Parenting "skills" I observed today

[luvgoing2disney]

We are visiting WDW this week and today I observed two instances that made me wonder "what is that parent thinking?"

The first took place as we were in the FP line for FOTLK. Mom was there with her little boy, probably 3 or 4. She had a snack for him and he was taking pieces bite by bite out of the container. As happens with kids he dropped one on the concrete floor and as mom and grandparents watched, he picked it up and popped it in his mouth. I gasped out loud as DW looked at me, also in disbelief. And then the same thing happened not once more but two more times. No one ever told the child not to eat those bites. The parents and grandparents all saw it ants did not tell the child to not eat them I was dumbfounded

Tonight, we returned to All Star Soorts from Disney Springs and we got on the elevators. A little boy, probably 5 got on with us with a half eaten bowl of ice cream. My DW asked him if his mommy knew where he was as he was alone. He looked at DW then responded in French so obviously he had not understood the question. I could not believe a parent would let a child wander around alone, especially when it appeared he could not speak or understand a foreign language

Maybe i make too much of these but it just amazes me that some folks would be so callous about their kids. I realize that each family is different so what I would have done may have been too protective, but given the world in which we lit I would exercise caution, even at Disney

 

[MalkaR]

From what I've heard, children in France are much more independent than American children. We live in a society where we assume everyone is a predator and children are helpless until we drop them off at college and expect them to be adults. And little kids are so gross that eating a piece of dry food that fell on the floor is not a huge deal, although I wouldn't encourage it.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

You actually gasped at a toddler eating a piece of food that fell on the floor? Haven't you heard of the 5 second rule? You'd be gasping all the time at our house. If my daughter drops something that's not sticky (like a pretzel) she blows on it and announces "It's still good!!!!" Yeah--if food drops on the floor in public we don't let her eat it but I wouldn't think anything of it seeing another kid do it.

The elevator thing is scary. His family was lucky nothing bad happened to him.

 

[luvgoing2disney]

You actually gasped at a toddler eating a piece of food that fell on the floor? Haven't you heard of the 5 second rule? You'd be gasping all the time at our house. If my daughter drops something that's not sticky (like a pretzel) she blows on it and announces "It's still good!!!!" Yeah--if food drops on the floor in public we don't let her eat it but I wouldn't think anything of it seeing another kid do it.

The elevator thing is scary. His family was lucky nothing bad happened to him.

I've used the five second rule myself LOL. But on an outside concrete walkway where people are walking all day was just different to me.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

Yeahhhh.... Hate to break it to you, but there are very, very few strains of bacteria that aren't killed by your stomach acid. And there are MILLIONS of strains. H. Pylori is one of the very few. Toddlers are toddlers. If eating food dropped on the floor was dangerous, the population would be missing quite a handful of tots. Kid will be fine, and the parents aren't neglectful from what I can tell.

 

[moesy4]

Haha yea...you would be horrified by my children. Our middle child was an extremely oral baby and would put EVERYTHING in his mouth. He tried to eat a cigarette butt he found in the sand at the beach. He licked the door in the Target bathroom. Although I probably would've told him not to eat stuff off the ground, depending on whether it was worth the battle in that particular moment, I may not lol.
And as a firm believer in free range parenting, I don't think the parents did anything wrong with the 5 year old. Our country is crazy overprotective of our kids...I have gotten in trouble for letting my very responsible 6 year old go get a drink out of the drinking fountain around the corner at my local Y "because of the crazies out there." The statistics of a child being kidnapped by a stranger are something like 1 in 7.5 million...I walked to kindergarten by myself at 4 years old. While I wouldn't do that nowadays because CPS would be called on me lol, I wouldn't look at that child and judge the parents!

 

[MommaBerd]

Although I probably would've told him not to eat stuff off the ground, depending on whether it was worth the battle in that particular moment, I may not lol.

TRUTH!!!

 

[dwbrewster]

man...I came here for a story about parents dragging kids around on leashes (don't look at me)...these stories are click-bait!

 

[lizabu]

I don't think either incident was anything shocking or indicative of poor parenting.

