Unnecessary harsh treatment of children in public spaces at WDW

[KBLovedDisney]

I too worked in retail management for 30+ years...all I can say with certainty is if I EVER acted like many of the kids I've witnessed in a store (or a park, etc.) at 55, I'd still be picking the shoelaces of my late dad's size 12 shoes out of my butt...sometimes that's the only way. ONCE. You learn your lesson on what's to come and yes, you do remember (even at an early age). I'm proud to say there are no remnants of shoelaces on by person except my shoes. I'm absolutely NO expert on raising children, but my 2 DD's now 19 and 21 were taught from the beginning proper manners and behaviors. My wife and I feel blessed that they learned from their mistakes, are NOT entitled and have become VERY GOOD adult women. I think the parameters we and their grandparents set for them worked very well. Oh, and by the way, with my late mom...it was just "THE LOOK"...witness it once, and the problem was solved. There were no time outs for my brother and me.

My mother's "look" gave me nightmares. Pure evil

 

[Goofyernmost]

In all fairness, nobody needs an owner's manual to know they shouldn't yell at or smack their kids.

I don't think that anyone has suggested that yelling or smacking was the necessary reaction. Let's not turn this into something that it isn't. Parents contrary to popular beliefs are human. I don't know of anyone that ever got up in the morning thinking... "you know, I think I'll beat on my kids today!"

 

[phillip9698]

Recently Overheard as we just disembarked the Epcot line at the TTC:

7-8 year old son: Dad, I have a rock on my shoe.
Dad: No you don’t!
*Son restates previous statement*
Dad: You dont!
*son starts to restate the first statement as the father started walking faster whilst holding his sons hand*

If there’s anything the parks thought me, 9 chances out of 10, the son had a rock in his shoe.

In conjunction with the heat, and being exhausted, the parks are designed to over stimulate you. And honestly with how some people plan, I can see why their party gets ****y. Some of them, have sent me their itineraries (people who go multiple times a year) and it’s literally blocked by 5-15 minutes. I’m sorry, but when you’ve micromanaged a vacation where you can tell me to a certain degree 4 months out that for lunch on Day 3 that you have 130 minutes available, when it comes to the day, that’s the fastest way to have tempers flare.

*The views above represent those single, childless millennials that go to the parks that some say need to be banned. The posters view is not that of the Walt Disney Company nor their job history and contacts*

As someone with 2 little boys i can assure you that 90% of the time when one of them says they need to go pee pee they dont have to go pee pee they just want to go somewhere different than where we are currently. Of course childless person overhearing my son say he needs to go pee pee has no clue that he was just taken to the bathroom 5 minutes prior with his true intended goal to try and fiddle with the soap dispenser. So save the dirty looks and spiel about the size of kids bladders and how often they need to go relieve themselves. No one knows those children better than their parents, unless said child was on the receiving end of a drop kick its best to just keep it moving and let the parent work it out.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

Have we gotten so soft? Chances are good that if parents can afford to take their kids to Disney parks, they're treating their children well enough.

Well, minus the infamous Toontown family.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I remember sitting in the backseat of my dad's car waiting for my mother and sister to get out from a Doctors appointment. It was a much more innocent time, but, my Father ran a trucking company and I spent a lot of time there so I picked up a lot of new words that I honestly had no idea what they meant. I always heard them in the form of anger. So anyway, I was doing some imaginary thing back there and angrily used a word that started with "F". Like a flash of lightning the back of my Fathers hand made contact with my face accompanied by the words "don't ever use that word in public again". No explanation of why! Didn't really matter because my face was stinging something awful and I was embarrassed because I was obviously doing something wrong and assumed that word was bad. I never forgot it and I never used it again in public until I was old enough to hit back if necessary. He only had to do that once and never had to do it again and frankly that is the only time I remember my Dad hitting me. But, when he bellowed something in that booming voice, I took notice every time.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

Generally, the problem is that parents don’t discipline their children at home...so they wait till their in public to start because it’s embarrassing. The parents expect, for some reason, the children to behave because their not at home.

Go to Target or any restaurant, for that matter, and you’ll see plenty.

 

[Tom P.]

Generally, the problem is that parents don’t discipline their children at home...so they wait till their in public to start because it’s embarrassing. The parents expect, for some reason, the children to behave because their not at home.

Go to Target or any restaurant, for that matter, and you’ll see plenty.

I am curious as to how you know what goes on in the homes of people you see in Target or restaurants.

 

[larryz]

Goes to show that boomers were the worst generation. Poor parenting, poor passing of information to the newer generation. Were the recipients to some of the most generous programs the US ever offered. Yeah, millennials are the issue.....

It's a shame the "greatest generation" didn't pass on parenting skills, isn't it? Guess they were too busy building America.

