Would This Offend You?

[nblake05]

On our last trip, we did something that I still think about. While waiting for the parade in the MK we overheard the little girl next to us ask her grandma for a balloon. grandma said no, that they had just gotten there and she didn't want to buy something that was going to get lost so soon. With balloon prices starting at $10 a pop, I can understand that. So my husband pretended like he was going to buy me a balloon and asked the girl which one she thought he should get. Then we gave it to her and told her to have fun at WDW. The little girl was thrilled and grandma was appreciative. You never know, maybe one day that little girl will return to WDW all grown up and do something nice for someone, too! We'd love to do something similar on our next trip if the situation presents itself. My question is, as a parent, would you be offened by something like that? It's just that we realize that going to WDW is an expensive trip for a family, and as a little girl my family didn't have a lot of money, so I would NEVER even ask for a souvenier. So, I would like to do something nice for another little kid. Would a parent get mad at this? Where are the bounderies here? As a non-parent, I just don't know...

 

[DuckMom]

I think it was very sweet and a wonderful gesture! As a parent, I would have been annoyed if it had been a food item and you hadn't asked me first , but I think with something like a balloon, no problem. Of course, that's just me and I'm pretty laid back, but I think it was a nice way to pass on some pixie dust

 

[Kat&Dom]

I think you made the girl's (and grandma's) Disney trip much more magical. My son would be thrilled if that ever happened to him. I think that was very kind and generous thing to do.

You will find that the majority of parents would find your gesture to be generous and thoughtful and would accept the gift for their child in the vein you are giving it but there is the odd duck out there that might be offended. I would trust your instincts and they will lead you to the right family that needs some special pixie dust and not worry it.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I am a kid person and I love to see children smile. I like to do things such as you mentioned mostly on a smaller scale. What I do most of the time is ask the parent if I can give the item to the child. I took extra glow sticks with us last trip. I also sometimes eat the kids meals on the rare occassion we do fast food. I will stick the toy in my pocket book to give to a a child.

We have people give DS 4 stuff quite often. As long as its not food I an fine with it. He has food allergies so I really have to watch that one. You would not believe how many time people have offered him candy or other food treats. He knows not to take them but he is FOUR. I try really hard to act thankful while quickly explaining his allergies.


I think it was very kind of you to do this.

 

[fireflymedic]

On our last trip, we did something that I still think about. While waiting for the parade in the MK we overheard the little girl next to us ask her grandma for a balloon. grandma said no, that they had just gotten there and she didn't want to buy something that was going to get lost so soon. With balloon prices starting at $10 a pop, I can understand that. So my husband pretended like he was going to buy me a balloon and asked the girl which one she thought he should get. Then we gave it to her and told her to have fun at WDW. The little girl was thrilled and grandma was appreciative. You never know, maybe one day that little girl will return to WDW all grown up and do something nice for someone, too! We'd love to do something similar on our next trip if the situation presents itself. My question is, as a parent, would you be offened by something like that? It's just that we realize that going to WDW is an expensive trip for a family, and as a little girl my family didn't have a lot of money, so I would NEVER even ask for a souvenier. So, I would like to do something nice for another little kid. Would a parent get mad at this? Where are the bounderies here? As a non-parent, I just don't know...

well I guess if I said we cant afford that, I MAY appreciative not sure, but I can gurentee I would be pissed if I said I'm not draging a ballon around all day. and than you gave thim one.

I have taken extra glow sticks and gave thim to my kids and a couple of other kids on the bus back to the hotel, that went over nicely and didnt cost 10 bucks

I will say for any one that has not gotten one of those ballons, they come with a piece of platic mouse attached to thim so they dont float off. also they lasted longer than any other bollon I have ever seen the outside ballon is plastic and not rubber and aprently plastic does not leak healium like rubber.

 

[Andrew78]

I would have been annoyed if this happened to me, and I am sure it will happen plenty of times. My twin babies are 11 months, if someone would have bought something for my child after I clearly stated I wasn't going to buy it, then a stranger handed it to them, it undermines your authority as a parent, and also makes you look stupid because the parent did not buy it and a stranger did.

Now would I say something, no because it's all about intent. The intent was to do something nice and because of that while it would annoy me, I also understand and when your kid is happy how mad can you be.

