DisneyWorld. The place where everyone's dreams come true; unless you're a parent, then it's where your nightmares suddenly become a reality...
My family just spend 4 glorious days in the gorgeous Florida sun, park hopping our way around the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios... Sounds heavenly, right? For the most part, yes. What parent doesn't enjoy watching their child's dreams come true? Don't we want the best for our children? That's why we pay ridiculous amounts of money to stand in lines with 30 minute minimum wait time, if you're lucky, and food that might as well have been made of plastic since it is loaded with perservatives and probably made weeks ago in a little food factory, wrapped in a cellaphane wrapper then frozen only to be microwave-zapped later to an edible state. Ahh yes, the American dream, amusement parks overloaded with snack foods, oversized characters, overpriced souveneirs overweight tourists and overtired toddlers, tikes, tweens and teens. OVER OVER OVER. That's how we do it right!
Why am I so negative after these past few days of family bliss, you ask? Well... BRATS. Yes, I've said it. BRATS. I've seen them all now. Every shape and size; every age; every over-entitled BRAT you could imagine. This does not exclude my own. I love my children. I love them with all my guts, but this week was anything but my dreams come true. I watched as my three year old became a tyrant and demanded more from my husband and I than ever before. I stood stunned as my six year old oozed drama and suddenly forgot what the two little flaps of cartilage on the sides of her head are meant for... It was like my children time warped into a land where parent's words were merely suggestions to be taken with a grain of salt. BRATS.
As we strolled merrily down Main Street USA, it was a common site to see a child being dragged by one arm, kicking and flailing wildly, with a traumatized parent pleading, bargaining, bribing the child to just smile, stand up, look at Mickey... It goes on and on; same old scene. A juvenile meltdown and a helpless parent with about a million set of eyes watching, judging, empathizing, nodding along and finally just gawking.
I was flabbergasted at the comments I heard from passerbys: "I want to be THAT princess!" or " I want ice cream! Not that ice cream, ice cream shaped like GOOFY!" or "Carry me!" or "I want to ride in the stroller!" Never mind that the child is almost 8 years old!
Tears, temper tantrums, shouts, screams, swats, spankings, bribes, and parents just plain walking away. How did we get to this point in our society? Where we spend thousands of dollars to take our children to the happiest place on earth, only for them to spit in our faces and demand more!!?!?!? We did it to ourselves. Perhaps the problem is we don't say "no" enough. Without arguement, we open our wallets and deliver. I'm guilty of it too! My children are a FRACTION of brattiness that I witnessed this week, but nonetheless, I felt exhausted and defeated.
We stayed at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa at Disney World, right on the Monorail. It was fabulous. We were on Club Level, which meant snacks and goodies were out for us almost 24/7. Anything we could want. My daughter attended the Bippity Boppity Boutique, dined with all the Princesses at the Royal Table in the castle, got souveneirs that cost a fortune and will probably be forgot by this time next week and got just about autograph you could imagine from characters around the parks. My son had two meals with characters, Handy Manny, Agent Oso, Mickey and Friends, etc., got a sword and shield, was not forced to eat vegetables all week and rode on his father's shoulders all four days...yet, they both found themselves in heaps of tears and tantrums. Why? What more could they ask for?
I believe it was just all too much. What happened to just having fun? Without overdoing it?
I need to take some time to reflect and recover. I'm spent. Something went seriously wrong with our Dream Vacation and what is even more sad is that I don't feel like we were alone in this scenario. Are we setting our children up to be entitled? Are we giving too much?
To be continued...
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