what not to do as a parent.

[harding0010]

Saw a mom send her 7 year old to find a bathroom by himself while she sits and watches the parade. She is also feeding her infant popcorn. Needless to say when the dad returned and his son was missing he went to find him. Hope the Dad never leaves the kids with the mom again.

 

[mjkacmom]

I could totally see me sending ds8 to the bathroom on his own last year - his navigation skills are excellent (but I'd probably take dd15 - hers, not so much - high honor student, no sense of direction). How old was the baby? When I think of an infant, I'm thinking under 6 months, and that's just bizarre.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

How do you know he was 7? A big problem now a days is that "normal" sized kids tend to be thought of as younger because the the rest of the kids in their age group are huge!

I gave my DD ice cream for the first time when she was 8 months old. Not a cup of it, but a tiny bit. Was the "baby" gumming it or just playing with it and discovering it's texture.

 

[ccgirl]

Saw a mom send her 7 year old to find a bathroom by himself while she sits and watches the parade. She is also feeding her infant popcorn. Needless to say when the dad returned and his son was missing he went to find him. Hope the Dad never leaves the kids with the mom again.

Just because a parent does something different doesn't mean they are wrong. For some reason, I see parents very judgmental on the DIS. I would send my DD9 to the bathroom alone. How do you know the boy was 7? How old was the "infant". My son at 10 months was on full table food; which was just fine with his pediatrician.

 

[DannysMom]

Depending on the maturity (7 ish year old) and navigational skills of the kid in question, sending him to the bathroom alone may be OK.... depends on the kid.

But, popcorn is a choking hazard. Period. Even older kids, like 5 year olds can choke on popcorn, because it's so light, it can fly into their airway really easily. Not saying I wouldn't give popcorn to an older kid, but I would not give it unobserved.

 

[princessmom29]

I also don't see a problem with sending the 7 year old to the bathroom. Honesly, I think they ought to be able to go on thier own by that age. I personally wouldn't have fed a child under about 2 popcorn, but sometimes when we have a hungry, cranky child we do things we would rather not in a normal situation.

 

[Madison'smommy]

It is hard to judge other people especially when we dont know circumstances... but, I would never let my almost 7 yr old go alone. She is responsible and independant (age appropriate) aand would have no problem getting there and back, but I worry about the crazies out there. Maybe I watch to much news, but I don't let DD that far away from me.

 

[Queen2PrincessG]

You can't live in fear of the crazies. I would tend to think that a child is safe going to the bathrooms at WDW. I'm so sick of women babying their sons. At 7 you can go to bathroom by yourself you should not still going in with your mom.

 

[princessmom29]

Exactly. Living in fear benefits no one and does kids a disservice. There will come a time we we WILL have to allow them out of our sight. They need to learn to take appropiate levels of responsibility a little along. At 7, going to the bathroom alone is an appropiate level of responsibility. We cannot let our fear (which is fed by the media) prevent our children from learning to take care of themselves. Fear of the boogey man around the coner is truly just a media construct that enables holding on to our kids too tightly.

It's sad that it has gotten to the point that people will judge a stranger as a "bad parent" for not buying into the media hype and chaining thier child to thier side.

 

[Vijoge]

It's sad that it has gotten to the point that people will judge a stranger as a "bad parent" for not buying into the media hype and chaining thier child to thier side.

I'm a grandma who's been raising two graddaughters ages 12 and 14) for the past five years. I've received nothing from either of their parents during this time other than unsolicited advice.

We live in a relatively safe town in a good neighborhood. Their mother had a fit a couple of weeks ago because I told the 12 year old she could walk home from school alone. Started screaming that the girl was going to get pregnant...going to get "snatched". . I asked her how many kids she's known who have gotten snatched and she said she's seen it on the news! Then I tried to explain that walking does not cause pregnancy (guess that explains why I'm raising the kids-she still doesn't know how it happened). She told my granddaughter that just means I don't care aything about her.

BUT she will drop them off at the mall on Friday after school and leave them there until it closes.

 

[NLD]

My daughter is seven (turning eight in January).

I don't think I'd send her off to the restroom herself in the park, if the restroom was out of eyesight. Probably not yet. Mostly because she's just not that familiar with the parks (only been once), and while she actually has good navigational skills, I'd still be a little worried that it would be hard for her to get back to me.

