Overheard parental conversations…DisneyWorld – part B.

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.”

Why do kids cry when they are out in public? Sometimes they are just overwhelmed. There is too much stimulation and they cannot handle it anymore. They are tired. I’ve seen parents scream at kids out shopping at 11 pm. I’ve seen dad and mom and two kids all grumping thru Kohl’s, when it’s obvious that only mom wants to be there – folks, shopping is NOT a family activity, ok? Go alone whenever possible. Dad doesn’t want to be there either most of the time. Or get a sitter or a friend for an hour or two and go without them. Or maybe – just don’t buy anything right now?

Sometimes they are hungry or thirsty. Carry food and water with you ALL the time – you’re a parent, and it’s not that hard to do. Water – not juice, and not Kool-aid. That way you can also use it to wash off scrapes or sticky fingers.

I was at a restaurant in Louisiana a few years back, at about 10:30 pm. I went to the car to get something and a man was yelling at his approximately 3 year old daughter to stop crying. It was so hard not to intervene in someone else’s business. Had he started hitting her, I might have. But I wanted to say, “Sir, why are you taxing this little one’s strength for your own social purposes?”

Yelling at someone to stop crying is counter-productive, by the way.  “A soft answer turns away wrath” the book of Proverbs says http://bible.cc/proverbs/15-1.htm. That’s true with kids too.

And by the way, I didn’t always do it right either. 😦