ride by omission

[maxiesmom]

I probably wouldn't have done it, but I also wouldn't have a problem with the post OP describes.

I know my opinion is different than many, but we made our kids try all kinds of rides at WDW once they were tall enough. Even if they felt it was scary to them, we made them try it. If they didn't like it, fine, but at least they tried.

My problem is not with having kids try a ride they may be scared of, but more with deliberately "forgetting" to tell them details of the ride that may scare them. And the laughing when posting about it rubs me the wrong way. Glad my friend says her child liked the ride, but the whole Haha I tricked them onto a ride feel of the post bothers me.

 

[Klayfish]

My problem is not with having kids try a ride they may be scared of, but more with deliberately "forgetting" to tell them details of the ride that may scare them. And the laughing when posting about it rubs me the wrong way. Glad my friend says her child liked the ride, but the whole Haha I tricked them onto a ride feel of the post bothers me.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. Like I said, I probably wouldn't have done that. And on second thought, while I still don't have a level of anger or outrage over it, I agree it wasn't the right thing to do.

While we have made our kids try all kinds of rides, we have always told them exactly what the ride is. It's impossible to describe precise speed, but you can tell them the general idea. Our kids fears were mostly the "fear of the unknown" things. What we always told them was "It's Disney, you're not going to die, not going to get injured...worst that happens is you won't like it"

 

[BriLovesDisney]

My mom has done this to me and I hate it. That's how I got onto Pirates, I was told there was no drop. Just this past trip she got me on 7DMT - and while it may be a kiddie coaster for some - I was nauseous out of my mind.

I don't think it's funny either. Leaving out details like drops or speed isn't okay, it's lying. I wouldn't do this to my kid or to anyone else. This is where the old saying "Do Unto Others as you would do unto you" comes to my mind.

 

[Pesky]

I don't think that is funny but to each their own. My MIL has done that and my DH and MIL laugh about how she tricked him onto a coaster. And that is fine -- it was when she was the mom and he was the son and that was their relationship. My own mom did this with me when she decided to chop off my hair and I still remember and hate it to this day. With our kids, I have already told DH we will never do that, that I want them to always view me as a creditable source they can trust. DH, while not viewing it as a big deal either way, is on board with that. So for EE, I made sure they saw it, knew it went backwards, etc. For rides where they would get wet (which I discovered by error with GRR at DLR (like KRR) is a big issue of DS's), I now always tell them even if there is a mild possibility (like PotC). Now I will admit, I've never been on RnR and hadn't looked at any ride throughs or descriptions. DD is keen on coasters but was afraid of inversions but went off with DH to try it. I had no idea there was an inversion. She told me afterwards. So oops on my part for poor research but never anything intentional. BTW, DD did like it and said she'd try it again. Her info though convinced DS that he never wants to try it. I wouldn't be offended by this person's post but it wouldn't be influencing me to copy that in my own parenting style. ::: shrug :::

 

[MudQueen22]

We do not purposely persuade our children to ride on coasters are participate in things we know will make them afraid or that they will not enjoy at all.
Having said that, we have gotten on coasters or rides that we discovered they didn't like after they had already started, but we've never downplayed it or gotten them to go on it knowing they wouldn't enjoy it.
It's vacation. We try to do things we can all enjoy.

 

[Hikergirl]

I have encouraged my kids to ride rides that I know they would like but I don't omit things about the ride. I don't really have issues with parents who do that, if they know their kid would end up loving it because they have gone on similar rides and ended up liking it.
I don't think you can judge anything from the picture posted, I am a nervous rider for some rides even though I love them so a one second capture of me in line would probably look the same. However I think judging by her posting her pride in tricking him you could probably guess that he doesn't like rides that go fast and/or upside down.

 

[DopeyDame]

I'll never force my kids onto a ride they don't want to do, but I have absolutely left out details about a ride in order to get them onto it. My son in particular will work himself up into a frenzy about some things, and he does GREAT with just going with the flow. If it's a ride I'm very confident he will like when he rides it, then I'll just tell him I think he'll like the ride, and away we go!

 

[DisneyChris2016]

I don't think it's fair to kids to misrepresent any experience, even if you feel certain they will like it. It's an important life skill for kids to learn to make decisions for themselves based on the information they have, and giving them the wrong information can really backfire. I know everyone says "you know your own kids best" but you don't always. Kids go through phases where things that used to be fine might terrify them, and you can't always tell until you're in the moment.

My youngest was 4 when we went to Disney the first time. Her first ride was Barnstormer and she was fine. Fast forward two years, we were back at MK and I had managed to score a 7DMT FP+ for all 5 of us (less than 30 days out because we were staying offsite). She was nervous - she thought it looked too fast. But I really pushed her to go on it because I knew it would be our only chance and I really did think she would like it. She didn't. She came off the ride, burst into tears, and didn't want to ride much of anything for the rest of the trip. By the end of the week, her anxiety was so high she was afraid to get on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.

Now she is almost 8 and we are going back in two months. BTMRR is my DS12's favourite ride and it would be great if we could all stick together and ride it, but I showed her the youtube videos and she said she doesn't want to do it. No way I'm making her this time. We'll find something else to do, just the two of us. Maybe she would absolutely love it, but she won't know what she's missing out on and she's happy with that. As a side note, she's now willing to give 7DMT another try, so it didn't traumatize her too badly. But still, it definitely impacted that trip, and I would never do it again.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I have, though if the child can read, the line itself doesn't keep things like inversions a secret. When DD was 8, she was terrified of every ride the first time. However, she always loved rides after we tried them and wanted to do them over and over again. I called her a chicken with the heart of a daredevil. I had to coax her onto every ride the first time, even resorting to bribing her to do Tower of Terror.

We still talk before getting to the parks about what she wants me to talk her into riding. She has ridden everything at Disney, but, at 15, she is still scared of the large outdoor coasters at Universal. Before our last trip, we talked in advance about which new rides she wanted to try and how much coaxing I should do (she was probably hoping for a good bribe). It is a lot easier at 15 to talk logically about her fear of the unknown.