Would you let your 9 year old go unsupervised ?

[searlproudbottom]

Just Wondering
How many of you would let a nine year old go unsupervised at Blizzard Beach if you were to worn out to continue?
Searl

 

[loriandmatt]

Got one about to turn 9 and no i would not let him go unsupervised at WDW or one of the water parks.

- lori

 

[LadyAurora]

We would not. There are too many bad people in the world, and too many bad things can happen with water sports. Even if they were OK, sometimes it is easy for children to panic themselves when they get a mouth full of water. To DH and I, 9 is too young to be unsupervised.

 

[KathyR]

I would absolutely not let my nearly 9 y/o go of by herself. My daughter is 8, and she is really mature for her age. But, I still can't imagine letting her go off by herself alone (esp. to a pool even though she is a very good swimmer) anytime in the next 5 years or more.

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

I have an almost 14 year old DD and a 10 year old DS and I won't even let them go swimming in our own pool unsupervised and when nobody was home let alone WDW or a water park.

 

[n2mm]

We take our grandson (9 1/2) and I would also not let him go to a water park or theme park alone. Though I would let him go to the arcade at our resort alone and would leave him in the room if he didn't want to go to the lobby/resort or pool with us. (Yes, sometimes he wants to stay in the room where it's cool, while Nana goes swimming---can you believe that??) He does, however, carry a 2-way radio with him when travelling with us because he has gone to WDW so many times, he is very comfortable and will wandered off--especially into innovatation to check out the new video games (always the first place we look--yes it's cool in there too--I see a pattern).

 

[beattyfamily]

Absolutely NOT!!!

 

[tfr33]

Yeah 9 is a bit young. especially when it is a water park. It is tough to follow them around on everything they want to do especially at these water parks. Mke a deal with him. You sit near the big water area, and tell him to play there only, then when you are rested, take him where he wants to go for awhile. Just my two cents.

 

[Desiree]

Absolutely not, no matter how good of a swimmer they are. It's just too risky.

 

[deb305]

This week I took my 13 yr DNephew and 11 yr DNiece to Kings Island along with my 5 yr DD. I would let the two older go to a ride w/out me, but I hovered over them when they were in line, with strict rules on where to wait for me until I was done. Even with that, the 13 yr had a run in with older teens in line. At least two 20 somethings tried to have a conversation with too many personal questions with the 11 year old niece.
Though it would be expensive, I'd go in the waterpark and tag along while the 9 yr old did the slides etc. As good as the lifeguards are, I would watch him closely when he goes down the slide or swims in the pools. We saw an almost drowning of a kid at the park in the extremely crowded wave pool.

 

[PamCo88]

Ok, I am confused reading all these posts. I am assuming you are at the park, and don't want to chase the kid anymore I would really worry about letting a 9yo out of my site. I still have problems when I watch my 10yo niece letting her out of my site. I have always been an excellent swimmer, but water parks are dangerous for many reasons. Not to drone but, if something happened, how would they find you or know who to look for? Its not like someone else knows who the child is to tell them to find you.

 

[Claudia Kellenberger]

Absolutely NOT ! I would say to wait for that until he is
13 or 14.

 

[dbond]

no way, I wouldn't even let my 15 yo go it alone. The buddy system for the older ones (19 &15) is a must with us and the 9 yo, no way. I wouldn't even let him take off with the other 2, they wouldn't keep an eye on him in those kinds of crowds

 

[walt's assistant]

No way.

 

[Kali]

I guess I'll be the voice of Finding Nemo in saying that it's okay to give your child some degree of freedom. If you're talking about a 9-year-old boarding a resort bus and hitting a water park on their own I'd be the first to shake my head, but if you're there and you feel that your child is responsible (and is somewhat familiar with the park's layout) why not?

At Blizzard Beach last month my wife and I were with our 9 year old and our 4 year old. I guess I should preface this by saying that my eldest son is very familiar with the park, an excellent swimmer (which is actually pretty much irrelevant at BB since only the Wave Pool can pose a swimming hazard with water taller than him) and we were also with his like-minded 9 year old cousin.

