Stop Forcing Children On Scary Rides!!!

[BringBackTapestries]

whoops

 

[gary4jenn]

I have a niece (age 4) who is afraid of nearly everything and we had to do quite a bit of caoxing for rides like BUzz and Peter Pan and Pooh on our trip in December. We eventually worked our way up to doing all the kiddie rides and we even managed to do Snow white but we told her about it before hand.

I wouldn't want her to miss out and she still asks before each ride if it's scary and we tell her no (if it's not a scary ride/show). She also has to put cotton in her ears to be able to watch some shows like the Lion King or Philarmagic.

Now we aren't taking her on MS or Stich-those are way to much for her right now. I wouldn't tell her that are not scary-that would completly undermine the trust you have with your child.

I think parents are so anxiuos for their child to "experience" the ride that they forget that they may not have the same experience that they would have. Young children's worls of fantasy and reality are very intertwined at 4,5,6 and 7 years old.

It makes me think of all the times I hear parents say "Bye-I'm leaving you here if you don't come here now" . Are you really going to leave them? (sorry just the early childhood educator in me-off my soapbox now)

Childern do have good memories and why freak them out on one ride only to have them be so afraid they miss out on everything else. What a way to ruin a very expensive trip.

There is so much to do at Disney that if your child wants to sit out on few rides then do the child swap or do a different ride.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[wfloyd]

Kids also change their tastes almost everyday. DS used to love going on Pooh but is now afraid of it. He also doesn't like Buzz or HM now where a couple of months ago he loved them. It could be that the kids liked the ride before but now for some reason are terrified of it and the parent wouldn't know. If we can ever figure out the logic of some of the dislikes it would be great but it seems to depend on his mood and could change daily.

 

[susy]

Saw lots of this on our last trip. Kids screaming, parents forcing....

 

[pyrxtc]

If you go the first week of October and see some horrible mother ushering her blonde haired blue eyed girl through the que's, that's me! My 8 yr old (she'll be almost 9 when we go) cries over everything. She cries at the drop of a hat, if you look at her wrong, she cries. She cries every morning when getting ready for school and every afternoon when she gets home. Sometimes for no reason at all. She will cry the first time we go on any big ride and the next time around, she will be first in line.

So if you see me, wave ! I'll wave back and if you see us after the ride too, you'll see my DD giggling away asking to go again. If I didn't insist she try it once, she would never do anything.

 

[shakespeare]

What kind of vacation would it be if you force your screaming kid on any ride? I am a mother of two sons who are not adventure seekers. I don't force them to ride anything unless they want to, because we are there to have a good time not scare them. My oldest one has tried out more things in the past few years and that's fine because it's on his on time. His father ( ex husband ) makes him do all rides and my son now stresses out over going to any park with his dad. He doesn't want to go, he gets sick to his stomach, etc. I would not want to do this to any child!

 

[pyrxtc]

My DD would not go on any ride wthout crying, even IASW. It's pathetic!

 

[Princess Dot]

While I do agree with most of this, there are some kids like mine who used to insist they were "scared" of every ride! Even Pooh and Peter Pan, so I would actually drag them on (while they usually were not hysterically screaming or anything) then after the ride was done they would say "That was fun!". So while I'm not talking about true thrill rides, I know my own kids often were "forced" on a ride just to say later that they enjoyed it. Sometimes you just have to know your own child.


I think the real problem is when parents get fed up that they came all this way, spent all this money, etc. and their kids refuse to go on the rides. You know what I mean and we have all overheard these comments in the parks.

 

[all4fun]

When we took our 7-yr old nephew to WDW a few years ago. The first day we were all having a great time at MGM until that afternoon when we rode the Great Movie Ride and he saw the Alien and totally freaked out. Now we had tried to prepare him for the trip by planning with him and looking at pictures on the web and discribing what the rides were like to him. He was really excited about going to WDW. I was also shocked to find out (after the Alien incident) that he has actually seen the movie! (But his mom raises her kids a lot different than I want to raise mine). Anyway after that he decided he was scared of every ride, so we had to convince him to go on everything. We might of even been seen as "forcing" him. Guess what? Each and every time he said he loved it. Sometimes he wanted to ride again and sometimes he didn't. After the first time it was his choice. I don't think we were being cruel. To this day he says he had a great time and he wants to go back.

I do agree that you have to be the best judge of what you're child can handle and act accordingly. But sometimes what you witness for a moment might not be the whole story. That is why I try not to judge.

btw, the Orlando Sentinal has an interesting article today about how amusement parks come up with their height requirements. It also touches on the subject of age appropriateness of rides somewhat: Orlando Sentinal: Parks set height limits to boost safety

Cheryl

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I agree with you on some points. I definetly don't think you should force any kid to ride a ride. I still have a horrible memory from a ride my Mom took me on when I was 6. She told me it was a nice train ride and it turned out to be a roller coaster. I never trusted her a theme parks again. I do think though that here are kids who do enjoy the ride but the anticipation scares them and the parent knows that. We explain every ride to our kids even the ones they are not allowed to ride on. We are honest about it and try not to make a big deal out of it. They pretty much love every ride so we are lucky. Even when we go in the haunted mansion we make jokes out of everything so they aren't scares. In fact- they fell asllep on it last time!

 

[disneyjunkie]

What kind of vacation would it be if you force your screaming kid on any ride? I am a mother of two sons who are not adventure seekers. I don't force them to ride anything unless they want to, because we are there to have a good time not scare them. My oldest one has tried out more things in the past few years and that's fine because it's on his on time. His father ( ex husband ) makes him do all rides and my son now stresses out over going to any park with his dad. He doesn't want to go, he gets sick to his stomach, etc. I would not want to do this to any child!

