ship babysitting

[xop]

I'm most likely being paranoid but....do you think it is safe to leave your kids in the youth programs? I was looking at the Carnival Inspiration and they have the program at night from 10-2. I just don't trust alot of people w/ my kids because of all the horror stories out there. My 2 sons will be around 3 & 4 if we decide to go on the cruise, and I was thinking some alone time w/ the hubby would be nice also (if I could relax and get pass the worrying over the kids) Thanks

[zippehsmom]

I know it can be hard leaving little ones with strangers in a strange place; however, we had a good experience with camp carnival.

 

We went on a Carnival Destiny this past August. One night while DH and I went to the night club with other family members we left the kids in camp carnival, 6 & 9. We picked them up right at 2 am. They were asleep on mat with a blanket. They loved camp carnival and wanted to go everyday. They even did the super late night party. The 6 year old party lasted until 1 am and the 9 year old lasted until 3 am. They brought them around to each room, and she let herself into the cabin. I was unsure about this, but she begged to go and had a blast.

 

I know my kids are older than yours, but members of our family had kids around your kids age, and they left them there also.

[yogi2929]

The crew on the ship are vetted extensively for employment.

[cb at sea]

Kids today are in no more danger than years and years ago....

There's really no reason to be a "nervous Nellie" about the kids clubs. Your kids will love them, the staff is HIGHLY trained, and you do your children no favors by keeping them under your wing 24/7.

Your job as a parent is to foster independance so your kids can (and will) grow up able to be away from you! The sooner you start, the better!

There's no danger in letting your kids attend the kids camp.

[sas80]

Ultimately you need to go with your gut. There might be something in your background, or the background of a close friend or relative, that makes you nervous about utilizing babysitting on board a ship.

 

We do use on board babysitting. Am I 1000% comfortable with it? No. I am as comfortable with on board babysitting as I am when we leave to go to dinner and we have employed a new sitter at home. Even when we use a sitter that we trust, I am still not 1000% comfortable with it.

 

I push through and do it for reasons that make sense to me.

 

I would actually feel more comfortable leaving my kids in a group setting than a private, in-room setting.

 

cb_at_sea is right. Kids are not in more harms way today than tens of years ago - we just have more media coverage today, and there is more social acceptance of 'reality' and 'realism' in society than there was tens of years ago.

 

Do what you feel most comfortable doing.

[Essiesmom]

Ultimately you need to go with your gut. There might be something in your background, or the background of a close friend or relative, that makes you nervous about utilizing babysitting on board a ship.

 

We do use on board babysitting. Am I 1000% comfortable with it? No. I am as comfortable with on board babysitting as I am when we leave to go to dinner and we have employed a new sitter at home. Even when we use a sitter that we trust, I am still not 1000% comfortable with it.

 

I push through and do it for reasons that make sense to me.

 

I would actually feel more comfortable leaving my kids in a group setting than a private, in-room setting.

cb_at_sea is right. Kids are not in more harms way today than tens of years ago - we just have more media coverage today, and there is more social acceptance of 'reality' and 'realism' in society than there was tens of years ago.

 

Do what you feel most comfortable doing.

 

And seeing that there IS more media coverage, you would expect to hear about more unhappy things if they were occurring...And apparently, they aren't. EM

[crusinmama06]

7 years ago I was the same as you when we first started cruising with are then 1st born. ;)

 

My kids have never been in day care. No one except family have ever watched them. I have always been very concerned about who has contact with my children -- not even allowing neighbors to take them -- yes I am THAT ridiculous ;)

 

This is our experience with Carnival. The rooms are VERY secure with the way they are set up. No one in. Period. The door is high so the child can't climb over. On one ship, we could just walk past the room and peek into the room to see what was going on. On another, we could walk past the room and look on the monitor at the desk and see what was going on in the room. There always seems to be more than one counselor at ALL times.

 

If Grandma walks up to the camp and she is not on the list and little Joey comes running up and says "Grandma!" - the camp counselor is NOT going to release Joey to Grandma. ;) It doesn't matter how much Grandma demands it. That place is more secure than Fort Knox.

 

You can't step into the room -- period.

 

Which means NO ONE has access to your child. You walk up to the door. You hand them your card. Your name must be on the list. They call your child over. They check your childs name tag. They check your sea pass. They check your beeper (bring it). And only then will they release your child to you.

 

When the young children leave the room, which is ONLY to go to the kid dinners, they all hold hands and they are surrounded by the counselors. The couselors corale them in by blocking the buffet area with chairs. Once again, no one in, no one out.

