Taking a childs friend???

I have not brought kids friends, and my kids are FAR younger, so please take this with a grain of salt... but I'm a teacher and have taught that age group. I think the smartest thing you could do ahead of time is to establish a few really, really clear rules to keep the hyper behavior to a minimum. I think sometimes when kids have friends around they see it as "all fun time" or a "free for all" and I think its super important that your little guy and his friend know that while it's amazing to have a friend along, it's a special privilege.

I'd just think through what rules your little guy follows with you (I'm thinking around noise and physical stuff- how close he has to stay to you, behavior in lines, etc). Talk it through ahead of time, spend some time talking it through on the way to WDW, and then know that they're 7 and you'll probably have to remind them a lot the first or second day.

Maybe ask his parents how they get him cooled down when he gets wound up, excitable or hyper too. I know this sounds weird, but if my own kids start getting too playful or wild, I just have to make them look opposite directions and not talk to each other for a few minutes to cool down. I used that in my classroom too. Not that they're in trouble, but if I feel like their voices are getting too loud, etc, it really works!
 
I’m not sure if this is across state or across the country. Planes, trains or car ride ...besides food, allergies known or unknown, illness or even homesick. Best to be well prepared for anything.
Has this child ever traveled Just with you? Spent an entire day and/or an overnite? Been on travel with the their families?
I’d have many things organized for a guest trip with such a young child, that you know has atleast this one issue.

And your Anniversary trip..if you often , assuming ur nearby to ( one) of the parks... why not use an overnite quick trip.. maybe more about the kids rather than ur family Anniversary vacation trip?
I suppose I’m on the other side of this...just not something I’d do ( and I have an Only child)
Regardless,
I truly wish you well and safe travels!
Hope you ll follow up and tell us how it turned out.
Oh geez, just re read where you stayed help you feel better, sorry! Was just my two cents..
 
Haha! No worries, I want honest feedback. I'm honestly not sure on allergies, none that I know of, but i SERIOUSLY need to ask these things. He stays overnight (all weekend sometimes) at our home. He has never traveled with us. He does travel often (more camping and beach trips) with his own family. We live in MS, about 10 hours away, and will be driving. We will be there on our actual anniversary, so that's just what it is for that. We wanted to be there over Halloween for them to attend the party. I'm not as nervous about bringing him and how he will act, I guess I'm more having selfish (its our FAMILY vacation!) thoughts.... We went to both WDW and Disneyland last year, so I'm trying to tell myself to not be selfish. It's just hard sometimes, and others I get excited thinking about how they BOTH will be excited. It's an internal struggle for now I guess. He's going, we already have paid to add him (we told them if we invited him, we were covering it) I just need to not have wavering thoughts about it all. Was hoping someone else takes family trips and brings along a friend, that had a positive outcome to share.
Glad to hear, no offense meant.
I think that your expectations will guide the trip. He may be thrilled with it all.. or overwhelmed with it. So just enjoying the kids “togetherness” on this very special trip will be nice.
Again, enjoy!
 


Well as I have no children I can't offer the parent perspective, but when I was 9 we took my best friend at the time for her first trip, and it was magical. Now we've had plenty of family trips before and after, each special, and I think it was another great family trip. Granted a bit different because it wasn't ALL about me ;) but I still loved the vacation and enjoyed having one trip with another kid around. My parents did set out a few clear expectations and made clear to me that there wouldn't be quite as much souvenir shopping and that my friend would also get to alternate picking things to do (easy concessions but it was good to lay out and manage expectations since I am an only child), and my friend had a blast with us. Now we did spend a fair amount of time with each other's families, so that helped, but as far as still feeling like it's a family vacation I wouldn't worry too much. If this child is that close to your son, and you already feel comfortable with him, I think you'll have a great trip. (And for what it's worth, my friend was much more energetic than me but it was fine).

Also if he starts to feel lonely, etc, there's always calls/texts/Skype equivalents, and you could have him do little postcards or journal entries to share with his family if that's something he would want to do. Depends on each kid though, my friend was fearless and wouldn't have remembered to call her parents if mine had t reminded her, we had too much fun lol.
 
I don’t think I could ever take a child’s friend but most of my kids’ friends drive me nuts after 3 hours. That said, I think it could be a great idea too. When I was a little girl, I had a rather poor single mother who was mentally ill. I managed to find best friends’ whose families really liked me (I was polite and pleasant and easy to get along with and yeah they probably felt sorry for me too) and wanted to take me places with them. I have so many fond memories of the trips I went on with my friends’ families. They wanted me there to keep their child entertained (only child in one case and one child was much younger than adult siblings). I kept their children occupied doing kid things (swimming in the pools, riding on the rides next to each other, racing around the campgrounds, etc). This allowed them to sit on the edge of the pool and relax rather than engage in kid activities. Granted, we were older than your son. It’s a nice thing to do if you can handle it.
 
It will be great for your child, and the other one. Just be sure to give your kid the usual amount of TLC and time away from his friend once in awhile. Like sit with him on a ride, walk him down to the pool a few minutes early, or whatever. Kids aren’t used to being together 24/7 and that can be stressful without them realizing it. Also, you don’t want the trip to be all about the other kid- or your child may have a hard time on the next trip when it’s just family.
We’ve done this with our son, but not until he was older. We were able to talk about our reservations and were pleasantly surprised when he said things like “ can we still do our special whatever, just us?” ( on our trips we have always done brief ‘alone’ things with our son. Like one parent goes on soarin with him, or the other takes him down for early breakfast while one has alone time in the room, etc).
The kids will have a ball, and that will help with your concerns.
 
