What would You Do?

[ddawg]

Last year I saw a woman trying to force a child to ride on one of the rides at Disney World. He was so scared and was screaming and kicking and pulling at the seatbelt and was so upset that I thought he would throw up. She kept insisting. I think he was a little mentally handicapped and I am not sure if she was his mother or maybe just looking after him. What would you do if you saw this?

 

[carolfoy]

Probably just cry! unless you know the people I don't think you can really get involved. Its just a shame people don't LISTEN to their kids. Maybe he enjoyed it in the end, maybe he didn't. I hope he got his own back by throwing up on her.

 

[NC State]

Wow! that's a hard question, because not knowing if she was try to get him to understand that it was a fun ride and he just didn't understand; however, on the other hand if he acted like that, she shouldn't have pushed the issue. I may have gotten a CM to step in, I'm sure that they're trained to step in at times.

 

[LeCras]

A lot of CM's will actually refuse to let children ride if they are acting very distressed - they basically send the child and parent back the way they came!

Charlotte

 

[HappyLawyer]

i would mind my own business, especially since you have no idea of any of the background information.

 

[cstraub]

I would stay out of it. You don't know the whole story.

I have heard of a story here on the DIS about a child who would cry and kick and scream so he/she would not have to get on a ride but then a bit into it would really enjoy the ride.

It's really not our place to judge and unless the child is in danger I would not get involved.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Since they were already on the ride I would make sure a CM was aware of the situation. Hopefully the CM would get the child off of the ride. As a practical matter they should be concerned with a kid who is trying to remove the restraints and get the kid off for his physical safety even if his caregiver has no concern for his state of mind.

This situation sounds awful for that poor kid. I can see a bit of goading to try to get a kid to try a ride, but that seems way out of line!

My DS was 11 when Revenge of the Mummy made its debut at Islands of Adventure. Ordinarily he does all of the big thrill coasters (and loves them ). I think we had to do a bit of coaxing to get him on Mummy--he had never been on an indoor coaster before. When we were all strapped into the front row of the Mummy, DS "chickened out. I alerted the ride operator and he let my DS off of the ride. DS waited in the child swap area for us to complete our ride. When he saw all of us return laughing and raving about the ride, he got back in line and we all rode together.

 

[tiff211]

Make sure I had my own business to mind! Although, I would not force my kids to get on a ride even though I know they would probably like it. It's just not that serious!

 

[java]

I would butt out. Since I would assume that the parents know the child better than I do-...perhaps he is special needs and that is his response to anything new...And she was just trying to get him to experience it. I have seen CM's refuse to allow crying children to ride a ride.

 

[kimmikayb]

I'm not sure of the level of destress with this child but I can tell you that I have a 4 yo who will pitch a fit to even ride IASW and we will carry her on...because I know that as soon as she sees the inside she'll love it. But I wouldn't do that for say, a ride like ToT where it can be a little scary.

To answer your question, I wouldn't have done anything. The CMs are trained to handle such situations.

 

[puffkin]

I wouldn't worry or get involved in it.....

My 7 year old niece freaked out about the Haunted Mansion, tears, sobbing, clinging etc. She loved it when she got off....same story with Space Mountain, Dinosaur and a few others. People probably thought we were horrible for dragging her on, but she enjoyed every single one.

The only ones she didn't like that we forced her on were ToT (but she was so proud she tried it), Snow White (have NO idea what the problem was with this one) and Pirates (again, not sure what the problem was).

Each kid and situation is different. I am a big believer in the parents (guardian) making the decision for their children. I also believe that many kids are too coddled, and their parents allow their fears to get the best of things. My motto with my niece was, try everything once, and if you don't like it fine, don't do it again. But how will you know until you try.....

 

[MickeyNicki]

A good rule of thumb is stay out of other people's business, if you interfere it will only cause more trouble

 

[ddawg]

Luckly I didn't have to do anything because someone else said something to a cast member and let the cast member make the decision as to what to do. I was kind of relieved because I am the one that does nothing, but then feels guilty later.

 

[ntengwall]

Puffkin-
I would have to disagree! As a 6 year old, I was forced by my babysitter to ride a rather large roller coaster (her and her kids wanted to ride and so she made me even though I was crying and scared). It was very scary and I didn't ride another coaster (or any ride that resembled one--like Splash Mtn) until I was 13!!! All because of that one forced ride. It really did traumatize me. I just see no reason to force a child to ride if they don't want to--even if YOU think they will like it.

 

[puffkin]

Puffkin-
I would have to disagree! As a 6 year old, I was forced by my babysitter to ride a rather large roller coaster (her and her kids wanted to ride and so she made me even though I was crying and scared). It was very scary and I didn't ride another coaster (or any ride that resembled one--like Splash Mtn) until I was 13!!! All because of that one forced ride. It really did traumatize me. I just see no reason to force a child to ride if they don't want to--even if YOU think they will like it.

I completely understand what you are saying. We wouldn't have made her ride RnR or Mission Space because we did believe that those were too intense/big for her (it wasn't an issue though since she was a hair too short anyway). But all the other rides we made an educated decision that she would probably end up enjoying them. It backfired on ToT but all the others she ended up enjoying. My MIL wanted to give into her on a couple of rides and I am so glad we didn't, because those ended up being her favorites of the trip.

I think what I am trying to say with the coddling is that sometimes parents coddle their children when the fears really are irrational. And sometimes kids need that extra push to try something new. Every now and then, a parent/guardian may make a mistake and misjudge a childs fear/tolerance level, but usually the fear is so irrational that once the ride starts, it is completely forgotten. I hope this makes sense......

 

[ntengwall]

I understand that you aren't trying to be mean to the child! LOL
I think it's one thing to gently force them to go on Pooh if they are scared, but not something like RRRC.
You said- "I think what I am trying to say with the coddling is that sometimes parents coddle their children when the fears really are irrational."

One thing I have learned from my own fears is that they are almost always irrational. I have a fear of flying. I know it's irrational, I know I am much, much more likely to die in a car accident (or get struck by lightening). I know that millions of people fly every day blah, blah, blah. BUT, this still doesn't stop the intenst fear I feel when we take-off (I am fine after that unless we have bad turbulence). I guess my point is that most fears are irrational and I think you need to respect that fear in a person--even if you think it is a stupid fear. A friend of mine has a child who is afraid of our Shih Tzu (very small fluffy dog! LOL)--even though they have a rottweiler! I would never think to make him sit on the floor and have her jump all over him and lick him because I know he is truly, deathly afraid of her (for whatever reason). I don't see this as coddling. I see it as respecting this child and his fear--be it irrational or not. My motto is that if I respect my kids and their wants/needs/fears, then they will respect me and mine. So far, this has yielded 3 very loving and kind little boys