Originally Posted By nemopoppins >>> that's the other thing they say is "duuude like you should get a TV" To which I say, "Why? I rather like things the way they are." <<< Besides, can't you do it while the TV is on? Sorry to be off topic. (Sometimes it's just the way of the world and my mind wanders.)
Originally Posted By DVC_dad <<<Besides, can't you do it while the TV is on?>>> Seriously! Afterall, if "they" think that anything on TV is more interesting to me than my wonderful wife, espeically when... *@&$(#*& @& @*&#@&#^ *&@# *SENSORED* (*#@ (*@#&$*
Originally Posted By ImNotAllThereMyself OMG... This entire thread of why or why not you guys have, or shouldn't have more children is just cracking me up. I love all your responses. My best friend is the oldest of 5 and I relayed these stories to her. She said that her parents often got the same questions. We had quite a laugh relaying stories about people asking questions. She said her father's response to the "Are you catholic or Mormon?" was "No we're just lazy baptists" You are making me giggle... And to Tinkerbell.. one of my husbands best friends is autistic and has tourettes, and he makes almost 100 K a year as a Computer Systems Direstor. Don't let anyone bother you, disneyland was immagined as a place for families. Not as a place for only "normal" families.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy <Don't let anyone bother you, disneyland was immagined as a place for families. Not as a place for only "normal" families.> That is very sweet...
Originally Posted By Tinkerbell819 <Don't let anyone bother you, disneyland was immagined as a place for families. Not as a place for only "normal" families.> That is awesome! Thank you! <one of my husbands best friends is autistic and has tourettes, and he makes almost 100 K a year as a Computer Systems Direstor> That's amazing! I'd love to meet him!!
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle Funnily enough, I have yet another wheelchair story which was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread's title! This was a few years back - my sister and I were leaving the Hunchback of Notre Dame show. It was *extremely* busy and the crowd of people was so thick, it was hard to walk. A man behind came up behind us in a wheelchair and said to my sister, who was directly in front of him, "move". She didn't hear him and kept walking. I'd just started to say "Melanie" to draw her attention to the man (although there was really nowhere we could move to anyway) when he deliberately rammed up the back of her leg. She yelped and turned in surprise. The man just shot her a dirty look and said "I told you to move". I guess he got her wish - when we stopped to inspect her scratched-up leg, he moved on past us. I couldn't believe anyone could be so rude when we weren't doing anything wrong! We weren't standing in the way, or deliberately trying to block him - we were just trying to get out of there. >>So we can add to your list the question of whether she was an accident and if they are her "real" brothers and sister or is this a 2nd marriage<< Sorry to take this off-topic again, but my 2 sisters are 2 years apart, and then there's a 7 year gap between my closest sister and me. EVERYBODY assumed I was either an accident or a try for a boy (I was neither) - and when I was born a girl, a couple of insensitive relatives sent my parents letters of consolation!!
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I have seen some sad things at WDW and Disneyland involving kids and how their parents dealt with them. Frankly, I don't blame the kids but I sure do blame the parents. Every child needs direction, they are not born knowing how to act appropriately. The story of 6 kids behaving in a restaurant doesn't come from the numbers of children it comes from the manner in which they were raised. I agree, idol treats might as well be left unsaid. Following through with previously stated and realistic consequences will. If I am at a theme park 1500 miles from home and I say to my kids, "you better behave or we are going to end this trip and go home", unless your kids are thicker then cinder blocks, they will know that isn't going to happen. If you say we will leave the park for the day, go back to the hotel, no pool, no TV and follow through, you will probably only have to do that once. If you have acted firmly in the past, before the trip, you won't even have to do it once. It's a great system, and it works. People need to realize that not everyone is enthralled with their young ones. Strangers see them as they are, poorly disciplined and not real likable. It is sad for the child.
Originally Posted By ploeb909 Regarding post #47..I agree with your thoughts on this subject. One time on the way to DLR for an overnight stay, my 7, and 12 year old were misbehaving and my 5 year old was playing along. I told them one more time and we were going home..Behavior continued and I waited till we got to the Ball exit and called the hotel and explained that my children were not feeling well, and changed ressies for 2 weeks later, we turned around at the offramp and went home. They cried the whole way. I was really mad because I had looked forward to this little trip, but I honestly hardley ever have a problem with this anylonger. Now this may sound cruel, but I can take my kids anywhere and can tell them to "chill out" and they will. My children were younger at the time, like 9, 6, and 4. Honestly though, people always come up to my husband and I and tell us how well behaved our kids are. Too bad they have not mastered this at home! LOL! Not really, there pretty good for the most part!