 

I assure you. Once you see it, you will feel very safe.

 

Safety is never an issue I've had with Camp Carnival. Having counselors be morons and having no patience and paging me for ridiculous things, yep, now THAT has happened.

[xop]

Cruisnmama06 you sound exactly like me !!! I'm blessed enough to stay home w/ my little ones Mon-Fri and when I work the weekends my hubby has them. I don't leave them w/ anyone, and I try my best not to even w/ family. We've only been kid-free 1 time in the past 18mons. and that was when we left our first son w/ my mom to go fishing for a day. Believe me, I was calling and checking in frequently. I think it's more of a fear that something will happen and I won't be the one there w/ my child when it does. I'm starting to feel a little better after reading the posts here, now...I'm worried that the boys will have such a crying fit when we leave them in the camp.

[crusinmama06]

xop - yep, exact same here. I created a home office before the kids were born, only moving the office outside the house 6 month ago when both of my kids were safely and happily planted in school during the daytime. :D

 

I think its harder on us than it is on them when we drop them off at camp.

 

I tell everyone the same thing:

--tell the kids how great its all going to be

--show them as many activities as you can in advance (links in my signature can show you the schedules for most main stream cruise lines)

--get them excited

--reassure them that you are just a beeper page away and they'll have so much fun

--drop them off and DON'T TURN AROUND - they can sense fear and if we are afraid, then they will BE AFRAID. And that is the last thing we want. We want them to have a great time! :D

 

Then once they see you walk away, feel free to sneak back and peek around the corner just to reassure yourself that your child isn't having a panic attack ;)

 

All kids are different. My oldest did cry a few times when she was younger. I was paged within minutes. And that was fine. We spent the nights together. This is the same child who doesn't want to see me before 10pm now and even THEN complain when I come to get her. :rolleyes:

[Onessa]

Kids of all ages need some independence. If Mommy or Daddy are helicoptering over them 24/7, the will never learn to be independent. One of my best friends works with special needs kids in the local elementary school -- one of her BIGGEST frustrations is that she continually gets pulled from what should be her primary duty (dealing with kids who really NEED extra help) to help out with Kindergarteners or First graders who are causing classroom problems based upon their behavior.

 

Most of these kids do hot have real behavior problems, they have just lived such a sheltered life that they cannot function without an adult there approving each and every thing they do before the do it. These kids have NO idea how to deal with groups or the structure (or chaos :D) of the classroom.

 

This isn't just one kid, one year -- she has been going through this with multiple kids every new school year. These are kids who have never had a sitter, never been in daycare, never been in pre-school -- they come from pretty well-to-do families.

 

A woman I worked with when I lived north of Chicago went through a very ugly divorce and only afterward found out that her ex had been sexually molesting their daughter for years -- he worked days, she purposely worked nights so that their kids did not have to be in daycare. No situation is perfect.

 

Are the kids clubs on ships bastiens of perfect safety? Of course not, but are the staff members' backgrounds checked? - yes. Are there rules of conduct that are designed to protect the kids? - yes. Are there lots of other kids there providing some "safety in numbers? - yes. Is there the "threat" of an other adult popping in at any time to pickup or check up on a kid? - yes.

 

Bubble-wrap your kids and velcro them to your side if that makes you feel secure. But, if you want your kids to be healthy functioning kids that grow into healthy, functioning adults; find some safe opportunities for them to need to rely upon themselves, to interact with other kids, and to interact with other adults. I see the kids clubs on most cruise lines to be one of those opportunities.

[DancingHorse]

Is it absolutely necessary to use ships babysitting services late at night? Our kids are a mature 9 and 7 and once they are asleep they are asleep. (they go to sleep pretty early)

 

Just wondering if it would be frowned upon for my wife & I to go out to a nearby lounge to have a drink after they have gone to sleep in our cabin?

 

I would feel more comfortable with that than having a stranger in our cabin with them or having them playing at the kids club all night long and not getting enough rest. We have never cruised before so we are not sure what is allowed or acceptable on cruise ships.

[amjebrown]

Is it absolutely necessary to use ships babysitting services late at night? Our kids are a mature 9 and 7 and once they are asleep they are asleep. (they go to sleep pretty early)

 

Just wondering if it would be frowned upon for my wife & I to go out to a nearby lounge to have a drink after they have gone to sleep in our cabin?

 

I would feel more comfortable with that than having a stranger in our cabin with them or having them playing at the kids club all night long and not getting enough rest. We have never cruised before so we are not sure what is allowed or acceptable on cruise ships.

