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

[Luvscrappin]

This is easy. Last year at DHS in line waiting for a pic with Buzz and Woody there was quit possibly the worst behaved child I have ever seen at any park. He was kicking and pinching and hitting those standing near him..people who were not even in his party. He seemed to pick on kids mostly, but he even pinched the arm of a woman after she told him to stop kicking her daughter! His mother just totally ignored whatever he did and kept talking with her friend. When the mother he pinched told him to stop it, he said, "I didn't do anything" Everyone was commenting about his behavior, his mother apparently did not speak English. Most painful wait in a line in 20 year at WDW!

 

[akhenaten]

We were probably one of "those" families last summer.
We were trying to get my DD9 to go on Pirates (she loved the movies).
She was fussy thru the line (not out of control) and when we got close she really got scared (she hates loud noises and had probably had her fill that day).

We did not make her go on of course... would not do that to the other folks on the ride. But I bet they were all worried that we would....

 

[PoohsFan1]

I understand that kids have meltdowns, but I think parents have meltdowns too. I agree that breaks are the best form of medicine when it comes to these meltdowns. My kids are a bit older now, but when they were younger and they had their meltdowns, I or DH would immediately take them outside to calm them down. Sometimes just changing the scenery helps (at least for my kids). I remember one time shopping around at our local Disney Store (around Christmas time), a mother was getting upset with her young DD (who was in a stroller) because the DD wanted to get a stuffed toy. The mother yelled out at the top of her lungs..."you are such a !@#$". That made me, and a couple of others around her, stop what we were doing and just glance at the mother. The mother then just pulled the kid out of the store.

 

[Ciorsdah]

I'm not a mother, but I am a qualified drama teacher, so beleive me when I say I've seen all the little drama kings and queens..!!

However in DLRP in 2011 (Jan) myself and my boyfriend has just grabbed some food at a CS place in Fantasy Land and had bagged a small table (one of the tables that seat 4 people at a SQUEEZE).

Well, this woman comes up to me and declares that because she has a child she needs the table. There are only 2 of us, so 2 seats free and I told her there was no problem at all.

Child sat down, and would have been around 11 years old. child starts to pick apart his burger and spit half eaten food out of his mouth onto my tray (he was sat beside me). When I told his mother to get this behaviour managed she started to pretend she didnt understand English

I took the kids meal tray and moved it to another table.

He wants to eat like a wild animal, he can eat elsewhere!

 

[marmalade]

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.

I was going to post the same thing. Whenever I open one of these threads I wonder if someone is going to comment about the way some crazy lady blew up at her DH at Epcot because he kept leaving them to go to the next country for a beer.

 

[deegack]

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...

Or the nanny was foreign and didn't know what to do or the mom is a royal witch and if the nanny dared to suggest anything to her especially in public there could be ramifications including being fired and left to find her own way home or she already did suggest something and the mom said no.
I've had friends work as nannys and some of the families treat the dogs better than the nanny .

 

[wfjny]

We experienced an interesting situation a few years ago leaving AK. Still well in the park, but heading towards the exit, a woman pushing a child in a stroller was screaming at the child’s “Baby Daddy” (her words, not mine).

The words coming out of her mouth during this tirade were not for younger ears, every curse you could think of, as well as threats such as “Wait until your pu..y a.. gets back to the hood!”, “My friend are going to f… kill you”.

I looked around for some sort of security, and I finally did notice certain people moving with the group, but they did not interfere. My assumption is that they were heading out, better to not escalate the situation further, just monitor them as they leave.

However, with the clear death threats, and our ready to sue society, I am surprised nobody from security stepped in. This was a few years ago, now days I know they have Sherriff’s deputies on site all the time. But that was clearly the worst case of people acting badly we ever saw at Disney.

 

[brymolmom]

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.

I disagree. My dd is not overweight but yet not tiny either so we do try to monitor her diet and keep treats to a minimum. However, a vacation is NOT the place to be teaching proper nutrition.

Those 7 days are not going to permanently harm that child you see with the large cup of pop. Now, I will agree with you when they get back home on day 8 the eating habits should be addressed....Likely in many of the cases this will not occur - but I don't mind seeing it on vacation. It's the other 95% of the year that bothers me more in these cases.

 

[ttintagel]

What I really hate seeing is parents pulling or shoving their kids into oncoming foot, wheelchair, and stroller traffic because THEY'RE in a hurry to get to the next attraction.

I disagree. My dd is not overweight but yet not tiny either so we do try to monitor her diet and keep treats to a minimum. However, a vacation is NOT the place to be teaching proper nutrition.

Exactly. The average WDW guest walks eight miles a day. Those extra calories are not going to go into fat storage.