Originally Posted By mamamonkey ploeb909- You are my hero. I am serious. I set rules too for my son but a lot of times get derailed either by my mom or hubby. I am always the mean one but at least I can take him places well behaved. He knows I mean business. Good for you! Michele
Originally Posted By ploeb909 Wow! I was actually worried that I would sound Really Mean,... the day that this happened my husband and MIL thought I was really out of line. But you know what? I am usually the one who is the primary. We have 4 children total, the oldest is 21 in 2 weeks, and all follow rules. 21 year old lives with us and is in school. I agree, I think its about expectations. I expect the kids to behave and they do. Now dont get me wrong, they are kids and can misbehave or(God forbid) whine, but its cut very short. I adore these children and love to go, go, go with them. But, if they were the type that did not behave, then they would not go. I still would-and they know that.I hope I dont sound like the "Huhn's" LOL! And by the way, thanks for the thumbs up!
Originally Posted By phllispan Having only One child i would like to add that no matter how many children you have our jobs as parents are to teach our children well. also remember that people who have only one child may not always be able to have more (medical,financial)or did and now they don't.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad ^ ^ ^ Uh... I don't ever recall thinking that someone was a bad parent because they only had one child. However, it does bring up the whole, "only child" issue. Personally, I think that in ANY situation, if the parents do not WANT more children, then they should not HAVE more children. I can't imagine a child's life, living with parents that do not want him/her. On the other hand, I think "only children" do have to have parents that work just a wee bit harder to help them develop social skills and all that other B.S. that opinionated people with multiple kids have. This is just MY HUMBLE opinion and could very well be wrong. How would I know? But it has a chord of logic to it.
Originally Posted By ploeb909 At a point in my life I had only one child and I was scared to death that I could never love another child as much as the first. I was a student at the time and did not have another till she was almost 9. While I did spoil this child, lots of pictures, expensive clothing & toys, etc.. Yikes!! I found out later that for myself, I could love another child as much, and that being a mother of more then one was tough! For me anyways! My oldest daughter is very outgoing and her girlfriends look to her for advice-but, she is at times Very emotionally dependent on me- is this a trait of an "only" child? Or a spoiled child? I dont recall makeing a special effort to help my child develop social skills, but I definitly made an effort to "make it up to her"-for being an only child. Geez, parenting is hard enough, I am glad that I was young and dumb when I had the first, if I had thought there was so much pressure I would have had a breakdown! LOL!
Originally Posted By Altadisdude Getting back to the main topic, bad guests, but sticking with the child theme... My fiancé and I were sitting on one of the many stairways that connect the lower walkway next to Rivers of America to New Orleans square with a crowd of people waiting for Fantasmic. There was a child swinging on the fence that wraps around the areas with plants and such. When I say swinging I mean some serious centrifugal forces going on here. She swung out once and kicked my fiancé in the head. One of the crowd control CMs came over 6 or 7 times asking her to stop and who her parents were. Nobody would fess up until finally someone admitted to being her older sister. The CM told the little girl to get off the fence multiple times, told the sister to remove her multiple times, and neither did anything. The most the CM could get this little girl to do it stop kicking people and jumping around. She was still sitting on the fence. Not only was it rude to the people being kicked it was dangerous for her to be playing up there with nothing but concrete to break her fall. My big question was of course where the heck were the people responsible for this child? The older sister was so apathetic all she would do would tell the little girl to sit on the fence even when told by the CM she needed to come down. Frankly I was also disappointed in the CM for not informing someone with more authority, perhaps security, to come over and rectify the situation if the CM lacked the ability to do so.