 

NO NO NO, you can not leave them alone in your cabin. Please put them in Camp, this ensures their safety. Would you leave your kids at home at night and run to the grocery store? It only takes a minute for something to happen and leaving them alone is opening the door for disaster.

[boulders]

NO NO NO, you can not leave them alone in your cabin. Please put them in Camp, this ensures their safety. Would you leave your kids at home at night and run to the grocery store? It only takes a minute for something to happen and leaving them alone is opening the door for disaster.

 

Leaving them at home to run to the grocery store is safer than leaving them in their cabin on a cruise ship. ;)

[mary_228]

Is it absolutely necessary to use ships babysitting services late at night? Our kids are a mature 9 and 7 and once they are asleep they are asleep. (they go to sleep pretty early)

 

Just wondering if it would be frowned upon for my wife & I to go out to a nearby lounge to have a drink after they have gone to sleep in our cabin?

 

I would feel more comfortable with that than having a stranger in our cabin with them or having them playing at the kids club all night long and not getting enough rest. We have never cruised before so we are not sure what is allowed or acceptable on cruise ships.

When our kids were that age, we liked to get the kids an early dinner at the buffet, put them back in the kids club until closing time (which gave us some alone time, time for a nice dinner, and maybe a show) then put them to bed. There will be free late night activites at the kids club on formal nights, and a lot of the kids just fall asleep during the movies that is shown. I realize this is not the same as getting them to bed early, as they are accustomed to at home, but you'll probably all be on a different schedule when cruising. Esp if you have an inside cabin.

[crusinmama06]

Is it absolutely necessary to use ships babysitting services late at night? Our kids are a mature 9 and 7 and once they are asleep they are asleep. (they go to sleep pretty early)

 

Just wondering if it would be frowned upon for my wife & I to go out to a nearby lounge to have a drink after they have gone to sleep in our cabin?

 

I would feel more comfortable with that than having a stranger in our cabin with them or having them playing at the kids club all night long and not getting enough rest. We have never cruised before so we are not sure what is allowed or acceptable on cruise ships.

 

Ohhhh, yeah you wouldn't want to do that on a ship. Too many people with that key. The cabin attendants would have a key for the turn down service. Yes, you can put the "Do not disturb" sign on the door but just knowing that they have a key is enough to give me the heebie jeebies :eek:;)

 

Just think of Madeleine McCann and her poor parents who thought they were doing the right thing by just putting the kids to bed and popping out to the tapas restaurant in the resort. :(

 

I always see the argument "Well where are they going to go with the kids?" and I look at it this way - they could take the kids - do whatever they wanted and toss the evidence including the kids overboard. :( So no, it's not really safe to lock the kids in the cabin alone.

[Liltx31]

Ohhhh, yeah you wouldn't want to do that on a ship. Too many people with that key. The cabin attendants would have a key for the turn down service. Yes, you can put the "Do not disturb" sign on the door but just knowing that they have a key is enough to give me the heebie jeebies :eek:;)

 

Just think of Madeleine McCann and her poor parents who thought they were doing the right thing by just putting the kids to bed and popping out to the tapas restaurant in the resort. :(

 

I always see the argument "Well where are they going to go with the kids?" and I look at it this way - they could take the kids - do whatever they wanted and toss the evidence including the kids overboard. :( So no, it's not really safe to lock the kids in the cabin alone.

 

This is totally off topic but I have a McCan type story. My girlfriends were in Cancun at Moon Palace using their timeshare and woke up at 1:00 AM to find their 2 year old missing. They had a three bedroom and it took them awhile to search all of that. She was not in the condo. So then they ran around outside and found her half way to the beach saying "Momma I go swim!" She was going to go swim in the ocean. Crazy scary right? The door was locked and she turned the knob and just left from her room. She had never done anything like this before at home. Well, they think that's probably what happened to Madeline McCann.

 

To the OP. I think you really need to go out more at home and leave them with your relatives. You haven't been away from them in 18 months? I guess I just totally can't relate to that. But I am very lucky to have both sets of grandparents in town and they are wonderful. My kids beg to sleep over at Papa's and ask us when we are going out of town. DH and I take several trips alone together a year and they spend the night a least monthly with grandma.

I don't think I would leave them in the kids club in your case. If they have had no exp. away from you it would probably be very tramatic for them esp. since you will not be allowed in to help them transition. If you plan to try this then for sure let them stay with grandma more often first. This way thay will have the exp. of you leaving and coming back.

 

Monica