What is people's problem with kids?

[Princess Stitch]

As so many other people have pointed out that it is the parent's job to correct thier child and not yours. Yes, I do have a problem with people (stangers - not adults who are a part of her life) correcting my child. You are a stranger. My dd has been taught not to talk to strangers. You are only around my child for fleeting moments - what right do you have to correct my child? If you have an issue with her then talk to me. My child has excellent behavior but on those occasions when she is not at her best it is my job not yours to correct her. Yes, these behaviors are annoying. If you get no reaction from a parent (if someone spoke to me I would take care of the issue) then talk to a CM.

How would you do as an adult if every child that was kicked, foot steped on, knocked in the head with a backpack, stroller pushed or knocked turned to you and told you "No Don't do that?" If these things occur to my child then I see it as my responsibilty as her parent to say something.

Case in point:

DD and I enter the line for the carosel. We are the second family in. As you may or may not know it ends up in a holding pen type area. A line forms behind us, who are behind the first family in. The CM tells us to move in so we do still being respectful of the family that was there before us. OKay, CM opens the gate - dd and I walk to a horse - as dd is climbing on the horse the dad (very tall and large) from the family that was in front of us gets on the horse dd was climbing up on to. He saw dd and yelled at her that he was first in line so he got to have this horse (along with some other not so nice words) as her preceded to climb on while dd was still trying to get on. Now while we were walking to the horse he was with his family in the row in front of us in no way did it look like anyone was getting on the horse. DD was scared sh*tless. This man had no right to talk to her in such a manner. IF he had an issue he could have talked to me and we could have moved. I went and got a CM. While the ride was going on security came. After the ride was over security removed him from the area. My complaint had nothing whatsoever to do with the horse but instead with the mans actions towards my dd.

So yes I will say something if a stranger has the gall to correct my child. As a parent it my job to do so.

Wow, I can't believe someone actually did that! Me and DBF went on dumbo last year. We got seated quickly as we were near the beginning of the line, then some little girl decided she wanted the colour of dumbo that we were sitting in, so up we got and moved. Don't know why it woulda matterd to the guy which horse he was on Now, if the little girl had said "get outa my dumbo" or something like that I probably wouldn't have moved, but your poor DD didn't do anything wrong.

However, I must say that if your child is kicking me or stepping on my feet (and I won't say anything if it only happens once, usually 3rd time is when I speak up) then I'm not going to ignore her and pretend she's not there and address you instead. If she's over the age of 3 when she should know better I will probably address her directly and say something like "excuse me but could you please be more careful not to kick me because it hurts". I would never yell or try and discipline her, but it would alert you to the problem and teach the kid that their actions can sometimes hurt other people. If the kid's real little then yeah I would just talk to the parent, otherwise I see no reason why I can't politely ask a kid to stop bothering me.

 

[TDC Nala]

As so many other people have pointed out that it is the parent's job to correct thier child and not yours. Yes, I do have a problem with people (stangers - not adults who are a part of her life) correcting my child. You are a stranger. My dd has been taught not to talk to strangers. You are only around my child for fleeting moments - what right do you have to correct my child? If you have an issue with her then talk to me. My child has excellent behavior but on those occasions when she is not at her best it is my job not yours to correct her. Yes, these behaviors are annoying. If you get no reaction from a parent (if someone spoke to me I would take care of the issue) then talk to a CM.

How would you do as an adult if every child that was kicked, foot steped on, knocked in the head with a backpack, stroller pushed or knocked turned to you and told you "No Don't do that?" If these things occur to my child then I see it as my responsibilty as her parent to say something.

Case in point:

DD and I enter the line for the carosel. We are the second family in. As you may or may not know it ends up in a holding pen type area. A line forms behind us, who are behind the first family in. The CM tells us to move in so we do still being respectful of the family that was there before us. OKay, CM opens the gate - dd and I walk to a horse - as dd is climbing on the horse the dad (very tall and large) from the family that was in front of us gets on the horse dd was climbing up on to. He saw dd and yelled at her that he was first in line so he got to have this horse (along with some other not so nice words) as her preceded to climb on while dd was still trying to get on. Now while we were walking to the horse he was with his family in the row in front of us in no way did it look like anyone was getting on the horse. DD was scared sh*tless. This man had no right to talk to her in such a manner. IF he had an issue he could have talked to me and we could have moved. I went and got a CM. While the ride was going on security came. After the ride was over security removed him from the area. My complaint had nothing whatsoever to do with the horse but instead with the mans actions towards my dd.