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad I have told this story once but it bears mention again here. I am going to give the short, abridged version. Fast two day trip down under the guise of seeing the Space Shuttle lauch. I took my oldest son (11yr) just the two of us. We skipped the launch, spent the first half of the day uber-park hopping, the last half of the day and into the night at Disney Quest. Okay it's around 10PM. You enter DisneyQuest and get immediately onto an elevator. There is a central cafe area when you get off the elevator into DQuest. At this point you are in the center of the 5 story building. It is a maze, like an ant hill of tunnels opening into rooms and more tunnels full of aracde games. It is loud and chaotic. That being said, my son and I were on the bottom floor, where there is an exit out through the gift shop. Due to the way DQuest is set up, it seems as if the central café on the 3rd floor is the only exit. It isn’t. Many parents just park themselves in this café area and turn their kids loose. Personally the enjoyment I get from places like this is playing WITH my kids, but that is a whole other animal. Anyhoo…this little girl, couldn’t have been over 9 years old, maybe even 8 wondered up to my son, asked him if he could help her find her parents. He looked at her, didn’t say anything, then looked at me stunned. I said, “Adam, let’s take her back up to the 3rd floor cause I’ll bet you dollars to donuts, her parents are sitting in the café. Off we went. We put her on the elevator, up to the 3rd floor, and into the café. Her father, a large well dressed athletic type, stood up at the sight of this other man walking with his daughter. From this I was able to assess that he was our intended find. He met me with confusion and some underlying anger, until I explained the situation. “She was down on the 1st floor, near the exit, asking for help finding you.†He replied, “There is another exit down there?!†To which I said, “Yes.†He was embarrassed but hid the fact in his anger and explanation of not knowing about the location of the exit. He also repaid my efforts to return his daughter to him safely with a lecture on why his daughter was never in any danger and how she would have never left without him.My only reply was at this statement that I am sure she would never leave without him on her own accord. I’m not passing judgment on the parents. But for me, I never let my kids out of my sight at WDW, or really anywhere else for that matter. And with the size of our crew, that is an effort that doesn’t allow lounging about in the café sipping Starbuck’s.
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy Hi Tinkerbell819! Count me in as one of the families with autistic children that frequent Disneyland. We go at least 5 times a year, sometimes more. As you and I have discussed here before, it is not easy to take children with special needs to busy places, but it is worth it. I am sorry you guys had to encounter such a selfish family. Yup, I can only guess that some people are so wrapped up in their own greatness, that they don't often look into someone elses position. And that must be a shallow life. I so often see parents irritated with their children, when it seems like they are not realizing that children are not mini adults. The first sign that my kids have had enough - we are outta there! Back to the room for some chill time. Bustin' their chops to not be tired and cranky just won't work. The other thing I see alot is little kids walking BEHIND their parents. I am an over-protective mother, and having kids with autism especially, we always hold our kids hands in the parks - it is way too easy for a child to slip away. But I see teeny tiny kids as young as one or two, toddling along behind their parents - and the parents walking along without a care in the world. My youngest son used to be a "runner" and my stomach knots up when I see how easy it would be to loose a child. Another thing that people do that is irritating, is that groups/families walk side by side and mow you down. OR a big group will suddenly decide to stop right in the middle of a walkway to "figure out what we are going to do". They have no idea that they have created a huge traffic snarl. Those are just examples of irritating behaviors. If someone struck me with a motorized vehicle, isn't that hit and run?? Thats not rude, thats assault!
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I guess I have seen my fair share of parents behaving badly in Disneyland. I remember one time in particular it was a hot summer day, and a mom with several tired kids was waiting to meet Mickey. The kids were NOT into it at all. They were hot, cranky, and tired from the looks of it and should have been taken home or to the hotel or whatever for a rest. Anyway, the mother just screamed at each kid to go and hug Mickey. She needed them to smile and yelled at them to do it. Even the CM with Mickey was kind of shocked that the kids obviously were not into this and the mom was just bullying the kids into doing it. I guess she had to get "her money's worth". I just felt so bad for the kids. Disneyland is supposed to be a fun place, and if you're not having fun, why be there? That mom just seemed so selfish.