But I've let her go to restrooms by herself in restaurants around home, if it's not too far away.

And she walks herself to the bus stop each day (2 blocks).

And she walks or rides her scooter to Grandma's house (can get there without crossing a street, they are one street over from us, about a fourth a mile).

And she's allowed to ride her bike outside by herself within certain boundaries.

Kids have to get some independence somehow...

 

[SweetMissy]

I'm kind of shocked at some of the responses here. I would never allow my 7 year old to go find a bathroom by himself at disneyworld.....heck I don't even let him go find a bathroom by himself at a restaurant! Why is being a cautious parent mean I'm babying my kids??? Disneyworld is very crowded with all sorts of people and I wouldn't want my kid running into one of the wrong sorts on the way or in the bathroom. You may want your child to "grow up" by such an experience but not me!7 is just too young, especially there. And about the popcorn thing....that's just stupid, I don't care what anyone says!

 

[Vijoge]

Most of the time, when people talk about protecting kids from "the crazies" they mean child molestors/pedophiles. Just off the top of my head, I can name seven people I know who have had that type of experience. Every one of these encounters was with someone the child knew, and all except one involved a relative. There is more danger to a child at a family reunion than there is in a Disney park bathroom or riding their bike around the block.

 

[Wadecool]

Saw a mom send her 7 year old to find a bathroom by himself while she sits and watches the parade. She is also feeding her infant popcorn. Needless to say when the dad returned and his son was missing he went to find him. Hope the Dad never leaves the kids with the mom again.

Did you check the birth certificate of that child? Otherwise, how did you know how old he actually was?

 

[caitlinsmom]

What not to do as a parent is not to judge other parents because you do not know the whole story.

Just because it is not something you would do does not mean it is wrong for the other parent to do. And it likely does not make them a bad parent.
A bad parent is one who does not provide the basic needs for their child and who abuses them, not one who sends a child to the bathroom alone or feeds a young child popcorn.

 

[SweetMissy]

What not to do as a parent is not to judge other parents because you do not know the whole story.

Just because it is not something you would do does not mean it is wrong for the other parent to do. And it likely does not make them a bad parent.
A bad parent is one who does not provide the basic needs for their child and who abuses them, not one who sends a child to the bathroom alone or feeds a young child popcorn.

Ok....I understand your point of view but what more to the story is there to know? Seriously. The kid she saw appeared to be 7 years old.....it's not that hard to guess a childs age, especially when you have one similar in age. She personally saw with her own eyes, this "7 year old" go to the bathroom, at disney, alone. What other part of this situation would be the whole story? For the infant.....again, she saw personally with her own eyes a mom feeding her infant popcorn. What other part of this situation would be the whole story? I just don't get it. Some people don't care what others do, and that's perfectly fine....however other people do care and that's perfectly fine too. For me, one of my childrens basic need is also to keep them safe and I believe it's not safe sending a 7 year old to the bathroom alone at disney and it's certainly not safe feeding an infant popcorn. If you do, then that's on you but don't wonder why other parents think your choices aren't the best. I'm not fully directing this post towards you because there's others here who feel the same way as you so please don't think I'm ganging up on you.

 

[caitlinsmom]

Ok....I understand your point of view but what more to the story is there to know? Seriously. The kid she saw appeared to be 7 years old.....it's not that hard to guess a childs age, especially when you have one similar in age. She personally saw with her own eyes, this "7 year old" go to the bathroom, at disney, alone. What other part of this situation would be the whole story? For the infant.....again, she saw personally with her own eyes a mom feeding her infant popcorn. What other part of this situation would be the whole story? I just don't get it. Some people don't care what others do, and that's perfectly fine....however other people do care and that's perfectly fine too. For me, one of my childrens basic need is also to keep them safe and I believe it's not safe sending a 7 year old to the bathroom alone at disney and it's certainly not safe feeding an infant popcorn. If you do, then that's on you but don't wonder why other parents think your choices aren't the best. I'm not fully directing this post towards you because there's others here who feel the same way as you so please don't think I'm ganging up on you.

