Who do some parents force kids on attractions if they are afraid?

[Karnak]

So what are your thoughts about this subject?

Well, now, then, there, hummm ....

Once upon a time, at a Haunted Mansion not so far from here, my son and his family were standing before the Mansion with my wife and I, and one of my son's sons (one of my grandsons, don't you see?) seemed hesitant to ride through the Mansion. "It might be mookey in there!" he cried. So I suggested that my son and I should ride the ride while the rest of the party waited outside, because my son had not ridden the ride for a very long time. That way, I reasoned, he could judge for himself if the ride was a ride his son (my grandson), would like to ride. This seemed like a good idea to me because there was no line for the ride at that time, and it would give me an excuse to ride the ride an extra time, since I love to ride this particular ride everytime I get a chance to ride the ride. So my son and I rode the ride, and I enjoyed the ride as I always do every time I ride the ride. However, when the two of us finished the ride we returned to our party outside the ride to find that my son's son (my grandson), had screamed and yelled all the time we were riding the ride because he saw us going up the walkway to the ride, and he wanted to ride the ride too. So, happy to be once again together as a family outside the uncrowded ride at the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom on a beautiful day, we all entered the Mansion and rode the ride. My son's son now loves to ride the ride.

Moral: To create the desire to ride the ride, make the kid think he will not be allowed to ride the ride, but let the kid see that his parents and grandparents love to ride the ride, and he will more than likely want to ride the ride too. Probably again and again, as we do happly for ever and ever after.

Enjoy the ride!

 

[southernbohemian]

What about all the poor parents who are forced onto the rides with their kids? My poor mother - hates roller coasters with a passion. I'm sure she was kicking and screaming inside, but sucked it up and rode all the ones my sister and I wanted to go on back in the day. Even Space Mountain. Of course, the safety bar didn't correctly latch one time when I was in the car in front of them by myself and my mother spent the entire time reaching in front of her to keep me down in my seat while I held onto the bar and screamed that I was about to die. Needless to say, I haven't done that one since.

 

[tigerdragon]

I'm another parent that "forced" my DS on a few rides. He never cried, but was a little apprehensive. The three rides he thought he would be scared on were HM, Dinosaur, and Stitch. I just asked him if he is looking forward to riding those rides when we go back to WDW. He can't wait to ride the first two, but he wants nothing to do with Stitch. Smart boy.

 

[allfordisney]

I remember on my first trip to WDW that I remember (I was about 5.. My grandparents had taken me a few times before then, but I do not remember at all.), I was scared to go on the Monorail, because I though it went upside down.

I would not step foot in it for a good hour or so..

 

[Gymbomom]

Every time I have "forced" my dd to ride something, she comes off saying, I LOVED it.
I think every parent knows their child best, and have their child's best interest at heart when making decisions like that.

 

[goofyernmost]

If a child has never been on a ride how do they know that they will be scared? Did you tell them? Did you assure them that this was all make believe and will not hurt them?

If you stand in judgement of others, first you need to know the back story. How does the child usually react to new things? As a parent have they been there and done that with their child? Only the parent is the judge of that. I would feel awful if I thought my children missed out of fun things because of an irrational fear or preconceived notion. As a parent I also feel that I can judge the degree of anxiety that my child has. You can hear it in their voice. I personally have never seen anything in Disney that was that scary but I am an adult and not easily able to suspend disbelief.

I feel that sometimes a child needs a little firm nudging to allow them to experience things that are new and a little scary to them. It is part of the training process. It may seem like a small thing now but allowing yourself to always give in to your fears caries through for life. Since there is nothing dangerous about (most) Disney rides there is no better time to be taught that lesson. I can understand not forcing a child to run across a busy interstate highway but Disney?

 

[MomtoGKC]

We're getting ready for our first trip in January. I've been living in FL for over 5 years now and I still haven't taken the kids (even though I love Disney and have been dying to go) because I didn't think they were ready. My girls (3 & 5) have been petrified of characters for a long time and they both hate loud noises and dark places. I didn't think it was worth it to bring them up there and have to skip so many things. Now we have the baby boy (18 months) but he should be OK because he'll do whatever the girls do.

This year the marathon happened to coincide with my daughter and husband's birthday weekend so I decided it was time to give it a try. They still don't like dark places for too long and I don't know how they'll do with the "fake head" charachters. I'm pretty sure they'll be fine with the princesses though so we booked Cinderella's castle for the birthdays. I've made a list of which attractions I know they'll be fine with (Dumbo, Small World, carousel, Pooh....), but the others we'll just have to wait and see. I definitely won't force them on any rides even if I think they'll like it afterwards. I'm just afraid if I do that they won't want to go back - and I want to go back!

 

[Disneykarem]

One of these "crying kids" caused a little Disney magic to be showered on my family last month.