Originally Posted By skywilliams I will be the first to admit that I have not been the most understanding or compasionate parent at Disneyland. I am able to make it to the park about 3 times a year and going to the park is as much for the kids as it is for me. I have on occasion gotten frustrated with my kids for throwing a kink into my plans while in the park. Luckily for me my wife is always the voice of reason when I myself start acting a bit immature and when I get surprised that the kids get tired around 2 p.m. There has to be a bit of understanding for some of those parnts out there when you see them being rude and getting upset with their kids. We only get to see glimpses of other peoples day so we don't know what may have led up to that outburst or moment of weakness for that parent. Now I'm not saying that we must excuse everyone of their actions because there is a line that is crossed that shouldn't be. Screaming at a child or empty threats do nothing but scare the child or undermine your own authority. My kids are pretty well behaved, for the most part, but when they get into the park I feel like I having to reteach them how to act all over again. They get caught up in the excitement and want to run off and explore which I have to reign them back in and tell them to stay close. When in line they like to play on the bars which I allow to a certain extent but not when it comes to swinging on them or interfering with someone else. I try to keep them from irritaing anyone else but also let them have a little bit of freedom. I guess it all boils down to how you react when something bad happens. When I catch my kid running into someone or something I make sure to apologize to the offended person. Not only is it the right thing to do but it also teaches the child a lesson in manners. MickeyMommy is right about people trying to treat their kids like mini adults. They are kids and they are going to get into some mischief and not going to act like a dignified adult. I guess a big problem is that as a parent you may be on vacation with your kids but you are not on a vacation from being a parent. I hate it when children are left to there own devices and parents are either no where in sight or seem to oblivious to the bad behavior. I was in line at Peter Pan's Flight this one time and there was this girl about 8-9 years old who obviously knew nothing about something called personal space. She was litterlay hugging my backside the whole time. I'm not just talking a slight touch here and there but full contact with me at every step of the way. I spotted the parents about 5 kids back and made a gesture at their daughter to maybe do something about it but all they did was give me a blank stare then start talkign angrily amongst themselves and shooting me dirty looks as if I was alluring their child to become another apendage of mine. Parents need to be aware of their kids and not be offended when someone accuses their little angel of acting like a kid. But you know, everyone is going to annoy someone else about something at one point or another. I guess that is why I admit that I am not perfect and neither are my kids... but luckily for me, my wife is or else I would be in a lot of trouble. =)
Originally Posted By liveforvacations I can really relate to your post skywilliams. It's so true that when you love Disneyland and you only get to go once in a while, it is so easy to get frustrated when you can't to what you want to do! However, I have resigned myself to the fact that since I have two small children, it is mostly going to be all about them and when they get tired, it is time to take a break or leave the park etc. I cannot wait until they are older and I can stay until midnight! Okay, now about obnoxious behavior. A few years back, before children, my husband and I went to Disneyland. We staked out a spot on Main Street for the parade about an hour before it started. To our disbelief, as it was approaching, parents starting pushing their children in front of us. Not just one or two either. Of course, you don't want to be rude to the children and you do not know who the parents are as they are behind you in a sea of people. Our first thought was what are these people teaching their children and our second, and most foremost thought was, how can these parents protect their children if they dart out in front of a float or just start wandering away? On our many subsequent trips, when we get a last minute spot standing for the parade, as my husband refuses to stake out a spot after this incident, we have seen this happen over and over again. I know people want their children to see the parade but why don't they spend the time waiting or at least ask if their child can sit in front of you and then be near enought to supervise them. Now about parents who want their children to enjoy everything at Disneyland. We are sitting at the same parade beside a mother and her sleeping child, about 3 or 4. As the parade is coming down the street, she is shaking him to wake up as he has to see the parade. All the while, he is crying that he is tired and he just wants to sleep. My husband looks at me and says,"So this the Happiest Place on Earth?" What is wrong with some people?????
Originally Posted By nemopoppins I love your post, skywilliams. I had an opposite pre-parade experience than liveforvacations. It was about 20 minutes before the Christmas parade and we had just exited IASW. The crowd was already at least two people deep, waiting. We stood behind a family: baby in stroller, mom, dad, & grandma. Apparently the baby filled its diaper just a minute before the parade arrived and the mom told her family that they would have to leave. I could see the grandma try diplomatically to offer advice that leaving wouldn't be necessary but the mom would have it no other way. They excused themselves, and we had a front row view of the Christmas parade the very first time we ever saw it!