I guess you missed the part of Pyrxtc’s post that said her daughter cries when going onto the ride, but is giggling and ready to ride again when it's over. I think she knows her child better than we do.

I did the same thing with my son when he was 9. He was afraid of many of the rides, and would have passed them all up had I not pushed him to try them. Of course he loved them all.

I'm sure some nosey, busy body saw us going on the rides and may have had plenty to say about me "forcing" my son onto a ride. I'm willing to bet the person wasn't around at the end when he was begging to do it again or to see him happily ride the same rides several more times during our trip.

Maybe we should start a theard asking people to stop passing judgment on others. Go on your vacations, enjoy your trips, and learn to mind your own business.

If someone wants to put their 10-year-old in a stroller, that's their choice.

If someone wants to use a leash to keep up with their child, their choice.

If someone wants to encourage their child to ride a ride they are nervous about, their choice.

If someone wants to feed their children ice cream, burgers, fries, soda... during their trip, that's their choice.

If a people want to walk around eating turkey legs, more power to them.

We complain about so many things that don't have anything to do with us.

We all go to WDW to enjoy ourselves. We shouldn't have to worry if we're going to do something that will piss someone off so much that they just have to start a thread about it on the DIS.

My son and I are returning to WDW September 29-October 5. I'm sure we'll give the busy bodies, plenty to talk about.

I'm a far cry from a size 4 and I can't wait to get my hands on a turkey leg. ( and several other yummy snacks)

I'm sure my son will force me ride TOT at least twice during our trip.

My son's birthday is the last day of our trip, but I plan to celebrate the whole time we're there.

I think we should all just enjoy our trips and not worry about what the next family is doing.

 

[crazywig]

Maybe we should start a theard asking people to stop passing judgment on others. Go on your vacations, enjoy your trips, and learn to mind your own business.

If someone wants to put their 10-year-old in a stroller, that's their choice.

If someone wants to use a leash to keep up with their child, their choice.

If someone wants to encourage their child to ride a ride they are nervous about, their choice.

If someone wants to feed their children ice cream, burgers, fries, soda... during their trip, that's their choice.

If a people want to walk around eating turkey legs, more power to them.

We complain about so many things that don't have anything to do with us.

We all go to WDW to enjoy ourselves. We shouldn't have to worry if we're going to do something that will piss someone off so much that they just have to start a thread about it on the DIS.

My son and I are returning to WDW September 29-October 5. I'm sure we'll give the busy bodies, plenty to talk about.

I'm a far cry from a size 4 and I can't wait to get my hands on a turkey leg. ( and several other yummy snacks)

I'm sure my son will force me ride TOT at least twice during our trip.

My son's birthday is the last day of our trip, but I plan to celebrate the whole time we're there.

I think we should all just enjoy our trips and not worry about what the next family is doing.

ITA! thank you for stating what i was thinking.

 

[Jen D]

I think we should all just enjoy our trips and not worry about what the next family is doing.

Wise words... you must be from Brooklyn.

What would people talk about on the Dis, though, if we were not criticizing the way other people vacation?

 

[Stacy_C]

If someone wants to put their 10-year-old in a stroller, that's their choice.

If someone wants to use a leash to keep up with their child, their choice.

If someone wants to encourage their child to ride a ride they are nervous about, their choice.

If someone wants to feed their children ice cream, burgers, fries, soda... during their trip, that's their choice.

If a people want to walk around eating turkey legs, more power to them.

We complain about so many things that don't have anything to do with us.

We all go to WDW to enjoy ourselves. We shouldn't have to worry if we're going to do something that will piss someone off so much that they just have to start a thread about it on the DIS.

My son and I are returning to WDW September 29-October 5. I'm sure we'll give the busy bodies, plenty to talk about.

I'm a far cry from a size 4 and I can't wait to get my hands on a turkey leg. ( and several other yummy snacks)

I'm sure my son will force me ride TOT at least twice during our trip.

My son's birthday is the last day of our trip, but I plan to celebrate the whole time we're there.

I think we should all just enjoy our trips and not worry about what the next family is doing.

AMEN!!!

 

[happygirl]

You hit the nail on the head!!!

 

[meandtheguys2]

Folks need to deal with their kids in the best manner possible, but their screaming/hysterical behavior does affect others. My kids got creeped out by other kids a couple of times down there waiting for rides they wanted to go on.

 

[welovedis]

What would people talk about on the Dis, though, if we were not criticizing the way other people vacation?

ITA! When I joined the DIS boards a long time ago it was a fun friendly place to visit. Now I stay away from most boards as the threads are filled with nasty sarcasm and just plain mean spiritedness.

If some strangers want to waste their time judging me and worrying about what I'm doing while we are on vacation, they can go right ahead. I'll be off on the rides and enjoying my stay.

 

[nickandalexmom]

Thanks Disney Junkie for saying what a lot of us are thinking!!!!

 

[java]

Well I agree in not forcing a child to go on a ride...but I have to admit that I did talk my roller coaster loving son into going on Space Mountain. He was afraid but wanted to go on. Then worked himself to the point of crying so I said forget it then he cried because he wanted to go on....long story short I "talked" him into going on it and he LOVED it. I knew he would once he got over his fear and I also knew he would decide he wanted to do it on the car ride to the airport and be disappointed he didn't. So I guess I don't judge parents either way- (except the "Do you know how much this trip cost you are going on it" kind) Only they really know their child. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[JMCDAD]

question for the OP, or anyone else
you mentioned MS, TOT, and HM as being scary
I understand MS and TOT but is HM that scary?