whether you're at it or not, or the party the RA gives in the study room that's a meet and greet. College is a buffet of distractions and diversions, and it's hard to get a good night's sleep. You automatically assumed the worst when I said that kids who go to college like to party, and I'm not sure how I should correct that impression. It's nearly impossible to avoid going to some sort of party at college, I swear my freshman year they were making some of them mandatory. If your kid says he doesn't go to parties, ok, that's just really different than any other college I've heard of.

And I believe my term was "probably partying his butt off", not the more offensive term you misquoted. If you can't get up for your 8 am class, then that's what just about everyone else I've EVER known who's gone to college was doing. It's not bad, it's just a fact. Anybody else want to chime in on the misery of the 8 am class and what we were doing the night before?

 

[UrsulasShadow]

And I believe my term was "probably partying his butt off", not the more offensive term you misquoted. If you can't get up for your 8 am class, then that's what just about everyone else I've EVER known who's gone to college was doing. It's not bad, it's just a fact. Anybody else want to chime in on the misery of the 8 am class and what we were doing the night before?

I think that we should stick to the subject of the OP, and not how you may have spent your college days...

 

[Sammie]

Is there something wrong with my signature?

JFI and for others this might relate to.

Some of us have the options set not to see signatures, photos etc. Nothing against what people have, I just am not into all of that and it takes longer to load all of it. I just like to read the content.

A vacation is personal and for some that means sleeping in. Of course no offense to the OP, but I would never let the opinions of strangers influence my decisions concerning my family.