 

[Celidh]

I think it was a wonderful gesture and I'm sure that little girl will remember it for a long time. I have had people give my kids stuff. One time a young couple was playing with a claw machine and gave my son the toy they won. That was a few years ago now and he is 11 but still remembers it and comments once in a while.

I do have two points though and it is not meant to diminish your kind act. The first is whether or not there was a reason the girl wasn't allowed the balloon, other than lack of cash. I have told my kids they weren't allowed something because of bad behaviour, so it may be counterproductive to a parent who is trying to discipline a child.

I'm assuming from your post that there was only one child. I mention this because my daughter was offered a balloon (just a cheap little promo item at a store) by a kind older lady. I had to say no because she was offering a balloon to one of my children when there were very clearly three of them. I just wasn't up for dealing with the problems this would cause with "Why did she get one and not me?" I did thank her very much for her thoughtfulness but declined as it was not fair to my sons.

Just a bit of food for thought and I hope nobody thinks I am trying to say giving the balloon was a bad thing. I think it was great. You were very sweet!

 

[nblake05]

I would have been annoyed if this happened to me, and I am sure it will happen plenty of times. My twin babies are 11 months, if someone would have bought something for my child after I clearly stated I wasn't going to buy it, then a stranger handed it to them, it undermines your authority as a parent, and also makes you look stupid because the parent did not buy it and a stranger did.

Now would I say something, no because it's all about intent. The intent was to do something nice and because of that while it would annoy me, I also understand and when your kid is happy how mad can you be.

I can understand what you're saying. However, having been there and hearing their conversation and chatting with them we got the disticnt impression Grandma wasn't saying no because she did'n WANT the child to have it. It would have been different if grandma said no because it was a dicipline thing like, "No, you haven't been listening to Grandma today. Maybe later if you're a good girl." Had that been the vien of the conversation, we definately wouldn't interfere.

 

[chris31997]

I can understand what you're saying. However, having been there and hearing their conversation and chatting with them we got the disticnt impression Grandma wasn't saying no because she did'n WANT the child to have it. It would have been different if grandma said no because it was a dicipline thing like, "No, you haven't been listening to Grandma today. Maybe later if you're a good girl." Had that been the vien of the conversation, we definately wouldn't interfere.

I would keep away from food. But as you clarified, you got the impression that Grandma was prbably just tired, so in that situation I would think you were okay. But you do need to offer all kids. I realise that you said her grandchild, so. If in doubt on the sly, ask mom and dad or the adult.

I would not have been offended

 

[Mbacherfhd]

I think most people would be very appreciative and thankful if someone did this for them. Several years ago we took our DS to an amusement park and we were watching some teenagers shoot basketballs to win prizes. My DS was really into this and enjoyed watching them. I could tell he wanted me to try but I am probably the worlds worst basketball player and just didn't want to throw our money away shooting basketballs when I new the chances of me winning was slim to none. Without saying anything one of the teenagers walked over to my son and gave him a basketball that he had just won while playing the game. I will never forget my DS expression and my DW and I were very thankful and made sure we told the teenager how nice that was of him to do that for DS.

 

[Nanu57v]

I think it was probably very nice...I've had people give DD stuff...even stuff we didn't want. We thanked them anyway. I could tell the person's intent and didn't want to crush her spirit. (It was a popcorn lid, btw). Now if you said something like, "Sorry your gma is being cheap, here's a balloon kid" that'd be mean.

 

[Andrew78]

Nb you 2 have a good heart and thats what counts. Am I right in thinking that as you mentioned as a little girl you didn't have much money so perhaps when you saw the little girl it brought you back to the past; except now you had the resources to do something about it?

 

[QVCshopper]

I don't know. While I get you were being nice, I often tell my kids no to things they want because: 1) I don't think it's a good use of our money; 2) They don't need more "stuff." I would *never* spend $10 on a balloon for my kid or anyone elses.

Honestly, I could buy them limitless balloons, dolls, toys, clothes, etc. but do they need it? Is it how I want to spend our savings, or would I rather save for college and retirement? I bet people who overhear me saying no think we're broke, but honestly being frugal has made us far from that. I grew up broke; I don't want to go back. And if that means I say no, then so be it. Just MHO.