The crowds were wearing down towards the end of the day and our 4 year old wanted to go play in Tike's Peak while the two 9 year olds wanted to close out the day with the slides. My wife and I usually split up when we're being pulled in two different directions but we were confident -- that together -- the two 9 year olds would be just fine.

They were.

As long as you are in the park and have a general idea of where you'll be it is quite safe. Swimming and slide safetywise every attraction is staffed at the entry and exit areas. Lifeguards are plentiful on the wave pool and the lazy river (though we let them go under the condition that they avoid the wave pool without our supervision). If your fear is that the child will leave the park with a stranger or that the cast members at the turnstile won't be able to detect someone being taken out of the park against their will that is a different matter -- though beyond urban legends that prove to be false I have never heard of actual cases of children being abducted at the park.

BB is tricky to negotiate with people that have different expectations of a day at a water park. I've seen kids bored silly to be laying out on a lounge chair and I've seen parents regret making the trip up to Summit Plummet to slide down with their kids. Splitting up is often the only resort to make sure that everyone gets what they want. Because the various slides empty into various areas of the park it's not as if there is a central place to wait for non-riders.

 

[dturner]

Nope, never ever!!!

DS (7) wanted to get a drink of water last night at Walmart while I was checking out and I said "no, I can't see you down there" of course his reply was "you can trust me" my response "it's not you that I do not trust."

 

[tripletvan]

I have three very resourceful 12 3/4 year olds and my vote is no! Sorry butwhen we go home in Nov. this will be the first time that I will be allowing them to solo. I do allow them at BW to go off and do things but WDW MGM & Epcot were too much to allow for them.
I did "shadow" them around for an hour to see how they would do last year when we were down.

 

[Kali]

Okay, I realize I'm in the minority. But I just wanted to clarify a few things because folks have been bringing up Wal-Mart or Paramount's King's Island as examples. After the 11 year old girl's assualt at Target earlier this week you're well served to watch your children in open spaces with various exits and obstructed areas. That's not the case at BB, save for perhaps the restrooms.

Keep in mind that there is only one exit in BB. And unlike other places, 99% of the guests are in beach attire. The chances of folks packing weapons or actually PAYING to enter a park with surveillence equipment for the intent to abduct or harm a child rather than hit a free and low-security place like a department store or a public park is highly unlikely.

What it boils down to is asking yourself why you are considering letting your 9 year old go off to do something else while you're at the park. If your child wants to go on the mat and body slides and you are hesitant to follow suit for whatever the reason it will be VERY HARD to not split up at certain times during your stay at BB. Even if you were to go up with your child to the slide area, the chances of your child getting to the bottom of the slide at the same time as you would walk over there are slim.

Like I mentioned earlier there is no one location where all of the slides drop off at BB. The slide exits are scattered. If it's any comfort the park does have a parkwide P.A. system that they use for regular announcements. Having a buddy system with another kid helps a lot, but your options might be limited.

 

[Amariela]

No way.
I am paranoid to begin with, yes.
This did not help when someone up the block from me was arrested for child molesting.
I keep eagle eyes on my 2 (now 10 and 5).
Unfortunate we live in such an evil world but that's the reality these days.

 

[HookdonWDW]

Nope. No way. Not gonna happen. DS will turn 9 next month, and is a good swimmer. I'm still not releasing him in the park by himself. Kids are kids. Even though he's a good swimmer, he sometimes doesn't know his own limitations, and there are just too many people at the waterparks. I'd rather be safe than sorry. As someone else pointed out, ds isn't even allowed to use the pool in our backyard unless someone is there to supervise him.

As for the idea that chance of someone being abducted or harmed in a water park being unlikely... well, that just isn't much comfort to a parent whose child happens to be the 1 in 50 million. Just because it's the Most Magical Place on Earth doesn't make it "The Most Crime Free Place on Earth". People do commit crimes on WDW property just like they do in other places. I can't protect my child from everything, but I can at least make sure that he's as supervised as possible.