On ToT, there was a party of 8 waiting in line with us. One boy, about 7-8 yrs old, was crying and stating that he didn't want to ride. It was noticable but not really unnerving for us. Anyway, they were in the same car as my family. As soon as the ride started, he stopped fussing and enjoyed the ride. As we were exiting the ride (my family of 3 and 2 couples were ahead of the party of 8), everyone who was not part of the boy's party of 8 was ushered quickly (and discreetly so the large party wouldn't know what was going on) down a narrow hallway and into an elevator (I hadn't ridden ToT for a couple of years but I was sure that wasn't way to the exit!).

It turns out that the CM who loaded us sent another CM down to meet us after our ride and had him bring us back up to ride again immediately. She was afraid that the boy's fussing had ruined our ride. We were all blown away by her thoughtfulness!

I must confess: the rest of the day I was tempted to try and make children in line around me cry to see if we could "recreate the magic"! (Just kidding!)

This was only one of the "magical moments" from our trip. This trip really seemed to be packed with them. Isn't Disney wonderful!! (Especially the CMs--they made our trip magical!)

 

[MassMom94]

I am another parent who has a child who is constitutionally apprehensive about many new experiences. When we visited the World in 2003, he was 5 and wouldn't go on most rides...he spent a lot of time back at the hotel with DH in the pool. This time he was 8 and much more willing to try new things. DD14 got him to go on BTMR at night - I don't think he would have agreed had he been able to see it first - and he loved it. I only "forced" him to go on one ride - TT, which I KNEW he would love, and he did. He couldn't quite bring himself to go on Space Mountain, and was sorry about that when we got home, but there's always next time. He wouldn't go on TOT or RnRC and I'm not sure he ever will. Which is fine.

I agree that parents USUALLY know their children best, but not always. I have seen parents tell crying children something like, "you're going on this because I've paid good money to come to Disney World," or "quit being such a baby." That's not in the child's best interest.

 

[PattiPB]

I've had to do the "hide your head in my jacket" trick during the HM stretch room myself several times. I become very apprehensive about certain rides when I first try them---think ToT, ExEv, Cal Screaming.

My advice for people with ride apprehension is Fastpass/timing. Limit the standing around in the themed queue, and you limit the apprehension, IMHO.

HOWEVER, I can't believe I'm the only one who has seen the following:
-parent holding hand over the kids mouth so they don't hear the crying
-parent yelling at junior that they are ruining the family vacation
-older siblings berating the child for being a baby
-kids getting spanked for not stopping the crying in line

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has seen CMs REFUSE to allow kids on the ride due to hysterics.

I think if we look outside the DIS---where I assume we are all caring and involved parents---we can remember that not everyone at WDW demonstrates good parenting skills.

Do I need a flamesuit for this one? Maybe my "Boo" will protect me!

 

[TheGoofster]

I too am in the camp of "forcing" a child to ride if you as a parent know how you child will ultimately react. My own son (who's nine, going on fourteen) has definately more of a, shall we say, conservative view when it comes to trying new rides. (OK, he's a chicken, there I said it!!). Last year we went to Six Flags (Am I allowed to mention that Park on these boards ), while there I "encouraged" him to try some of the bigger rides. At first he was not at all thrilled by my suggestions, but with a little "parental guidance", I managed to get him on one of those rides that goes around in circles at the same time swinging back and forth at almost 180 degrees. He absolutely loved it, and insisted we do it again.
I'm sure when we go to Disney next year, he will have some reservations about a few of the rides, but I also know that with the proper "motivation" he will not only go on them, but will absolutely love them. (and if not, we won't do that ride again)

Now, I do have a question. Is it possible to "force" your wife to go on these rides as well????

 

[MSSANDRA]

Well, I tricked my DH into going on space mountain. Let's just say he was NOT was happy camper. He would ride almost nothing after that . I would NOT do that to a child however.

 

[alloyd1170]

On my sons first trip to WDW (@ 2 yrs )old we rode what we could with him. He didnt like HM so on our next trip we skipped it. Two weeks ago, (hes now 4.5 yrs old) he wanted to ride it. He did fine until the guys popped out of the ground. So thats the end of that one for a while! I know my son, and at homes he likes to go fast and is a little daredevil.

Before our trip, as usual we watched the planning dvd, Sing Along dvds, and our home videos. DS wanted to try roller coasters for the first time and was now tall enough (he couldve rode some the year before, but I felt that he wasnt ready). His first jump-Space Mountain. He wanted to do it and then got scared. I said lets try it and he agreed. He liked it but didnt want to ride again, so I dropped it. He also tried BTMR which we rode several times. At Epcot, he tried Test Track, Mission Space (green version) and Soarin. On all of them, he was scared (in tears at MS but a CM talked to him about the ride). Had he said he didnt want to ride, I wouldnt have made him, but he never did. I even asked if he was sure he wanted to ride. I talked him through what would happen before we got on the ride, and during the ride I held his hand and talked him through it. Turns out, he was scared because he didnt know what to expect. Once he discovered what the ride was all about, he wanted to ride them over and over again.

