I am amazed by the amount of people that would chase down the character and "rip him in two" "beat him down to the ground" "get a lifetime ban" etc.
The internet, testosterone, and you - the perfect trifecta.
-dave
i think some may have missed on the reference to the movie .....
and most of my post said i thought the parents were completely in the wrong. so much so, in fact, there is really no defending them. most importantly, allowing it to happen a few times before that particular incident, but also by laughing and not being respectful to everyone around them. i've often told my wife that we see some of the worst parenting in the world while at disney. this case certainly helps that argument. these parents are of the mindset that their child was doing nothing wrong. however wrong they are, that is their apparent point of view.
to be perfectly clear, if i feel my child is doing nothing wrong and i see an adult shove him like that, i would take a great bit of exception to it. no internet muscles needed. adults don't get a free pass to shove kids, period.
i like most everyone here would have never allowed my children to be in that situation. and if my boys wouldn't listen, then they lose that privilige. again, not good parenting at all.
in fact, imo, a large piece of the blame lies with the cm patrolling the parade. she needed to make it perfectly clear to the child and parents that that behavior wasn't acceptable. obviously they don't understand reasonable and appropriate behavior. disney understands that there are all types of parents who visit wdw, and they take steps to train cm's how to handle these circumstances. she could have even stood a bit closer to the child seeing that it was a recurring theme.
also, i understand that dm was not looking directly at the boy, but clearly other characters were and didn't think such actions were warranted.
if giving kids who break the disney rules a good shove is acceptable, then clearly the next time a ten year old that sits on the turn styles while waiting in a long line for btmrr needs to be knocked off it. better yet, the next kid who is foolish enough not to listen and sits in the middle of the row in muppets 3d needs to be shoved to the very end of the row like the rules state! id love to see how this is incorporated into traditions training. i'm sure those who approve would have some much shorter lines to wait in eventually-lol.
the parents started the ball rolling with their entitlement attitude. the cm on patrol was not as aware as she needs to be. but dm shoved a child. then went at him a second time for good measure. not exactly the thing anyone wants to see in wdw.
bad parenting really gets to me while i'm there. but it's not a cm's resposibility to teach consequenses of right and wrong. their job is guest safety. the cm's actions were not about guest safety.
this was really an unfortunate incident. maybe we can all agree on most points at least. clearly everyone has very strong and different feelings about their children. that's why i just can't support the mentality that anyone who catches my child can disipline however they feel appropriate.
dave you discribed how you would handle it, and i commend you. i'm pretty sure your kids would draw from that and learn, even though as you mentioned, you wouldn't have allowed it to get to that point. from your posts i can imagine you to be a reasonable individual. but there are a great many others who would not want someone else deciding what is appropriate actions or punishments for their kids.
my two cents or so....
-tim