I think you are smart to think through all these thing now. We have an only child too but taking a friend at seven would not be something I would do. That being said, I agree you could not back track on that choice now. I would establish a clear routine and boundaries. Give them small breaks from each other, keep them well fed and rested. Maybe consider a night in a kids club to give everyone a break. In this day of cell phones and almost constant contact,written permission to treat is less crucial. Insurance card is helpful and of course complete knowledge of his medical history.
 
We have taken our daughters friends on several trips...each time we said never again. That being said, these kids were preteen and teens...maybe that makes the difference? They were also girls. We established expectations in advance, created rules and addressed cost. We agreed to pay for lodging, transportation once there and a few meals...the friend was responsible for airfare, park tickets, most meals and extras like souvenirs. Things we hadn’t planned for was obsessive cellphone use (one incurred huge charges as she used her cell on the cruise, despite our attempts to warn and even suggest she place it in the safe...yes, we had discussed this with her and her parents before departure but she had a boyfriend to keep connected with...she spent a majority of the nine days on the phone texting only to have him break up with her two weeks after she returned home), moodiness, and not bringing enough spending money. We made the best of it, tried to keep things light but when we remember those vacations we have some now funny memories of adolescent behavior that wasn’t so funny at the time. I know others who have taken teens successfully...we just aren’t that family and decided after three attempts with three seemingly nice and well-adjusted girls we were done. Now it’s family only.
Edited to add: We vacation “big” once a year...most of our daughters friends don’t have the opportunity to cruise or even travel out of state. We don’t have the means to pay all costs but began planning, complete with a budget and savings plan agreed upon by all, months (in the case of the cruise, years) in advance. Those that we took along were like family...thankfully years later, their friendships still remain strong...they have even traveled as adults together successfully...lol!
 
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We've taken DD's friends on weekend trips many times and one DD friend to WDW in 2014 and a different friend to WDW in 2016 and then 5 friends to WDW in 2017 and things have always gone well - but the youngest they were when we started taking friends was 11. 7 is a bit young but kids are different - I recommend what someone else said in a PP, which is to take a warmup/eval trip soon (weekend trip somewhere within a few hours drive?) to see how the kids do. If they do well then you'll have more assurance that the WDW trip will be manageable, and if things don't go so well then you can tell the other parents that things didn't go well on the dry run so attempting WDW would not be such a good idea - if the parents are reasonable (assuming they are) then they will understand and the kids will never know of the original idea as you said you haven't told either. Good luck!
 
Nope would never take anyone elses kids on vacation without the parents. Just wont happen. Different family rules, attitude difference when parents are not around, money worries, sickness, and many more "issues" to ruin the vaca that would be ok if it was your own child but difficult is someone elses..
 
We haven’t travelled with someone else’s kids yet, but our DD is almost 7 and would love to bring a friend along on our next trip. (Although we have plenty of nieces/nephews that have spent days and nights with us near home.) Unfortunately with a new baby and finances, it won’t be happening this time. But I did have a good friend in high school who was an only child and they frequently traveled with others to give her a playmate. Having a child similar ages to yours these would be my thoughts.

1. Since you know the parents well, I would make sure that it was clear with all parties that you will discipline as though they are your own children. Our houses, our rules kind of thing. You know that something is going to come up during the week and I wouldn’t want to get on to my DD only to walk on tiptoes around the friend.
2. If the friend doesn’t get homesick or want to talk to the parents while there I wouldn’t push it. Make sure you stay in contact with the adults but don’t force it on the kid. The last thing I would want is a tear-filled bedtime if the child wasn’t homesick to start with. Obviously, they need to call and talk at some point but middle of the day during fun would be better than worn out and tired at bedtime.
3. Definitely some one on one time with your son will still make it a nice family trip, but I would camoflauge it a little so the friend doesn’t get homesick either at not getting to see his parents. For instance, “DS let’s go get some breakfast while Sam finishes watching his tv show.” See you in a few minutes. Or as PP mentioned take turns riding with him on some rides.

I truly think you will make it fine, OP. But I’m sure at times the week will get a little long, this is something that the kids will remember forever. And remember, they are a lot more resilient than we give them credit for...even at 7 years old!
 
We took our teenage son’s friend to the beach with us, but that was only a 5.5 hour drive from home.

If you’re going to be further away than that, I would recommend a few things:

1. Agreement with parents that they will drive or fly down to pick up their child, at their expense, if he gets too homesick or out of control behavior-wise.

2. You definitely need to have a durable medical power of attorney (for at least the dates of the trip, if not for a few extra days, just to cover any unforeseen delays on trip back home) and his insurance card. Accidents and illness can happen at Disney, too. In the off-chance something happens that requires an immediate decision, you want to have the authority to make that decision,

3. Have a discussion with the parents about medical issues that might happen. Make sure you’re on the same page about treatment options. Such as, are they part of a religion that would refuse blood transfusions? Yes, it’s hard to think about and have discussions about these things, but you really need to, especially when taking a child that young so far away from home.
 

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