Overheard parental conversations….3. DisneyWorld – part A.

Overheard on a tram at DisneyWorld:

“You’d better stop crying. This is DisneyWorld and there’s no crying allowed in DisneyWorld, so if you cry they’re going to kick us out of the park.”

Yeah, lying is the way to go.

Why do kids (this one maybe 5 years old) cry out in public anyway? There are several reasons:

1. They want something and cannot have it and so they pitch a fit.

This is what most people think is happening all the time, whether it is the case or not. If it is the case, then let’s say first of all that some prep work would have helped. Kids need to know what is expected – we’re the ones with the experience, remember? So many times parents don’t really explain it beforehand. For instance: let’s say I’m about to take my kids to the store with me and they are between 3 and 8 years of age. We role play ahead of time as silly as possible: “and what do we do when we see some candy bars we want? we say (in whiney voice) ‘I want a candy bar right now!” My silliness has now made the children laugh, but also showed them what type of behavior we will not have in the store.  Or maybe I’ll say, “we’ll run thru the store as fast as we can knocking down all the cans and toys and bumping into all the old ladies so they fall over’. By now the kids are saying, “No, Mommy!” After a few bad examples, we briefly talk about how we should behave and why. Not as “you better not do such and such or I’ll…….” Instead, it’s more like, “everyone stay close to me so you won’t get lost, and we won’t run because we might accidentally knock something or someone over.”

There were times when I had to spend a little longer examining items to be purchased, comparing prices, etc. At moments like that I lined them all up over to the side and had them sit still. If it was going to be more than a minute, then I pulled a few small books out of my purse to help them behave.

Kids don’t do what you expect – they do what you inspect, so you have to keep them close, watch them every moment, plan for delays and not expect them to have more patience than you even do.  Now…let’s talk about fatigue.

more coming.