The worst parenting I ever saw in Disney was...

[PersonalizedMouse]

I have seen some great and wonderful family moments at Disney. I have also seen parents whose children would be better off raised by wolves.

This was one of the worst examples that I ever saw. Once we were waiting for Tony's. ( I know, who knew there would be a 45 minute wait for Tony's in January) Well while we were waiting a woman and her family were also waiting with her family. The woman had told the nanny to take the toddler into the candy store because she was screaming so loud. The candy store visit made the situation so much worse because she would not let the child eat anything in the candy store because of dietary restrictions. (kind of a stupid place to take the child then-huh ) Well the child continued to scream at the the top of her lungs for 45 minutes! The poor nanny had to contend with her kicking, throwing herself on the the floor and essentially hyperventilating.
It wasn't the child's fault, she was exhausted. The mother just sat there and did NOTHING! When I say nothing, I mean nothing! The nanny looked like she was about to cry, the teenage siblings were mortified and this mother was getting death stares from the 70 people waiting inside. When people in her party recommended leaving, she refused. The staff seated them first (trust me no one minded if the child would calm down) A server brought the child a soda immediately to placate her and the mother almost refused Lucky for her she relented because the patrons were about to smack her After five minutes the child screamed again. Needless to say everyone's meal was ruined but mom didn't seem to mind at all. NOw the nanny on the other hand

 

[Paradise18]

Eeeek. I can understand that people have plans, but sometimes life (in this case a tired, cranky child) will throw a monkey wrench into the mix. You have to be able to recognize when it is time to ditch your plan. I would have felt bad for the child and definitely the nanny.

 

[donaldlovesdaisy]

BREAKS---Not sure why so many Disney guest with young children do not understand that concept. I wonder why they were not asked to leave I can see a few minutes of crying but really that long that is absolutely not fair to others who are eating there..

 

[kerriemiller]

Hmm heres an idea - make the nanny take the screaming darling back to the room so you dont have to deal with it, and as a mother of a toddler and a preschooler Im sure that is just what that poor kid needed a nice rest in a comfy bed

 

[khertz]

That is so ridiculous!! Just a couple of weeks ago we were in Disneyland and had almost this same experience, except it was OUR child crying and fighting while we waited for World of Color. We tried everything we could think of to console him (we had forgotten the pacifier! ), but after waiting about 20 minutes, we decided to leave. It wasn't worth spoiling our enjoyment or the people around us to see the show! Trust me, DH and I were very disappointed to miss the show that night, though we did remember the pacifier the next night and were able to see the show peacefully, but we knew we had to be parents in that moment and put DS's needs before our own enjoyment. I guess that is a concept some people just don't get, or at least forget about while on vacation.

 

[Sabrefan]

80% of the time I consider myself to be a very good mom, the other 20% ...well I would just hope no one was paying that close attention or caught it on camera.

We all have our bad mommy moments. I'm not ashamed to admit them. I'm human, it happens.

 

[twinplets]

Me yesterday, ready to strangle all 5 of my kids. Only our first day at a park during our trip and they fought constantly. Being rising 3rd and 5th graders, you would think they could understand the concept of delayed gratification. Alas, no, everyone wanted to only do what they wanted right at that moment even though I had a plan in writing showing them we would get it all in throughout the day. This happened over and over again. MK was nuts yesterday. A touring plan was a must and they fought me over it all day long. They even fought over who sat by who at every stinkin' ride. My head was about a explode a few times. Yes, I was Mother of the Year yesterday.

 

[thestevied]

I reckon this thread could go on for years...

We've seen a mum cleaning off her baby in a water fountain after changing its nappy. Don't think I've drunk from another fountain since...

 

[CarolineB]

I was at Downtown Disney yesterday and saw a family change their school age children (one boy and one girl) from wet to dry clothes on benches in front of the splash area. I commented to my DS8 that that just is not appropriate. The kids were NAKED -- the parents weren't covering them at all.

I also saw the all too common family that was changing their infant's diaper on a bench.

I remember going to one of the parks with my boss and his family -- I was appalled when the wife changed their DS diaper in the kid's stroller in a restaurant. YUCK!

 

[Eljay]

Hmm heres an idea - make the nanny take the screaming darling back to the room so you dont have to deal with it, and as a mother of a toddler and a preschooler Im sure that is just what that poor kid needed a nice rest in a comfy bed

The nanny must have been a complete wimp, not to have suggested that exact solution to the mom! If she did suggest it and the mom refused to allow her to take the toddler back to the hotel, the mom must be an idiot.

 

[ChocoKat]

I have seen so many moms with meticulous excel sheet itineraries in hand, dragging along a sad, tired looking family who is just fed up with ADR's and places they need to be -or else!- that I tuned them out. I used to feel sorry for both the mom and the family. She probably put a bunch of effort on planning and can't let go of it and her family is probably just there to have fun and can't figure out why mom has been turned into a drill sergeant that will only let them rest at scheduled potty breaks

But one bad parenting example still sticks out for me... it was very early at HS, just a bit after the running of the bulls to get to TSM. Crowds were filling the park, it was a beautiful morning, perfect temp, sun with a bit of cloud coverage, people seemed to be on a great mood... we started to hear some really loud and angry yelling as we walked over to TSM. A man and his family were sitting on a bench next to One Man's Dream. He was screaming at the top of his lungs using every single fowl word known to man... it was like an episode of the Sopranos, just louder and with more bad vocabulary than just the "f" word.