Now I wouldnt subject him to Tower of Terror. I did ask, but dropped it when he said no. The other thing that sometimes helped was if there were other kids in line. They would tell him about the ride too. Pretty soon, he was the one telling the kids all about the rides!

alison

 

[jennyh2829]

'Forced' my dd to do Star Tours and TT. Star Tours when she was 6...she howled the whole time we were waiting in the line (about 45 mins!!). When we got off....she begged to do it again!! When she was 8, I 'forced' her yet again...to do TT. And again, she fussed and cried about it the whole wait. I thought dh was going to have me reported to child services. But, yet again, she begged to do it again when we got off!!! I did not force her to do RnRC...did ask her to do it for several years, but did not make her. But when she finally got up the nerve to do it....yep, can't keep her off it now!!!

A parent knows their child the best. I know what my dd is afraid of. I know what she will end up liking once she does something, even though she is scared to death at the time. So far I'm right 100% of the time!!!

I am with you. My dd 5 last year was saying "I don't want to do this" on EVERY ride (and I mean EVERY ride) we got in line for. I just told her we'll try it and EVERY time loved it and wanted to do it again!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We always let our kids decide what they want to do. To me, an amusement park ride is not something they have to try if they don't want to. There are so many other more important experiences in life that they can learn from. We go to parks to have fun, not make them uncomfortable or force them to do anything they don't want to do. We've also never pushed the issue with characters or even Santa. If they are wary, then that's OK.

Most things in kids' lives are non-negotiable (they have to go to school, for example). I think the they should be able to make a few decisions about what they do for fun. If it's their choice, they'll probably warm up to it faster.

I've ridden Indiana Jones at Disneyland and the Haunted Mansion by myself a few times and so has my husband. We really like those rides and it's more fun and relaxing to go by ourselves while the other one watches the kids than to take an anxious child with you. On our upcoming trip, they both want to try EE and the younger one wants to try Dinosaur (the older one is still thinking about). There were both freaked out by ITTBAB at California Adventure so we will just skip that one.

I would not want my boys walking into a park with a bit of anxiety because they think they'll be forced to do something they think is scary. I'd rather they be at ease and ready to have fun!

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

What about all the poor parents who are forced onto the rides with their kids?

Good point. My daughter and niece made me go on Primival Whirl this year. I knew I shouldn't, but they begged, begged and begged. Right after the ride I went straight to the ladies room and threw up my Donald's breakfast!!!! My husband (who at the time was on EE) was annoyed that I caved in to them because it could of ruined my whole day. It took me a couple of hours to lose that feeling. What we do for our children.

 

[Ilovestitch]

My parents forced me to get on rides as a child, but I ususally loved the ride after I went on it.

I think I was scared of a lot of rides because my parents really hyped me up for them and talked about how scary they were. I think maybe if parents act mellow and like the ride is just for fun then maybe kids won't be too scared.

I didn't go on space mt for a long time b/c my parents said it was in the pitch dark and you could see a little of the track and then all of a sudden it would disappear and be a huge drop!

 

[momto3girls]

Waaaaaay back in 1975, when I was 7 years old, my dad forced me onto Space Mountain. I had never been on a roller coaster and I can still remember crying in line. I would go from crying in terror to being excited and my dad insisted that I was going to ride this ride with him. I loved every second on the ride (even though I was crying when they put me in the car with my dad) and wanted to do it again as soon as it was over.

I still thank my dad for making me ride Space Mountain because it made me love roller coasters more than anything else. I go on every roller coaster I can and think of that scared little girl getting on Space Mountain!

I won't force my kids, but I am going to encourage them to go on everything. I won't put them on Snow White because they'd hate it but I really want them to go on HM. That's one of my all-time favorites and I want to share it with my kids! So, if you see me convincing my children to go on it and one of them is crying (one is very afraid of funhouses and haunted houses at regular amusement parks or fairs), don't think I'm being a bad parent; I'm just trying to get her to try something that I know she'll love.

 

[kvogel11202]

My rule is that the kids have to try something at least once. If they try it and don't like it fine, they never have to do it again. Almost everytime they LOVE it. Most kids are afraid of the unknown. If you never make your child do anything, they miss out on everything. My older son gets all worked up weeks ahead of time about rides he hasn't done. He did the same for EE, freaked out, cried the whole time. Rode, thought it was OK, but doesn't care to go on it again, which is OK. We all know our children better than a complete stranger, and we know what they can handle.

 

[kidsgobears]

I forced my five-year-old on "It's a Small World" a few weeks ago.

Now that is just plain cruel!