 

[Alice's Mommy]

I hate balloons so personally I would have been seriously annoyed with the balloon but not with the gesture itself. Insert another ridiculously priced novelty item and I would have been touched to the core...and then would have found an opportunity somewhere along the rest of my vacation to pay the kindness forward!

The last day of our stay earlier this month we were at our resort getting ready to head to Hollywood Studios when this random guy noticed my sons Red Sox hat and said "I love the Red Sox!!!" He talked to us for a few minutes and then handed my DH five fast passes for Epcot. Not sure how he got them but each pass let up to 5 people on any ride at Epcot. We hadn't gotten to ride Soarin' yet so we headed over. We rode Soarin' and as we left, riding our high, we saw a family of 5 standing at the fastpass distribution thing. The father looked annoyed and his little girl was crying. My DH went over and handed them one of our passes. I think the man wanted to hug my DH! LOL!

 

[disykat]

I don't know. While I get you were being nice, I often tell my kids no to things they want because: 1) I don't think it's a good use of our money; 2) They don't need more "stuff." I would *never* spend $10 on a balloon for my kid or anyone elses.

Honestly, I could buy them limitless balloons, dolls, toys, clothes, etc. but do they need it? Is it how I want to spend our savings, or would I rather save for college and retirement? I bet people who overhear me saying no think we're broke, but honestly being frugal has made us far from that. I grew up broke; I don't want to go back. And if that means I say no, then so be it. Just MHO.

This is how I feel. I don't want my kids to think that "stuff" will make them happy. I generally say no because I really don't want them to have it. At a place like WDW, I especially dislike the idea that you need more stuff to make it special. I get that you were trying to be nice, but I wouldn't be pleased.

 

[xanphylus]

I think it is a really sweet idea! We didn't get the balloons when we went because it just wasn't in the budget. I told DD if she wanted one, she would have to use her money to buy it- needless to say, she didn't lol. But she would have been thrilled if someone handed her one! We did give out glow sticks when we went though- we bought them before the trip just for that purpose. I think it's great when people share the magic!

 

[crisi]

I don't know. While I get you were being nice, I often tell my kids no to things they want because: 1) I don't think it's a good use of our money; 2) They don't need more "stuff." I would *never* spend $10 on a balloon for my kid or anyone elses.

Honestly, I could buy them limitless balloons, dolls, toys, clothes, etc. but do they need it? Is it how I want to spend our savings, or would I rather save for college and retirement? I bet people who overhear me saying no think we're broke, but honestly being frugal has made us far from that. I grew up broke; I don't want to go back. And if that means I say no, then so be it. Just MHO.

Yep.

 

[scrapquitler]

It's a nice gesture, but I wouldn't be thrilled about it.

First, my children are conditioned to not argue back when they hear me say "It's not in the budget right now". If I say that, they don't argue. So sometimes I say "It's not in the budget" rather than give them the real explanation of why I don't want to buy it and then have to hear the whining or arguments that result. So maybe you hear me say "its not in the budget" but the real reason is "I might be too tempted to strangle myself with the string if it is close by"

Secondly, and more importantly in this particular situation...I do NOT under any circumstances want to be dragging a balloon around the park all day long.

 

[DisneyFamily123]

Not to be a party pooper but I would be annoyed. I see a few possible reasons...

I don't want my child to accept things from strangers, especially adults. Now, if you asked me FIRST and I said OK... that's a different story.

I might not want to be bothered dealing with a balloon in the park... It's a hassle if we still want to get on rides, etc... When we do get a balloon in the park, we get one on the way out back to the resort.... and it stays at the resort....when we check out, I let DS give it to another child checking in.

Balloons can be a pain... if they get untied and go up in the air, child gets upset, then grandma has to buy another one.

Might be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge -- I think balloons are not allowed there.

BUT..... I did let DS5 give away glow bracelets to other children near us while we were watching the Christmas parade. We had red and green glow bracelets (lots of them)... but he gave them, not me.

 

[Andrew78]

Carrying around the balloon would be the worst part of it. After being annoyed that some stranger went against my word, then bought my kid a balloon that I did not want and have to carry around and handed it to them, I would probably release the balloon in the air. Maybe at that point the stranger may realize why the child didn't have one to begin with. Perhaps he already lost it, and they did not overhear that part.

It appears in this case everything worked out so no worries.