 

[Jennasis]

LOTS.

1. Waiting for the electric water pageant, a drunken family wanders up to the waters edge with a toddler who is chasing a poor terrified duck. When teh kid couldn't catch it, on of the large MEN in the group tackled the duck (like a freakin' football player sacking the QB) and held it down as it screamed and quacked so the snot nosed kid could "pet" it...essentially slapping it over and over.


2. Epcot...EMH...somewhere around 11:30ish...we're walking past JIYI and there's a family walking with their DD who is maybe 3 or 4. Little thing is just silently weeping. Tears are flowing down her cheeks and she has bags like a set of Samsonite luggage under each eye. She's holding her mom's hand and is being dragged around. The little girl says in THE saddest voice ever "But mommy...PLEASE...I'm so tired." To which mom-of-the-year replies "Now Sally...part of learning how to be a grown up is learning how to stay up late."

 

[Eljay]

.....However, a vacation is NOT the place to be teaching proper nutrition.....

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you.

 

[elyselynne]

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.

amen!!

 

[elyselynne]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you.

Very true.

 

[Ariel8676]

We were in Epcot (near Norway) a few years ago and there was a man screaming at his teenage son..the boy was saying he was just really hot and wasn't feeling great and wanted to rest or go back to the room. The Dad not liking the fact that the boy "talked back to him" proceeded to grab this poor boy by his throat and force him back over the railing overlooking the water. It was horrible and my DH was not going to allow this man to do this..he stepped in and pulled the man off his son and held him and talked to him about his actions, while i got security. They had already been called, so it was just seconds until they were there. After, the man apologized not only to his son and family, but to everyone around..then thanked my husband and said he was going home to take a nap..lol

 

[Jonell]

A few trips ago on our last day at Magic Kingdom we deceided to have Turkey Legs and ice cream for lunch in Liberty Square. We were sitting at on of the outside table across from the turkey leg stand. A family of 5 came and sat at the table beside us. They were having a lunch that they brought to the park. Immediately the children started complaining and crying "why does that family get to buy food and we don't?" The parents were just yelling at them to "shut up" and threatening them. When my son started eating his ice cream it got even worst. It was such and uncomfortable situtation and probably the worst meal experience I've had at WDW.

 

[RobDIS]

Spotted a mom angrily kicking her son in the butt during the rush in after rope drop at AK one morning. No idea what the kid did, but I remember thinking that family was in for a long day.

 

[pooh2001]

5 years ago - we were waiting to get into the 7 pm HHD show.
A father about 30 years old was with his son, about 5 years old, also waiting for the show. The 5 year old son was getting anxious, most likely hungry and maybe tired.

Instead of consoling the young son, he started to yell at him to be quiet.
The young son then started to cry. The father grabbed, yes grabbed & jerked, his arm and spanked his son's tush. The young son cried even louder.
We were finally were able to get into the HDD.

I do no know where the mom was - or where the father and son were sitting. I never saw a mom, or a woman with them.

My DH works in a area which could have intervened.. but we were in Florida, out of his area, and we were on vacation. We felt so bad for the son and the father needed some anger management skills.

Please be kind to your children.

 

[Kimi313]

Just returned a few weeks ago.

Worst behavior: A father pushing a stroller with a crying child, around 2 yrs old), he stops, slaps him and says "stop crying". Proceeds to push the stroller again and the child starts crying, father says "stop or I will slap you again"

Now I want to add the best parent behavior I have ever seen.

Two young children (appr 4 and 6) are being very whinny, dad say "guys I am a 5 year old kid trapped in a 40 year old body and your are bringing me down, now lets go have some fun". Now THAT'S the kind of man I want DD to marry!

 

[Jennasis]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you.

You lost "respectfully" when you included the head-shake smiley.


I tend to agree in spirit with the other poster. Vacations, for us, are vacations and not indicative of how we eat the other days of the year. It's okay to indulge here and there on vacation.

 

[clerkshipwanted]

I disagree. My dd is not overweight but yet not tiny either so we do try to monitor her diet and keep treats to a minimum. However, a vacation is NOT the place to be teaching proper nutrition.

Those 7 days are not going to permanently harm that child you see with the large cup of pop. Now, I will agree with you when they get back home on day 8 the eating habits should be addressed....Likely in many of the cases this will not occur - but I don't mind seeing it on vacation. It's the other 95% of the year that bothers me more in these cases.

I guess to each her own - I think vacation is a great time to teach kids about nutrition, diet and moderation. I give my kids plenty of treats while we are at Disney -- but we always to try to balance it out with healthy choices (hard to do at DW). A giant cup of pop is totally unnecessary and just reinforces bad habits.