So yes I will say something if a stranger has the gall to correct my child. As a parent it my job to do so.

He wasn't correcting your child. He was being a jerk.

And if your kid does something like repeatedly kicks my seat I am going to ask her to please stop it if you won't.

 

[TAEMom]

This was in reference to a child with autism spectrum disorder. I waited to see if the parent of that child would respond, but since they didn't, I will.
No, most people do not seem to know the difference. We have friends with a child with severe developmental delays. She does not look like there is anything wrong with her. At times she will suddenly begin screaming and crying for no apparent reason. She is unable to communicate what is wrong(she doesn't speak at all). You would not believe the glares our friends get. Since we are with them, but not dealing with the situation, we really notice others around us. It is so hard to see people look at our friends like they are terrible parents when they are doing everything they can to calm their DD down

I agree, most people don't know the difference. If you feel badly about it, you can imagine how much worse it must make your friends feel.

I will admit after being a parent to two fairly well-behaved children, that I was occasionally judgemental of parents whose child was "too old" to have a tantrum, etc. Now I get it.

 

[Shorty82]

Interesting thread.

I also find that many parents with younger children are not fond of older kids. You would not believe how many times I saw, heard, etc a parent of a toddler getting into it with someone because their older child got x, y, or z and theirs didn't. One example of what happened to us is we were at EPCOT and my son was playing in some of the water jets. There were maybe 5 kids total at that time. This one Mom got totally into my stuff because my kid was older and should not NEED or WANT to play in the water, that those jets were for the little ones. It took all I had not to go off. Instead I smiled, said I was sorry she felt that way, there was no sign posted that limited the age of a child allowed to play in WATER and that I hope she had a wonderful vacation although with that attitude I doubted it.

Most people have a huge sense of entitlement and nothing will please them completely.

Where does it say that the water jets are only for little children? Like most things at Disney the jets are for children of all ages, be they 1 or 101.

Kids are taught not to talk to or listen to or do what strangers say. For young children is it very hard to distinguish between when they should or should not do what a stranger says. Best just to give a heads up to the parent or say something like "I think Mickey wanted the flowers to stay in the ground to make it pretty." The parent will here and more than likely stop them. A young kid does not know that the flowers are landscaping and not for picking. It is part of childhood.

Parents have enough to worry about. If you are speaking to my child, I might be cautious and my first instinct would be to drag my child away. Plus, if you humiliate or scare them, then you are going to be complaining about the crying...

It sounded like to me that there was no parent around. The poster did say she looked around for them first before saying something to the child. She also told the child to stop politely, she didn't yell at or humilate the kid. My question is, where was the parent? No way would I let a child I'm responsible for out of my sight at WDW, not because it is dangerous but because it is very irresponsible to do so.

Next month my uncle, my aunt (his sister), and I are taking my 8 year old cousin down for her first trip to WDW. She knows how to behave and also will be told what to do if she loses sight of us. She will be taught that if she gets separated from us to find a CM (and will be shown right off what a CM's tag looks like) right away, tell them she is lost and to give them a card that has my uncle's, aunt's, and my cell numbers. We will all carry a picture of her and she may have a picture of us so the CMs will know who to look for. It will also have my brother's, sister-in-law's, and probably my other uncle's cell (who are all CMs) numbers. If we lose sight of her we too will find a CM right away. Chances are she won't get lost from us but we'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

He wasn't correcting your child. He was being a jerk.

And if your kid does something like repeatedly kicks my seat I am going to ask her to please stop it if you won't.

The thing is I will but if you choose to address my child and do so in a way that you may think is okay but I do not I will have a problem with it. I am simply being honest. I cannot say that my child has never kicked the back of a chair - that would be lying - but I can say that when it happened I dealt with it.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Mischa, you are one of my heroes-I love the chair kicking story and I may have to steal that technique!

