Tips for a 4YO Nervous About Meeting Characters?

[norjack]

@jenPSU lol. Sorry, at first I thought it said, "40YO". Different tips needed then, I guess

Lots of good ideas here already. It's always fun watching that character's movie/tv show before meeting them, and talking about the positives that your daughter loves about them. Character breakfasts are a great way to see them for a little bit before they come over. And then you can steer that little time as you want, either having the character interact directly with an adult, or indirectly with someone else in the party. Our girls were each 1 when they met characters for the first time, and they were nervous for about 30 seconds each. Then, our oldest lunged from my wife's arms and grabbed Pooh's nose for a kiss...(At least we got a pic to prove it to her now ) Good luck!

 

[goofy4tink]

My now 22y/o dd saw Mickey for the first time when was 5, almost 6. She hated seeing Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc. in fact, we had to 'call' the Easter Bunny one year to tell him to please leave her basket in the porch, not come in the house! The friends we called thought we had lost our minds.
In any case....that first meeting wasn't a huge success. I have the photo.....her face was somewhat horrified!! We allowed her to decide whether or not to approach a character. Try to imagine how you would feel, upon walking up to a 5' rodent!!! I think it's the smart kids that are somewhat slow when approaching.
A quick story. My dd was 'friends' with Foghorn Leghorn last summer. He's a very big rooster. So, she watched as a dad and his small dd approached. Dad is saying 'We're approaching the big white chicken. Here we go.' Then the dd melted when she got to about 5' away....dad says 'And we're walking away from the giant chicken!!' My dd said she was howling...dad was hysterical.
Just take your time. If your child is too nervous about meeting a character, you could walk up with the autograph book. Then you might be joined. The characters are fully aware that kids may be afraid. They usually know what they're doing! Take it slow. Don't pressure them. Let the kids make the choice.

 

[Arielismyfave]

Autograph book might help break the ice. Also maybe you could meet them first to show its ok?

Not the same exact thing, but for rides we ended up watching YouTube videos to get "prepared" for WDW. I'm sure there are character meet and greet videos you could watch. Maybe that will help? Then the situation will be familiar since she's already seen how fun it can be.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I don't know you, so forgive me if I'm guessing a bit here.

Children are often told to stay away from strangers, then we tell them to sit in Santa's lap and hug Tinkerbell. Even if you personally don't caution your children in this manner, there's ample opportunity for children to get the message somewhere, just watch the news. My local media was recently all ablaze because a pedophile rampantly abused a large number of elementary school children in ways no child should have to endure.

Maybe it is good to have a cautious child!

Plus I've noticed that a number of local characters are pretty creepy. The local Easter bunny the fast food cow have very obviously not been washed in years. Yuck! The ones at WDW look well maintained, but easily 1,000 children pass through Crystal Palace every day. There has to be a good deal of germs being passed that way.

 

[curlyqs]

Autograph book is key! My 3 year old was very nervous. WOuld not hug or go up to them, but would hold book for their autographs. Almost 2 years later she still talks about how silly Pluto was for not wanting to give her autograph book back and wanting to keep it! I also went up with her. By the end of the trip she was a lot more comfortable but she did give us a hard time with photos.

 

[imthemamahere]

I'd also suggest the autograph book, and the idea of approaching the character yourself - either first, while your little one hangs back, or holding your daughter in your arms as you go up and start the interaction. You can also suggest that she give a high-five to a costumed character, or wave or blow a kiss from a few feet away, if that's something she's more comfortable with - to get her interacting without necessarily approaching too close. If she has something with one of those characters - a stuffed animal, a pin, a tshirt? - she could easily show it to the character, also from a comfortable distance if necessary, so that can ease her into the interaction as well.

My little guy was ALL about Mickey on first meeting, but was totally thrown by Goofy (who's what, nearly 7 feet tall?). We asked Goofy if he could possibly bend down, and every time we ran across Goofy, in every park, he immediately knelt. It made him so much more approachable, and my son was happy to march right up to him and start interacting once he was less intimidatingly tall.

If she likes the fur characters, Mickey and Minnie and Chip and Dale are typically on the smaller side... they might be a bit easier than Goofy to approach early on. The face characters aren't any taller than their "friends," and of course they don't have giant furry heads, so some kids find them less nerve-wracking to approach.

Good luck.

 

[jenPSU]

Thanks so much everyone! These are all great ideas. I am hopeful that she'll get a good experience out of it, however it goes. And if she ends up deciding the characters aren't for her, then we'll just spend more time on rides!