Pin Trading: Green Lanyard

[disEAR]

I'm sorry to hear about you and your daughters bad experience. I definitely agree that you should email Disney ASAP, whether they are new or not, in no regard should they have referred to your daughter as a liar and even if not believing her should have just smiled and taken her word for it.

I hope you're daughter will be able to move on and continue pin trading/collecting.

 

[Mama Who]

Next time with you there tell her to ask for a manager or team leader. Explain the situation to them and request additional training for the CM and a apology. Let her know sticking up for herself you sometimes need to correct adults.

Denise in MI

Yeah, I'd have required an apology for calling her a liar. That's utterly unacceptable.

 

[Oglet]

Yeah the CM's shouldn't have called her a liar period. I'd suggest just avoiding the green lanyards in the future.

CM's at DHS don't wear the green lanyards, well that is what I was told during training.

 

[kakiegirl]

So sorry you DD had so much trouble. My DD is 12 now and looks older than she is and I was afraid she would have that happen our trip this past June, because one CM tried not to trade with her last year for that reason, but when she said she was 11 the CM left it at that. I think I would have went straight to guest services and registered a complaint if a CM had accussed my DD of lying (of couse it is easy to say what you would do when it has never happened, I would have been shocked for sure) However, this year no one said anything to her, I did notice it seemed like there was not as many green lanyards. Encourage DD to keep trading and just stay away from Green Lanyards if she is embarrassed or afraid it will happen again. Pin trading is such a fun hobby I hate to see her give it up because of her bad experiences.

 

[Anjiebaby]

If you have the time it would be interesting to write to Disney and get clarification of the rule that green lanyards are for trading with children 3 - 12. If you were to receive a written response that agreed that children can trade until they are 13 I would share it with my child to show them that she wasn't wrong. If she felt up to it perhaps she could bring the email along to help educate the CM's who gave her trouble. I would totally understand though if she didn't want the confrontation in a place that is supposed to be fun.

 

[goNsoon2WDW]

I am also sorry that this happened to your DD. I hadn't thought about this but now am thinking about my DS trading pins on our upcoming trip. He is 12 and will not turn 13 until a few months after we return from our trip this fall. He is tall for his age (5' 7") and has visible facial hair. We can blame his father's side of the family for this. He loves trading pins and tries to complete a favorite set of pins through trading during each trip.

I know that some people have suggested avoiding the green lanyards for trading, but why should he? He would be following the rules.

There have been times on past trips when it has taken him the entire trip to be able to complete the set he had selected. I would hate for the coveted last pin of a series to be on a green lanyard and for my son to be told he was being dishonest.

I hope this doesn't happen to us on our trip, but I will be talking with him ahead of time. He will be honest and polite and I hope that he is treated politely as well.

 

[humboldthny]

This makes me sad for your dd...I hope you can convince her to trade again. If it ever happens again I would do as the pp suggested and ask to speak to a manager.

We make be looking at this in our future - I've got a 1st grader who is regularly mistaken for a 3rd or 4th grader...maybe she'll just grow into it in time!

 

[tony609]

That is just flat out ridicelous! I knew the green lanyards are for trading with kids, but I never knew there was an age limit. Great.. wonderful - so limited to kids 12 and younger? My daughter is tall for her age so I guess it's lucky that no one ever questioned her last year. Looks like I'll be bringing a photocopy of her birth certificate with me this year. But really - that totally sucks! Whether the child is 12, 13, 14 -they are a kid! For heaven's sake - just trade with the child!

EXACTLY! For that matter as long as they don't appear OBVIOUSLY High School age who cares..........................

 

[littlewitch34]

I agree. They shouldn't have treated her this way. I hope she decides to continue pin trading. It would be such a shame for her to lose her love of it because of this. I was a shy 11 yo and it would have taken all my courage to even ask for someone to trade pins with me; it would have devastated me to have someone say no and call me a liar.

I don't understand the reasoning behind making a cut off age. If they have to make a cut off, why cut it at 11? I'd think that kids who love to pin trade would continue to love it into their early teen years, especially tweens who may babysit and have their own money to buy pins.

They should not have treated her in this way. The reason for the cut-off age was because of the crazy pinhawks that would come in in the morning and clear out all the fun and cool pins off of CMs lanyards. They decided to make the green lanyards so that adults couldn't ruin the fun of pin trading for kids.

They are trying to phase out the green lanyard because it isn't really fair for me to pull the "I have something you can't have!" card. BUT some CMs (especially girls) liked having green lanyards because it prevented adults from touching them inappropriately, which happens more than you can imagine. Think: "I want THAT pin" *reaches for a pin on a lanyard and instead touches female CM in an inappropriate manner*"

Not saying that it was right at all for anyone to not trade with the 11 year old who was well within her right to trade, but there is a reason for the age limit on the lanyards.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

That's really awful for your daughter! As an adult, having someone call my a liar really hurts my feelings, so I can't even imagine how your poor dd coped with it...

I meant "me."

I'm happy to hear that your daughter is feeling better about it. It sounds like she's really taking this so maturely! I hope she does try again in August; pin trading is usually such a fun part of my trips & I'd be bummed if something/someone permanently ruined that magic for me.