 

[Tikicampers]

I have younger kids, and in general I have no problem with older kids. However, I have had problems with some. Several times big kids were on the clearly marked toddler playground at our local park. I wouldn't mind this too much if they were playing with a younger sibling, but they were being very rough, running into my then 2 year old (of course no parent in sight). I have also seen bigger kids knock smaller kids out of the way on shared playgrounds. I plan to teach my children to watch out for younger kids.
As I said before, you will find rude people in every age category, and rude children probably have rude parents. At Disney, we mostly run into very nice people. I have had great conversations in line with total strangers.
Don't let a few rude people ruin the magic for you.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

However, I must say that if your child is kicking me or stepping on my feet (and I won't say anything if it only happens once, usually 3rd time is when I speak up) then I'm not going to ignore her and pretend she's not there and address you instead. If she's over the age of 3 when she should know better I will probably address her directly and say something like "excuse me but could you please be more careful not to kick me because it hurts". I would never yell or try and discipline her, but it would alert you to the problem and teach the kid that their actions can sometimes hurt other people. If the kid's real little then yeah I would just talk to the parent, otherwise I see no reason why I can't politely ask a kid to stop bothering me.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that as an adult addressing a child you (general you meaning everyone, not you personally) just have no idea of how that child will react no matter how nice you are being. In the case of my dd she knows better and knows how to behave and also knows in those instances when she may have offended someone (hit kicked or whatever) that I will know and that we will talk to the person and she will need to apologize. I do not let my dd talk to strangers. It is that simple. So an adult addressing her can and does scare her.

 

[ZoZo]

I think that people who do not have children, expect children to be "well behaved" and perfect all of the time...

I wish people wouldn't generalize so much. Not all children misbehave (but some do); not all parents look the other way and ignore what their kids are doing (but some do); not all people without kids expect them to behave perfectly every moment (but some do).

As many other posters have said (including those with kids), it's the parents that look away and ignore their kids' bad behavior that bother me. All kids get overwhelmed sometimes and misbehave sometimes (especially at an exciting place like WDW!). I am not a parent, but I understand that challenge and truly have sympathy for the parents! But it's the parents that don't make an effort to apologize and talk to their kids about their behavior that irritate me! That's all I ask.

[PS - I love kids and volunteer at my local zoo on the weekends, which means a lot of contact with kids. 95% of kids are very well behaved, and their parents try very hard to teach them how to behave politely (how to pet the animals gently, how to wait for their turn to ask a question, etc.). I love that most parents are doing such a great job! There are a few that allow their kids to run wild, but they really are the exception to the rule.]

 

[Princess Stitch]

I guess the point I am trying to make is that as an adult addressing a child you (general you meaning everyone, not you personally) just have no idea of how that child will react no matter how nice you are being. In the case of my dd she knows better and knows how to behave and also knows in those instances when she may have offended someone (hit kicked or whatever) that I will know and that we will talk to the person and she will need to apologize. I do not let my dd talk to strangers. It is that simple. So an adult addressing her can and does scare her.

I do understand what you're saying, but what I don't get is that if a child is so scared to talk to strangers, why kick them or push them? LOL.. doesn't really make sense. Not that I'm saying your dd does this by any means, but you'd think if a person was so terrified of strangers then they'd stay far enough away not to come into contact with them. Like I said, I'd never lecture anyone else's kids. I don't even care if you lecture them. As long as they stop whatever they were doing that was bothering me, I don't really care what happens, because it's none of my business.

When your child invades someone else's space though it DOES become their business and you have to understand that alot of people will say something. Hopefully they'll do it politely, but if you don't want any stranger talking to your DD at all, I suggest you keep a very close eye on her then (not that you don't, just making a general statement) so that no one gets a reason to.

 

[Jessfrogger88]

I work/live in the parks and the thing that bothers me the most about kids/parents today is the 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... heck even up to 13 year olds in strollers. I'm sorry these kids need to get up and walk it's disgusting to me that they are carted around like royalty. No wonder there is a growing obesity problem in America.

 

[Princess Stitch]

I work/live in the parks and the thing that bothers me the most about kids/parents today is the 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... heck even up to 13 year olds in strollers. I'm sorry these kids need to get up and walk it's disgusting to me that they are carted around like royalty. No wonder there is a growing obesity problem in America.

See, this is one of those things that I don't pass judgment on. I agree that it would be good for kids to get more exercise then they do in general, but I have no idea what kind of disability or illness a kid might have that will make the stroller a better option for them. Now joyriding in a wheelchair would be a different story....

 

[marivaid]

I work/live in the parks and the thing that bothers me the most about kids/parents today is the 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10... heck even up to 13 year olds in strollers. I'm sorry these kids need to get up and walk it's disgusting to me that they are carted around like royalty. No wonder there is a growing obesity problem in America.

Yes absolutely,obesity in the US is due to people putting their 5 year old in a stroller instead of making him walk 10-15 miles a day in a crowded park.

