postponing trip?

[afinnteach]

Anyone ever postpone a trip because their kids behavior was unacceptable? We are less than 45 days out on our trip, is it just 200.00 to move the date a year back?
My thought is that another year of maturity may be what they need. They are 5 and 7.

 

[lhermiston]

Rather than just canceling the trip , why don't you spend the next 45 days working on expectations for the trip? My daughters were only 5 when we went last year, but we spent time talking about how we conduct ourselves on vacation. There were zero issues.

 

[maxiesmom]

What kind of behavior are we talking about: Fighting between the kids, being a bit mouthy? Something like that wouldn't make me postpone. Stealing, continued bad behavior at school? That may give me some thoughts about postponing the trip.

I think at ages 5 and 7 they would have to be doing something really horrible to postpone a trip to WDW.

 

[minnie mum]

What kind of behavior are we talking about: Fighting between the kids, being a bit mouthy? Something like that wouldn't make me postpone. Stealing, continued bad behavior at school? That may give me some thoughts about postponing the trip.

I think at ages 5 and 7 they would have to be doing something really horrible to postpone a trip to WDW.

Have to agree with this. At that age, it would have to be something incredibly horrible to cancel a trip for the whole family. We once considered leaving one of the kids behind due to poor behavior, but she was a teen and just the threat was enough to cure the mouthy attitude (for a while)

Perhaps take the advice of one of the other PPs. Use the time before the vacation to sit down with the children and address these problems. Work on them and let them know what your expectations are as far as acceptable behavior during the trip. And what the consequences will be if their behaviour falls below your limits.

Since you are less than 45 days out, you would lose your $200 if you cancel. You might only incur a change fee if you postpone to a date later in the year.

 

[patty57]

As the mom of boys 19 & 21, I would tell you not to expect a huge jump in maturity over the course of a year in kids that age. If you want to postpone for really bad behavior, that's one thing. Just don't postpone because you think your kids will be very different in a year.

 

[Spunky946]

What kind of behavior are we talking about? I have found my kids behave better st Disney then at home. I would not postpone just because you don't think they will behave.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I would not postpone for my kids' behavior unless it was really really out of line. This time of year, kids are bouncing off the walls, excited about the end of school and advent of summer vacation.

Also, to me, a family vacation is time to spend together and bond. Postponing an anticipated vacation would weaken the bond. It would make it seem like "we only want to be around you when you behave." And while we certainly encourage our kids to behave properly, there are other ways to reinforce that with positive action rather than withholding something.

Lay out some expectations and give them a chance to succeed. Maybe they could each earn fifty cents for every day they meet their expectations between now and vacation time and have some souvenir money.

5 and 7 are great ages to visit WDW - keep the trip!

 

[WsPrincess]

For kids that age I would not postpone the trip. I am not sure what kind of behavior you are talking about but they are kids and kids make mistakes and at that age they can't see large consequences. And I agree, their ages are perfect for Disney.

 

[carissa1970]

We went to Aulani with our son even though he had been having some serious behavior issues. Could we have postponed? Yes. I only remember one day out of 7 that he was pretty horrible, and we were prepared to sit it out in the room as necessary. The other days were fine, and I think our follow through on that trip will be a benefit for future trips.

As PPs have said, it does depend on the behavior. His was aggression and disrespect. He had just been diagnosed with ADHD and barely starting meds. We are cruising this July and going to WDW, and these issues have long since been dealt with and we have plans in place as needed. Not sure if this is the type of behavior you are meaning, but I am glad we went on that trip to Hawaii and we did have some great bonding time. You most likely will too.

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[Anniefrances]

My older child is on the autism spectrum and the younger one has oppositional defiant disorder. Two years ago (they were then ages 5 and 7) the 5 year old was being physically hurtful (kicking, hitting, pinching) and destructive. The therapeutic techniques were just not working. So after trying everything I knew how and then after a couple of warnings, I ended up hiring a sitter and leaving him behind with the sitter for a half day in the hotel room. He was pretty surprised because at the time he insisted that there are no sitters at WDW. That one afternoon turned things around for the entire trip and even the memory of it helped last year. Anyway, I mention this because I wanted to say that there are options for dealing with out of control behavior if needed even once you are there. HTH