Anyone have a child who downright refused the kids program?

[Naomi John]

:( I don't have much hope for my 4 1/2 year old willingly playing in the kids program. We tried a weekend cruise once when he turned 4, and he wouldn't have it. He cried so much and we were called to come pick him up. He's a really apprehensive kid and doesn't really respond well to new situations. Its takes him a lot of time to get comfortable and let go, kwim?

 

This time, its a week cruise on the NCL Epic.

 

I am hyping this one up like crazy. I show him videos on you tube about the kids program and we have a countdown on the fridge. He seems interested. But my fear is that once we get on board, it will be a different story.

 

I know that parents aren't allowed in the kids play area, and when I get on board I will talk to the counselors about helping him get into it sort of speak. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed.

 

I want all my kids to have fun, I want to spend time as a family, but I also want to get some alone time with hubby durin the week too. I worry this won't happen.

 

Any advice tips on coaxing him a little more?

 

Only thought I had was usually on embarkation day, the "Camps" have an open house where you can check out the facilities and allow your child to meet and interact with the couselor's beforehand. They can play in the rooms, (as long as you remain). However, I then again noticed you cruised with him before, did you try this the first day on? Just a suggestion. Seemed the topic got off topic a little with the ADHD and children birth order.:eek:

[Indygator]

Another tip - don't take your child there at the end of the day for the first time when they are tired. We just got back from the Epic and the kids club is great and the counselors are terrific. The first thing we did when we got on the ship was go to the open house and register and let my 4 yr old daughter play and get used to it with us in there. By mid day the next day we could tell she needed kids to play with and we took her there (I went and got a pedicure and my husband went to Spice and drank beer) and she loved it. However, the next night after dinner she went again and had fun at first but then hit a wall and when we came and got her she had been crying and wouldn't leave the counselor's side. The next night we tried to leave her there again and have dinner to ourselves, but after about 45min they called us in our room to come get her. Again, she was just overtired from all the activity all day. The last night we made sure she was rested and well fed before we took her because it was our wedding anniversary. Usually they only give you a phone if your child is not potty trained, but Cheesy saw us and said 'give them a phone' - she knew from experience -LOL. Luckily they did not need to use it. Midway through they said she started to get cranky, but they had her 'help out' at the front desk and she was happy after that. I can't say enough good things about the counselors at the kids club!

 

Another couple we met with a 4yr old daughter (who my daughter made friends with) said she wouldn't go to the kids club but she doesn't go to daycare and they had brought the grandmother along to watch her while they were out.

 

The thing that really saved us was a dvd player and a pair of earphones that she watched at most dinners. Kept her entertained and we got to have a nice dinner in peace (did I mention that my

daughter can't sit still for more than a few minutes?)

[njmomof2]

I think every kid is different. When we did Liberty of the Seas when DS#1 was almost 10 and DS#2 was almost 5.5, both went to the club. They both seemed to like it. Now, both of my boys were daycare kids. They are used to being away from me all day and it's not a big deal (DS2 once couldn't figure out why a little boy from daycare was crying. When told that he missed his daddy, DS2 replied...Why? I know where my daddy is, he's at work. He's not missing.) Anyway, FF to Mariner about 4 months later. Younger DS went a bit, but didn't seem to love it as much.

 

We went on Liberty again this past August. DS1 is now almost 13 and met up with several boys just in his age group. They never did the club, as there are no real organized activities at that age. So they did the flowrider, went for pizza, hung out. DS2 simply refused to go at all. He was 8 and felt that the activities were for babies (maybe because he was at the top of the age range for his group). And he wanted to be with DS1 (who really didn't want him tagging along). So he never went. And our vacation consisted of going with him in the pool, going to mini golf, going to the rock wall, going to the arcade, yada, yada. You get the picture. Not that I don't love the kid (I adore him) but a little free time would have been nice.

 

I think that each kid finds their way at some point. Younger ones sometimes have separation anxiety (completely normal) and older ones figure out pretty quickly that they are in a kids club and you're off on the ship somewhere having "fun" without them. I think it's great if they love it, everyone deserves to have a fun vacation, but there is simply no way to force it. Try it out and see what happens. I really like the idea posted earlier about saying that you need to fill out some papers at guest relations for about 15 minutes and you'll be back, and see how that does. I know that if I did that, he'd probably be willing to wait it out. Then see if you can do it again for 20 minutes. Sometimes they just have to be part of it to see it's fun.

 

And if it doesn't work, then he'll have to spend the vacation with you. I know that I willingly gave up fancy dinners and "alone time" for my kids. I work full time about 35-50 minutes away from home so I don't get to see them during the week much except in the evenings. So vacations are a good time to be together (unless you're an almost 13 yo boy who is addicted to the flowrider and is almost too cool for his mom!).

 

Good luck!

[SportsMomof4]

I could have posted this exact statement. My son will be almost 6 when we cruise next & I know he will not go to the kids club...kinda stinks! But I will use some of the suggestions here!

[CeleBrat]

Ahhhh....I have a funny first-time KIDS CLUB story. For the first few cruises that we took with DS (before DD was around), we cruised on Disney. They have the most AMAZING kids facilities, right? Lots of characters, etc.

 

Until your child is 3 AND potty trained, they can't go into the Club. So FINALLY, DS is old enough, and ready.

 

We are excited because, HURRAY, grown-up time for the adults, right? We drop DS off a the Club, and head off to enjoy our evening. Less than an hour later, the pager goes off, and we are summoned to pick him up.

 

When we arrived, he was crying. Hysterical. "I NEVER EVER WANT TO COME BACK!!!!!!!!" he sobs. We couldn't imagine what had happened.

 

After he finally calmed down, and go him to stop doing that weird catch-your-breath-hiccup-thing, he told us, "We were playing and i was time to pick up the toys and Captain Hook came into the Club to tell us we had to clean up our toys, and he's scary."

 

Nice. He was literally scared to death on his first visit. He never went back the entire rest of the the cruise (7 days!), despite our efforts to convince him otherwise that Capt Hook wouldn't be returning to the Club (we checked).

 

On a happier note, the next cruise we took was Carnival, and he was just fine, knowing that the evil Capt Hook wasn't onboard.

 

CeleBrat

[kelbre]

Oh goodness, Celebrat, that is a great story!!!!

 

We have always had great luck with the kids programs on the two Carnival and one Princess we have sailed. We are on the Miracle in March and my son who will be in the 9-11 y/o group has already been checking out the Carnival site to see what they get to do, My daughter will be circle c (12-14) and she can't wait either!!! Both my kids are very sociable people and love meeting new friends, in fact sometimes, they ditch us during what I would think would be family hang out time and want to be with their friends, lol! But at least I know that they are happy and that makes us happy too!

[Warm Breezes]

Our first 2 cruises were on the Disney Ships when the kids were 4 and 7 then 7 and 10. They did the kids clubs since we went with another family with kids the same ages and they had a buddy to hang with. We were paged to come get DD the very first time we dropped her off because she thought we had left her there "forever" and she was crying. After that the kids were never in the same age group and we were not traveling with anyone in their age group. While they tried going on the next couple of cruises, they just did not like it and gave up after going only a couple of times. It takes my kids a while to warm up to new people and they prefered to hang out with each other rather than hanging out with a bunch of strangers. Now they don't even try to go. I still sign them up in hopes they will want to try it but I don't force the issue. I am hoping on our EPIC cruise in December they will decide to join the teen club. This will be the first time ever they will be in the same age group so I am hoping they will go since they can go together.