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

I am curious as to how you know what goes on in the homes of people you see in Target or restaurants.

Children prefer routine, and when not followed at home, it shows in public.

 

[Paper straw fan]

Man, some of y’all seem to applaud hitting/spanking simply because “my parents did it to me”.

If things are going to get that heated, where the kids are hot and tired, the parents are miserable, and tempers start to rise...why are you spending thousands of dollars to cram yourself into a crowded park for several days?

Unless it’s your first vacation ever, and you have no idea how it’s going to go, You can tell the spouse and kids “No” and wait until they’re all old enough to handle it. But if you’re publicly melting down, then maybe don’t get all offended at people judging you when you snap and pop your kid. If you’re ok with it, probably shouldn’t matter then.

 

[unmitigated disaster]

It's a shame the "greatest generation" didn't pass on parenting skills, isn't it? Guess they were too busy building America.

Or maybe the kids didn't listen.

 

[HongKongFooy]

Parenting I leaned first hand



~It was a banner year at the old Fooy family. I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said, "Smoke up, HongKong"

(pointing at the burn mark on my arm)
it's about the size of a cigar......see this is what you get in my house for spilling paint in the garage~

 

[Lilofan]

Or maybe the kids didn't listen.

If I didn't listen I got the option of the belt or the shoe. I still turned out well.

 

[eliza61nyc]

funny story,

I grew up in the age of the huge "department" stores. Macy's, Gimbels, B Altmans etc. huge stores that carried every thing and were usually a number of floors and a toy department.
Anyhoo one year my mom took my younger brother and me to Macy's on 34th street to go coat shopping and we were less than "gracious". we were acting like park apes. running through the clothes racks, messing up displays. lol what can I say, unlike now where going to the mall is considered fun, going shopping was a pain for us. My mom warned us twice to knock it off, well the third time she took her heavy coach shoulder bag off her shoulder and swung.

knocking us down like bowling pins.

lol we still tell that story at family functions 50 years later. what's funny, a bunch of other moms looked down at us, stepped over us and said "that's what you get" different time, different perspective. no one would have even thought to sit a child down and discuss why running amok in a store is bad and no one considered disciplining knuckleheads as abuse.

My baby brother managed to graduate from the military academy and have a successful career. go figure.

 

[RustySpork]

It's a shame the "greatest generation" didn't pass on parenting skills, isn't it? Guess they were too busy building America.

They didn't pass on anything, except the award for being the most entitled of all time. Nor did they "build America", their ancestors did that. That's a conversation for another forum though.

 

[mdcpr]

I think a lot of people are forgetting that a lot of parents of young children, who are the most likley to act out, are virtually babies themselves. I had my 1st child when I was 23, most of my friends did as well. I was an entirely different parent then than I am now more than a decade later. Young parents are not perfect; older parents aren't perfect. I have blown up at my kids in public at times, and gotten weird looks for it. What most of those people didn't see was that later on when I had time to cool down I apologized to my children for how I acted, and then explained to them what they did wrong.

However, if you are only judging me on the 5 seconds you witnessed at my worst, you are not really getting the whole picture.

At the end of it all though, I am 1/2 Italian and 1/2 Irish. Both sides of my family fit every stereotype you will ever think of. Most of the the time my children know not to screw with mama if they expect to keep their heads firmly planted on their bodies lol.

Not a lot of people anymore. Women are waiting longer to have children to focus on things like grad school, career, travel... The average age is now 26.

 

[unmitigated disaster]

Also, someone seeing and remarking on bad parenting is not a slight against (general) you.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

i would much rather see the parent that "loses it" on their kids than the much more common do nothing parent. Somehow people seem to think because a kid gets tired that it is ok for them to be a brat. I say good for the parents that do something bout it. I grew up with a mom that merely had the look, I do not know what happened if you ignored the look, I never pushed it as i assumed it would mean my impending demise. I was lucky I have brought my daughter to isney at least once a year since she was 2 never had a melt down, never ran around like a heathen or screamed like a banshee like kids now days do.

 

[Incomudro]

Generally, the problem is that parents don’t discipline their children at home...so they wait till their in public to start because it’s embarrassing. The parents expect, for some reason, the children to behave because their not at home.

Go to Target or any restaurant, for that matter, and you’ll see plenty.

????
Parents who don't discipline their kids at home, generally don't discipline them when they are out.
That's why their kids act like animals, or ignore any empty threats of discipline - because they learn the empty threat system very quickly.

 

[RustySpork]

????
Parents who don't discipline their kids at home, generally don't discipline them when they are out.
That's why their kids act like animals, or ignore any empty threats of discipline - because they learn the empty threat system very quickly.

Some of us enjoy the effect our little animals have on others. /s