How much longer 'til this thread gets closed ?

 

[crazy2beautiful]

Maybe, if anything, at some of the nicer restaurants there should be a section set aside for adults who may want to have a nice, romantic dinner together without sometimes hearing screaming children.

I'm in no way against kids, but at some points during any vacation with a significant other, it's nice to have some quiet time.

I like having kids around in the parks (even the terrible ones). It makes for good people watching.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

I do understand what you're saying, but what I don't get is that if a child is so scared to talk to strangers, why kick them or push them? LOL.. doesn't really make sense. Not that I'm saying your dd does this by any means, but you'd think if a person was so terrified of strangers then they'd stay far enough away not to come into contact with them. Like I said, I'd never lecture anyone else's kids. I don't even care if you lecture them. As long as they stop whatever they were doing that was bothering me, I don't really care what happens, because it's none of my business.

When your child invades someone else's space though it DOES become their business and you have to understand that alot of people will say something. Hopefully they'll do it politely, but if you don't want any stranger talking to your DD at all, I suggest you keep a very close eye on her then (not that you don't, just making a general statement) so that no one gets a reason to.

I do understand your point as well. No one wants a child constantly invading thier space. I do pay attention to my dd to make sure that she does not do that. Our trips to WDW are for us to have fun. As a single mom it is a place where I can leave "reality" at the door and focus completely on my dd without any real world worries. It would be extremely rare for her to commit an offending behavior without me noticing. I do understand that if she should invade someone's space that it would be rude and I need to (and would - scouts honor) do something about it. I hope that the person would give me a chance to deal with it and if they truly feel they need to address it (which I respect) that they would talk to me. I know that people have a different opinion then mine and feel it is okay to address a child. I respect that. I am just saying that these people need to respect the fact that there are us parents who would prefer that those comments be addressed to us and may say so if you chose to correct our kids.

I am not trying to be argumentative or rude. I am trying to acknowledge that everyone has a right to thier own opinion and in this instance mine is different from thiers!

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

Maybe, if anything, at some of the nicer restaurants there should be a section set aside for adults who may want to have a nice, romantic dinner together without sometimes hearing screaming children.

I'm in no way against kids, but at some points during any vacation with a significant other, it's nice to have some quiet time.

I like having kids around in the parks (even the terrible ones). It makes for good people watching.

I am going to ask a naive question primarily because I have never been since I normally travel alone with dd and prefer not to use the babysitting options - Does Pleasure Island offer adult only areas? (Please no flaming like I said I have never been and often wondered about this!)

I do not see anything wrong with offering upscale dinning in a child free enviroment at WDW. There are resturants like that all over so in my mind it would be no different. There was a short period in dds life that if a resturant had table clothes and cloth napkins that I would not step foot in if she was with me. LOL! She is much better now but I still chose our resturants very carefully - no fine dining for us on Valentine's day. LOL!!

 

[blondeheroine]

Yes, but to you, if you complain they don't act like you don't belong there, or use the phrase "This parade/show/ride/whatever is for kids" and its unspoken meaning "We're far more entitled to this space than you are." That's extra rude.

DING DING DING! We have a winner. You nailed it, Nala.

 

[blondeheroine]

There are also plenty of adults out there that are rude and inconsiderate.

And I think that's precisely the point. It's not the kids who are rude, but the parents. When a parent says to me, "Um. I HAVE A KID. You need to let them see. This place is for KIDS." I rarely even register the kid. It's the rude, crude, nasty adult I see. Later on I will ponder on how his kid might be due for the same fate. But not then. I only see a whiny adult.

 

[blondeheroine]

Disney is for kids, that what Walt wanted.

Oh please. And when your kids grow up, you won't see it the same way. And when they want to reexperience what they grew up with as an adult, they definitely won't see it that way.

What a short-sighted view. And a wrong one as well. Ugh.

I also want to add - this is exactly what some of the "childfree" posters were talking about. Hearing that we simply don't belong at the place we've spent thousands of dollars to visit is rude, uncouth and just downright nasty. I KNOW that this one comment is in the minority of the comments on this thread, but it's certainly not the first time I've heard it and it definitely won't be the last. It's a ridiculous and ignorant statement.

 

[Jessfrogger88]

five years is still boderline... i more have a problem with the 10 year olds in the strollers.

Back in my day we walked fifteen miles to school in three feet of snow and nobody pushed us in strollers.