I thought I'd seen it all---

[ellie05]

That's ridiculous! When they physically contact me, my kids seats or table, you certainly can say something. That's like when a child is kicking my seat, or my daughters seat in a theater. I always turn around and say, "Please don't kick the seat". Mom/Dad are sitting right there and if they don't say something, I will.

My DH hates it when kids kick his seat it one of his pet peeves. He always says something. One time the parent told him that he has no right to tell his kids what to do. DH answer well if he was doing his job instead of being on his phone he wouldn't have to say anything since his precious little darling has been kicking his seat for a few minutes but he didn't notice it. Or does he thinks that is acceptable behavior? Of course there was no come back he just sat in silence the rest of the play.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Sadly you will rarely get anyone working at a WDW restaurant to deal with stuff like this. The servers are pretty well trained to NEVER question the behavior of any guest who just seems to be having fun. The best they could do would be to report it to a manager--who would likely not want to "offend" a paying customer under most situations.

And people questioning other peoples kids can end up being attacked--verbally or otherwise. Once a friend of ours was in a restaurant when a small boy at a table behind her stood on a chair and started pulling her hair!!--all under the watchful eye of the parents. When she said something the father got up, walked to her table ,started screaming at her, shaking his finger under her nose and saying ignore it because "he's just a kid".

 

[DisneyHardin]

I guess it is the teacher in me, but I don't hesitate to ask kids to stop things that are annoying or dangerous in public, especially if their parents seem to be ignoring them.

 

[xipotec]

 

[Uncleromulus]

Seen this many a time at WDW!!!!

 

[Ava]

Sadly you will rarely get anyone working at a WDW restaurant to deal with stuff like this. The servers are pretty well trained to NEVER question the behavior of any guest who just seems to be having fun. The best they could do would be to report it to a manager--who would likely not want to "offend" a paying customer under most situations.

This is sad, because you know if one of these children runs into a server and gets hot food spilled on them or falls off of a table and gets hurt the parents won't hesitate to go after Disney for "compensation."

 

[serenitynow]

But lets all admit that we have wanted to do this at least once at Walt Disney World Resort!

 

[NYDisGuy]

This is the reason why I will never go back to Ohana. Been there twice and the supervision for some of the kids doing the activities is non-existant. Witnessed multiple times where kids would take the broomstick from that race and hit random people with it while the parents laughed. I also saw the kids standing on the table routine there too.

 

[maryandtyson]

My now 12 year old daughter still is amazed by the behavior of a child on an airplane two years ago. The little girl, probably 5 or 6 years old, was sitting behind my daughter, kicking the seat and being generally annoying. The final straw was when she apparently squirmed so much she actually ended up under our feet! I had to tell the dad that his child was actually underfoot before he noticed.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

All it took was one look from my mother and I'd quickly change my tune.

Parents who don't discipline their children drive me nuts. It's all part of this entitlement that people seem to believe they deserve. They paid all this money for a WDW vacation so they can do whatever they want.

 

[gmboy95]

The problem with threads like this is that the example it starts with is obviously an extreme one and would be categorized under ridiculous public behavior....however as the thread progresses, i tend to notice alot of 'eye of the beholder" examples. I have seen many issues that have occurred at Disney that I would not blink an eye at, that others have been quick to pass judgement on. As a veteran of many Disney trips, i would say 99% of the time i have great sympathy for parents who have children melting down, and it is easy for us to say, "hey you should just leave", or "discipline your kids".....however I tend not to let it effect me to much as I understand that there are probably a bunch of issues I probably have no idea that are at play

 

[LadyGrimm]

I'm not one to tolerate bad behavior that effects me, so I always say something. That being said, I've never had a confrontational parent. The vast majority of times I've been driven to say something ends up with an embarrassed and apologetic parent. Maybe because I go out of my way to address the kid directly and in a friendly way? I don't know.

 

[quagmire0]

Sorry, people aren't being judgemental. It's one thing if someone's kid gets away from them for a minute - happens to all of us. But, as a parent, I'd be on them in an instant and getting them down from there - not only for their own safety, but for common courtesy.

 

[Uncleromulus]

The problem with threads like this is that the example it starts with is obviously an extreme one and would be categorized under ridiculous public behavior....however as the thread progresses, i tend to notice alot of 'eye of the beholder" examples. I have seen many issues that have occurred at Disney that I would not blink an eye at, that others have been quick to pass judgement on. As a veteran of many Disney trips, i would say 99% of the time i have great sympathy for parents who have children melting down, and it is easy for us to say, "hey you should just leave", or "discipline your kids".....however I tend not to let it effect me to much as I understand that there are probably a bunch of issues I probably have no idea that are at play

Well--I'd like to know what issue might possess a kid to climb up on a table in a restaurant and walk around it a few times while the family sat there and watched--

As quagmire said, once in awhile a kid will "get away" and the parents(good ones) are quick to notice and put a stop to it.

 

[serenitynow]

There is a difference between a typical, overstimulated child meltdown and allowing children to just run wild in public disturbing others, not to mention endangering their own welfare.

I've noticed more wild child behavior in the last few years and my theory is the amount of time some parents spend on their smartphones while in their children's company. Either the parent fails to notice the escalating disruptive behavior of their children, are too distracted to notice or plainly don't care. Sometimes I suspect the children are behaving badly to try to get attention from the distracted parent. The bad attention is better than no attention theory.

But, so far, the stories told here have been about truly disruptive, disrespectful, destructive and/or dangerous behavior perpetrated by poorly supervised children, with the exception of the lady shaving in the restaurant. The only explaination I can think of for that is ... Sorry, I've got nothing for that one!

 

[MammaMoe48]

I'm curious as to why none of the CMs said anything. Of course you can't expect a 5 year old to use a knife and fork or sit completely still for a 2 hour meal but who lets their child walk on a table full of food? And why would the staff allow it? What is wrong with people?

 

[johnsonet]

Must be a relative of the woman at The Plaza that took out her electric shaver and shaved her legs at the table while we were dining.

I. am. dying here............................

 

[johnsonet]

There are some real dummies out there parenting. Pathetic.

 

[PSUGuy]

First, our now adult kids didn't get taken to dinner by us until they were 'tame', for years we just had Pizza Night at home every Sat. In March of 2014 we snuck in a last minute WDW trip and I have a video of the two of us in the Rose&Crown listening to the piano man. While watching this we noticed a child was just wailing away for an extended time. Wifey said she never noticed that at the time and neither did I. My explanation? 'It wasn't ours!'

Bill From PA

 

[MammaMoe48]

I wish Florida state law kept minors out of WDW bars and lounges. I'd be all for it. We were at the Belle Vue Lounge at the Boardwalk Inn enjoying a pre-dinner beverage. Scenario: two kids running around, laughing/screaming and touching the stuff on the walls while the parents sipped their cocktails. They said absolutely nothing to them. Totally ruined our pre-dinner plans.

Look into a Disney cruise. They have special adults only sections. Kids can pass through if they need to but they can't stay. Also none of the bars allow under 21. Unless you are in a country's waters that has an 18 drinking age (like Mexico), then they can go into the bars but there has to be at least one person over 21 with them. But nobody under 18 is allowed in any of the bars