The wheelies of death!!!

[Victor]

Precisely, keep working on it, and it will happen for you one day too...

Dreams do come true! C'mon, you didn't think that Monty Python bit was funny? Not just a little bit?

 

[v_misses_epcot]

Precisely, keep working on it, and it will happen for you one day too...

Totally zoned on The Meaning of Life, so hats off.

My whole issue has been with people who demonize the products and lash out at the kids. Improper use (any product) and etiquette is 99% the fault of the parents and 1% the children when the kids are young (esp. at primary Heelez usage age).

Yet, so many people have referred to "the brats", etc. It's not the kids who need to be punished (or hurt), it's the parents.

There's little that sets me off except for topics where injuring kids can get joked about. As a parent, I am already concerned enough about some of the sick f--ks out there. As a sports coach, I've already had to deal with hockey dads and soccer moms who cause more problems for their kids than they could possibly get into themselves.

I agree to you in some levels considering it was the parents that bought them those things. But I've had several children stick the tounge out at me, laugh and start skating away. Wait....it all leads back to the parents then..... *ahh nevermind, you're right. Kids still need to be smacked a few times though. My opinion. I was smacked right side the head when I was growing up and I learned never to disobey my family. Now it's just a pat in the rear or just yelling. Kids walk over their parents nowadays...or at least the ones I've seen at disney.

I was over at astro orbitor last night and they were sitting on the rails...the whole family. I told them to get off the rails or they might fall. He told me to mind my own business and while he was saying that his youngest fell down.
I just shook my head.

So yes, Parents need to start acting like adults...or while at disney, have some fun but have a firm hand. Remember, your children are watching your every move. Plus I've already seen 5 and 6 year old boys having earings!!! *sighs*

 

[DisneyDragon]

Dreams do come true! C'mon, you didn't think that Monty Python bit was funny? Not just a little bit?

Honestly, I need to re-watch it again. Kind of bogged down now, but truthfully, there was little of Monty Python that I didn't find funny...

 

[DisneyDragon]

I agree to you in some levels considering it was the parents that bought them those things. But I've had several children stick the tounge out at me, laugh and start skating away. Wait....it all leads back to the parents then..... *ahh nevermind, you're right. Kids still need to be smacked a few times though. My opinion. I was smacked right side the head when I was growing up and I learned never to disobey my family. Now it's just a pat in the rear or just yelling. Kids walk over their parents nowadays...or at least the ones I've seen at disney.

I was over at astro orbitor last night and they were sitting on the rails...the whole family. I told them to get off the rails or they might fall. He told me to mind my own business and while he was saying that his youngest fell down.
I just shook my head.

So yes, Parents need to start acting like adults...or while at disney, have some fun but have a firm hand. Remember, your children are watching your every move. Plus I've already seen 5 and 6 year old boys having earings!!! *sighs*

It's also the parents who let them wear them to the parks, and act as role models...Your AO observation is case in point, and I probably have a good idea of what the family looked like too.

Firm but fair...now that's good parenting. Oh wow, brought back memories of a child who absolutely refused to vacate a car on MTWR. There was no "Step out to your right please" there, he had a full-on, two-handed grip on the steering wheel while mom pleaded with him. My friends and I were amazed...when we were kids, our dads would have yanked us so hard we would have landed in 20K. The entire ride backed up, CMs were doing their best, but the parents just grinned and pleaded. We started calling for security, but kudos to the CMs...they did NOT let the kid go around again. Finally, after about 6-7 minutes, the kid gave up and everybody cheered...

 

[Imaginationeer]

This is by far one of the funniest threads ever. I wanted to share an experience. I am known very well as someone who will do anything to get to a CM and their lanyard. I was once coming out of Pinnochio's in Fantasyland and i saw a new CM with a fresh lanyard full of pins. I began to speedwalk when all of a sudden this kid on these stupid wheelie shoes comes and knocks into me. The kid goes down but i keep on walking to get to the lanyard.( i ended up getting both Phineas and Ezra lanyard pins right then , those of you who collect pins could now see the justification for not checking on the "special" child) The parents find the child who is perfectly fine, but never came to confront me. Just so you know, the child went into my side so it was his fault for not looking out for people in this often congested area.

 

[JimboJones123]

This is by far one of the funniest threads ever. I wanted to share an experience. I am known very well as someone who will do anything to get to a CM and their lanyard. I was once coming out of Pinnochio's in Fantasyland and i saw a new CM with a fresh lanyard full of pins. I began to speedwalk when all of a sudden this kid on these stupid wheelie shoes comes and knocks into me. The kid goes down but i keep on walking to get to the lanyard.( i ended up getting both Phineas and Ezra lanyard pins right then , those of you who collect pins could now see the justification for not checking on the "special" child) The parents find the child who is perfectly fine, but never came to confront me. Just so you know, the child went into my side so it was his fault for not looking out for people in this often congested area.

There are so many reasons to be laughing right now.