There is no way of knowing how old the child was. All 7 yr olds are not the same size. This is coming from the mother of an almost 12 yr old girl who isn't much taller than the average 7 yr old and is less than a head taller than her 6 yr old brother. She also did not mention how far away from the nearest bathroom she was. Or how responsible the child was.
Personally I wouldn't feed an under 1 yr old child popcorn but again, not my kid, not my decision.

 

[princessmom29]

I'm kind of shocked at some of the responses here. I would never allow my 7 year old to go find a bathroom by himself at disneyworld.....heck I don't even let him go find a bathroom by himself at a restaurant! Why is being a cautious parent mean I'm babying my kids??? Disneyworld is very crowded with all sorts of people and I wouldn't want my kid running into one of the wrong sorts on the way or in the bathroom. You may want your child to "grow up" by such an experience but not me!7 is just too young, especially there. And about the popcorn thing....that's just stupid, I don't care what anyone says!

It's about appropiate level of responsibility. Kids need it. I would absolutely say that going to the batroom on your own is an appropiate leve of responsibility at 7, and a child that is not being allowed to do so is being babied unnecessairly. It has gone beyond cautious and into paranoid at the expense of the child at that point. The child is not being given the pooprtunity to develop the skills necessary to be independent at the appropiate level. That is just MY opinion however, and yours obviously differs.

I see it as "I have taught my child how to handle any situation that is likely to present itself and am confident she can handle it." Meeting the "wrong sort" of person on the way to the restroom included. She is old enough to know to walk away, or scream if they will not leave her alone. I also aknowledge that it is HIGHLY unlikely that she would have any problem whatsover on the way to and from the restroom. There are simply NOT boogey men lurking around every corner waiting for her, and I cannot let my fear of what "might happen" on the far reaches of possibility keep me from doing the right thing and allowing her to be independent.

 

[princessmom29]

Most of the time, when people talk about protecting kids from "the crazies" they mean child molestors/pedophiles. Just off the top of my head, I can name seven people I know who have had that type of experience. Every one of these encounters was with someone the child knew, and all except one involved a relative. There is more danger to a child at a family reunion than there is in a Disney park bathroom or riding their bike around the block.

you are totally right of course, but getting people to BELIVE it is a totally different story. The whole "streanger danger" thing is not where we should be focusing our energy. EVERY kid knows not to go with a stranger, but the waters become muddied when "Uncle Ed" is donig something that is not quite right. They know Uncle Ed, and Mommy and Daddy likle Uncle Ed. If they tell, someone might get in trouble. Much different than a random stranger.

 

[ccgirl]

Ok....I understand your point of view but what more to the story is there to know? Seriously. The kid she saw appeared to be 7 years old.....it's not that hard to guess a childs age, especially when you have one similar in age. She personally saw with her own eyes, this "7 year old" go to the bathroom, at disney, alone. What other part of this situation would be the whole story? For the infant.....again, she saw personally with her own eyes a mom feeding her infant popcorn. What other part of this situation would be the whole story? I just don't get it. Some people don't care what others do, and that's perfectly fine....however other people do care and that's perfectly fine too. For me, one of my childrens basic need is also to keep them safe and I believe it's not safe sending a 7 year old to the bathroom alone at disney and it's certainly not safe feeding an infant popcorn. If you do, then that's on you but don't wonder why other parents think your choices aren't the best. I'm not fully directing this post towards you because there's others here who feel the same way as you so please don't think I'm ganging up on you.

I don't think the OP ever said she had children; never mind disclosing their age. She may just have children but we don't know. My DNiece still wears a size 4T but she just turned 8. So, someone could assume she is much younger than she is. A child is in more "danger" of having something happen to them at the hands of a relative than they are at the bathroom at WDW. Just because parents let their children go to the bathroom by themselves does not mean their safety is not important. My DD's safety is of the utmost importance. To me, (I realize others may feel differently) I think it is an irrational fear not to let a child of the age of 7 go to the bathroom by themselves. However, I would never come to a discussion board and post "what not to do as a parent" because someone felt other than I did. The same goes for the "infant". Just how old is the infant? To me, an infant is a baby under the age of 1.
That is why some of us are saying not to judge others. Just because some of us feel differently does not mean we are wrong.

Perhaps the bathroom was right behind her? Perhaps she wanted to observe her "infant" as she was eating to insure she did not choke?