A teen was sitting with his head down, red as could be, tears streaming down his face, trying his best not to sob while his dad berated him over and over because he didn't want to go on Tower of Terror or any other thrill ride. His dad kept screaming and the rest of the family kept trying to calm him down saying that it was no big deal that he didn't want to ride, that he could wait outside and they could go in. The dad wouldn't hear of it, kept on screaming about how much money he had spent, how they had been there already 3 days and how long he had had to drive to get everybody there. Then began to enumerate every meal he had purchased, every souvenir and how he hated spending money etc etc (we started hearing the screaming way before we saw him too yikes).

I felt awful, the whole family (save dad), was either crying or on the verge of tears. They felt so humiliated. My DH looked at me and asked if we should do something, but I know the type and I told him that if we dared say anything we probably would make it much worse, but that we should get a CM to call security, because by then the father had grabbed the teen and was shaking him around and very close to start beating him up.

Thankfully someone had already called security, this probably had been going on a while before we came in, and they started to take care of the problem as we walked away. I still felt very sad for the family and a bit uncomfortable for a couple of hours after that.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Hmm heres an idea - make the nanny take the screaming darling back to the room

Here's a better idea: Make THE MOM take the child back to the room.

 

[WillAustin]

The nanny must have been a complete wimp, not to have suggested that exact solution to the mom! If she did suggest it and the mom refused to allow her to take the toddler back to the hotel, the mom must be an idiot.

I think I would have suggested it to the family after 5 minutes of hearing their kid scream.

Just a quick, "are you going to ruin the day for everyone in this restaurant or are you going to take care of your child?" would do.

And if our kids fight or misbehave, we leave. No question about it. Even when we paid to be at WDW. Our kids know this from past experiences, so it rarely happens anymore. Even in an extreme situation, if we started to return to the hotel, they'd apologize and shape up quickly.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

I've seen a lot of meltdowns at Disney, andf a lot of parents not responding well to their kids, but the worst parenting I ever saw was in a mall in Charlottesville, VA. A woman PUNCHED her toddler son in the head, told him to "cut that <expletive> out," and dragged his dazed little body out of the department store. My DH and I were in shock and by the time we were thinking clearly, the woman and the poor child were long gone.

 

[sephorachick]

This was at Islands of Adventure not at WDW. We were in line for Dueling dragons BEFORE the harry potter section opened up. This 12 yr old girl was TERRIFIED to go on it & her dad yelled at her " You p*ssy you are going on" she was shaking & crying I felt so bad for her.

 

[TxMickeyLover]

I felt awful, the whole family (save dad), was either crying or on the verge of tears. They felt so humiliated. My DH looked at me and asked if we should do something, but I know the type and I told him that if we dared say anything we probably would make it much worse, but that we should get a CM to call security, because by then the father had grabbed the teen and was shaking him around and very close to start beating him up.

This just breaks my heart for that poor family. I agree, my first reaction is to always want to step in and say something in situations like that, but I agree, it would probably just make it far worse for the family.

 

[zeferjen]

80% of the time I consider myself to be a very good mom, the other 20% ...well I would just hope no one was paying that close attention or caught it on camera.

We all have our bad mommy moments. I'm not ashamed to admit them. I'm human, it happens.

I totally agree. I have to admit, I always worry when I open a post like this: "Will it be about me?" Probably my dumbest moments have come when my two were little and I was still sleep deprived and overwhelmed.

 

[akhenaten]

The nanny must have been a complete wimp, not to have suggested that exact solution to the mom! If she did suggest it and the mom refused to allow her to take the toddler back to the hotel, the mom must be an idiot.

Maybe the Nanny was really one of the teenage childrens' friends who was asked to come along on vacation...

When I was young my former Sis in law asked me to go golfing... silly me thought she wanted to teach me... luckily I asked and it turned out she wanted me to caddy...

 

[clerkshipwanted]

sorry but i find the kids with absolutely enormous cups of pop and usually already overweight to be one of the worse examples of parenting. i was shocked at what parents let their kids eat at Disney. (And often elsewhere). sorry if i offended people here but i think parents need to take responsibility for their children's eating habits - Disney is a perfect example of why diabetes will be the number one killer of our children's generation.

 

[hill242]

But one bad parenting example still sticks out for me... it was very early at HS, just a bit after the running of the bulls to get to TSM. Crowds were filling the park, it was a beautiful morning, perfect temp, sun with a bit of cloud coverage, people seemed to be on a great mood... we started to hear some really loud and angry yelling as we walked over to TSM. A man and his family were sitting on a bench next to One Man's Dream. He was screaming at the top of his lungs using every single fowl word known to man... it was like an episode of the Sopranos, just louder and with more bad vocabulary than just the "f" word.

A teen was sitting with his head down, red as could be, tears streaming down his face, trying his best not to sob while his dad berated him over and over because he didn't want to go on Tower of Terror or any other thrill ride. His dad kept screaming and the rest of the family kept trying to calm him down saying that it was no big deal that he didn't want to ride, that he could wait outside and they could go in. The dad wouldn't hear of it, kept on screaming about how much money he had spent, how they had been there already 3 days and how long he had had to drive to get everybody there. Then began to enumerate every meal he had purchased, every souvenir and how he hated spending money etc etc (we started hearing the screaming way before we saw him too yikes).

I felt awful, the whole family (save dad), was either crying or on the verge of tears. They felt so humiliated. My DH looked at me and asked if we should do something, but I know the type and I told him that if we dared say anything we probably would make it much worse, but that we should get a CM to call security, because by then the father had grabbed the teen and was shaking him around and very close to start beating him up.

Sounds really similar to a family we saw at Epcot on our recent trip. The dad was ripping into his son for some unknown reason, and letting f-words and a-words and s-words fly left and right. It was ridiculous.