 

[cptwife80]

Wow, maybe it's just me, but a whole lot of you seem like grandmothers (no offense to the hip grannies out there). Heelez are no more evil than skateboarding (I was a boarder in my days, and wow, still alive today).

Yep - you're right, they don't belong in crowded public places like Disney because there are too many children that simply can't use them properly. The other day I was commenting how I would love to have a pair for touring Disney - and I'm mid-30s - but knew that it wouldn't be kosher.

As a former skateboarder, and active in-line skater/hockey player/skiier/snowboarder, I can tell you that Heelez are much more stable and rather easy to stop a fall. Still wouldn't recommend it at WDW or in a shopping mall...

My daughter has a pair that I bought for her, and she's a fantastic figure skater and hockey player, and she's in complete control. I still wouldn't let her wear them at WDW, just like she doesn't wear them to a mall.

But clotheslining kids using them? Straight-arming them? Tripping them? Some of you people are sick. Maybe it's an American thing, maybe you're pumped up on yesterday's mid-terms, but damn, anybody that suggested it should think about that for a second. Hurting kids...damn, that's just sad, pathetic and cruel. Say it's a joke to save your pride, but give your head a shake, please. And it's not a spanking thing - firm but friendly with your kids is the way to go - but what I saw suggested causing traumatic injury.

Over shoes with wheels in them? Wow...

Ok to say that we all sound like a bunch of grannies is mean. Come on I just turned 26 years old and also a former ice hockey, skateboarding, tom boy from my earlier years. I just think that if you are in a crowded place that the polite thing would to just put them away and think of other people before bursting through on them. So don't call us grannies unless you want to be called one yourself.... my gosh your older than me!!!

 

[lilclerk]

I agree that Heelys in the parks (or any crowded place) is not a good idea. There's too much risk of an accident.

However, on the sidewalk at home or on an empty tennis court? Those shoes are way cool and clearly a lot of fun. I wish they had existed when I was a kid.

I completely agree. I'm 22 and completely wish I could have a pair, haha.

 

[AEfx]

What does wearing shorts and a tank top have to do with being a rotten parent? How does it make for bad parenting? Maybe it's too early in the morning for me and I'm missing something. Please enlighten me

LOL, probably a combination of my wording and the morning, .

My reference to kids in shorts and a tank top included the "heelies" as well (should have specified that). By "shorts and a tank top" I mean that's all these kids are wearing in these things, i.e. no padding or protection (even long pants would be a step up). So I hope that clarifies.

That's how I usually see these kids wearing them. They are no different than any roller skate, skateboard, etc. - there is just no excuse for using them without protection.

Anyway, back to the topic, personally, I'm just tired of seeing these things every time I go to the grocery store, having to avoid the kids at the produce section and meat counters who are falling all over the place. They are just silly, and I see these oblivious parents shopping and not even registering that something is wrong.

The only "positive" thing anyone can say about them is that they are "fun". Big deal. Lots of things are fun and not appropriate in public. It's common sense.

Whatever happened to "But mom, Susie has a pair and she brings them to Disney" and "Honey, I'm not Susie's mother?" I honestly can't fathom what makes someone put these on their children and then take them out in public and think it's "okay". "My kids begged me for them" isn't an answer; that's why one in the relationship is a parent, one is the child. Bottom line.

I'm usually not a spoiled sport, but I'll actively report these things at Disney. If parents are going to put their kids in that kind of danger, they deserve to be. It's all fun and games until little Molly bumps into someone/falls/etc. and in a split second they go from being "fun" to causing a kit to smash their head against the pavement. Gee, that's magical for everyone.

The bottom line is these things don't belong in public. No good can come from it. And if you are going to go to a designated area/do it at home, why would you need "convertable" ones anyway, I'd assume one would just use real roller skates. The whole concept is just unsound.

AEfx

 

[Hakunamatata]

Firm but fair...now that's good parenting. Oh wow, brought back memories of a child who absolutely refused to vacate a car on MTWR. There was no "Step out to your right please" there, he had a full-on, two-handed grip on the steering wheel while mom pleaded with him. My friends and I were amazed...when we were kids, our dads would have yanked us so hard we would have landed in 20K. The entire ride backed up, CMs were doing their best, but the parents just grinned and pleaded. We started calling for security, but kudos to the CMs...they did NOT let the kid go around again. Finally, after about 6-7 minutes, the kid gave up and everybody cheered...

:lol:

If there is nothing I cant stand more than a disobediant child, its the parent that sits there and tries to negotiate appropriate behavior.

This may sound crazy, but one of the fondest memories I have of our trips to Florida growing up as a child was that my mom would swipe the fly swatter out of the first hotel we would stay at on the trip. The rest of the trip in the car, if my sister and I started acting up, mom wouldnt even have to take her eyes off the road, she would grab that flyswatter and swat whatever she could reach (come to think of it, she had a very long reach). She would only have to do it once, maybe twice early on in the trip, and we were little darlings the rest of the time.