 

[agavegirl1]

I would be curious to know what you consider "parenting". Kids will be kids and they will lick the bars in the queue and pick up random food on the floor and in eat it in the blink of an eye. As for the French or French Canadian child, I don't know about the culture but I walked 8 blocks to school by myself and back alone to Kindergarten. Free range kids were every kid once upon a time.

 

[lsprrnbr]

My toddler routinely picks food up off the floor and eats it. Thanks for reminding me that I am being judged for it though!

For what it is worth, I am a nurse and NOT a germaphobe. My kids have never been sick except for the regular childhood viruses that pass around.

 

[Calee]

Haha. If I had a dollar for the number of kids (my own included) that I saw today with their hands in their mouths, or nose, or licking somethi ng, or biting their nails, or touchi ng a handle and then putting their hand or food in their mouth, I would be very very rich. All those are the same as eating off the ground. Heck, I saw adults with their hands in their face or nose or mouth.

 

[Turn the Page]

When DD10 was a toddler she loved to eat the dog food. She would knock over the giant bag of food to get to it if I put the food dish out of reach. Luckily it was the dry food and not the wet. I asked the vet about it and he kind of shrugged and said other than the obvious choking hazard it wouldn't hurt her and was a good source of protein. I didn't encourage it and did my best to keep it out of reach but I also didn't call poison control when she did get to it. I never could figure out what she liked about it though.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Tonight, we returned to All Star Soorts from Disney Springs and we got on the elevators. A little boy, probably 5 got on with us with a half eaten bowl of ice cream. My DW asked him if his mommy knew where he was as he was alone. He looked at DW then responded in French so obviously he had not understood the question. I could not believe a parent would let a child wander around alone, especially when it appeared he could not speak or understand a foreign language

Maybe i make too much of these but it just amazes me that some folks would be so callous about their kids. I realize that each family is different so what I would have done may have been too protective, but given the world in which we lit I would exercise caution, even at Disney

Just to clarify...It reads as if you just got off the elevator and left the boy on it. So you were so concerned about this child to make a post, but you couldn't be bothered to make sure he was reunited with his parents?

 

[DLgal]

The first one....so not a big deal. You think hot pavement is harboring bacteria? Ok....

The second one...the fact that the 5 year old knew which elevator to get on and presumably went back to his room (since you didn't mention police later on property due to a missing children report) shows he was completely capable of being on his own for that short amount of time. Most people outside America aren't as overly paranoid as we are.

 

[meljean]

We were in the cafeteria at POP and there was a boy maybe 5 or so waiting with his dad and had his mouth open and was walking back and forth with it on the bars where you slide your tray. I tried to mouth stop to him. Imagine how often that gets cleaned, never lol. Yuck

 

[ajfd]

I gasped out loud as DW looked at me, also in disbelief. And then the same thing happened not once more but two more times. No one ever told the child not to eat those bites.

Hate to break it to you but I'd be willing to bet that unless you use Purell immediately before putting food in your mouth you probably transfer more germs from your own hands than would be been picked up off a concrete floor.

 

[mdb78]

When DD10 was a toddler she loved to eat the dog food. She would knock over the giant bag of food to get to it if I put the food dish out of reach. Luckily it was the dry food and not the wet. I asked the vet about it and he kind of shrugged and said other than the obvious choking hazard it wouldn't hurt her and was a good source of protein. I didn't encourage it and did my best to keep it out of reach but I also didn't call poison control when she did get to it. I never could figure out what she liked about it though.

My youngest used to push our cat out of the way to try and eat its food! She was quick too, I had to fish a few pieces out of her mouth. I also have a friend who always caught her kids eat the dog food from the bowl when they were toddlers. Maybe the small pieces just look appealing to them.

 

[BigAlsGal]

I sometimes pick food off the floor and eat it. Gasp!

 

[IrishNYC]

The first incident: not your circus, not your monkey.

The second? For showing so much judgement, did you try to help him beyond that, or did you just run on here to let us know your superior parenting "skills?"