Is it too much to ask for parents to keep tabs on their own kids???

[zacksmom]

I recently returned from a fabulous cruise on the Norwegian Sun (12/18/05) - with only one MAJOR drawback.....all of the unsupervised children.:eek: It was ridiculous to see children ages 5 and up having free run of the ship, playing in the elevators, lounging on the stairs, etc. Where are all the parents of these kids?? There is a perfectly good kids program that is available to occupy these children for much of the day. I had my 11 year old son with me - who would have loved having no supervision, but I felt it was my responsibility to actually watch my child and make sure he was not being a pest to others...

 

Opinions???

[Arwenmark]

ah the old can of worms opened again. As someone who has been pelted by ice cubes from above in the lobby while in my wheelchair, one of many many things unsurpervised kids on cruises has done I could not agree more.

 

I myself raised five children and never let them act out in public in ANY situation.

 

I am not against children or even children cruising but I am against irresponsible parents, sometimes the parents are standing right there talking while this sort of thing goes on.

[zacksmom]

Oh my goodness, Arwenmark, that is disgraceful... I like kids too, but some of these parents need to get a grip. I have 7 brothers and sisters and any of us would have been beaten half to death if we had been throwing ice cubes on someone!

[1bigballer]

Here we go again........

[bplazo]

On the RCCL board there was a question about curfew for teenagers on board. A couple teens commented about wandering the ship until 3:00am. I have to wonder about parents who allow this.

 

We were on a cruise last month and my 17 year old daughter had a curfew of midnight. Even then she had to check with me every hour to let me know where she was. I would even then double check on her until whe was back in our room.

[ValCat84]

I am in shock that people would let 5 year old children run wild, besides from disturbing others, I would be afraid a child that young would get hurt or lost.

[VentureMan_2000]

I am in shock that people would let 5 year old children run wild, besides from disturbing others, I would be afraid a child that young would get hurt or lost.

 

 

... or abused... :eek:

[PurpleCow]

Is it too much to ask for parents to keep tabs on their own kids???

Apparently so, zacksmom, on cruise ships, in malls, in restaurants, in movie theaters . . . When I run into polite, well behaved children I always stop and compliment their parents.

[obnurse]

The last time I posted about this issue someone gave me a tongue lashing because I believe children shouldn't be unattended for a couple of reasons, one being that it just isn't safe. I don't think a cruise ship is any safer than any mall or other public place that we wouldn't let our children roam free. Honestly, how easy would it be for a pervert to get on an elevator alone with my daughter or yours? Additionally, I feel sometimes parents that allow their children to roam the ship, and this includes teenagers, because parents are too busy enjoying their own "experience" to be bothered by their children. My kids (18 & 11 the last time they cruised with us) are with us when we cruise. We noticed packs of young teens roaming the ship. I noticed graffiti on the elevator doors and scratched into the wood on the ship. I doubt they were attended when that behavior went on. Honestly, we prefer to sail with an older crowd. They behave better. Enough said. Bon Voyage to everyone!

[melika091900]

I agree about the parents.... they are irresponsible.. and dont care since like someone said they are enjoying themselves...

thats why i try to not book a cruise during any kind of break... winter spring. summer...when school is out... . narrows my travel months down , but hey its better than dealing with it... I think that there should be a curfew for teens... but teens can be teens,, but not at 3am,, as for the 5 year olds running around.. my daughter is 5,, what the hell are the parents thinking.. im even afraid to take my daughter on a cruise until shes older... and never let her run around and do whatever.. some people dont have any brains....

one day something will wake them up hopefully.......

[zacksmom]

Sounds like we have a good group of responsible parents on this thread! I'm glad to see that. I wish I could say that seeing the unattended five year old was an isolated incident, but it was not... I guess, to be fair, she could have been a small 6 or 7 year old, and she was *sometimes* escorted by her much older sister (maybe 8 years old :rolleyes: ).

 

As for the teens....I was having a nice leisurely workout one evening on the ship - until about 15 teenagers crashed in and ran me out of there. They were being extremely loud and obnoxious, and were jumping around all over the equipment in a dangerous manner.

[flamomo]

Is there no cruiseline attendant in the fitness center? I would think that area in particular would have a cruiseline person present at all times in case of injury or illness of a facility user.

I plan on using the fitness center during my upcoming Princess cruise on 1/21/06.

[zacksmom]

There was an attendant in the fitness center, but he had left to go get more towels. I didn't stick around to see when he came back. I just wanted to get out of there before I got tagged in the head with a barbell or something!:o

[K&RCurt]

These threads usually have degenerated to name calling flame wars by this point. It's nice to see a reasoned discussion.

 

We have 3 children (two DD 19 & 20 and a DS 11). When the girls were younger we would not have let them go off on their own until they were around 14 or 15, and even then, we kept in close contact with them periodically (via cell phone). We would NOT have let them wander around a cruise ship unaccompanied, and they certainly would have been in bed by midnight.

 

When we get on the Navigator tomorrow the girls will be able to do what they want but we will have periodic meeting points set up. They will also be required to stay together at all times. This is the best way to insure they will behave as they are quite competitive and will look for ANY excuse to get the other in hot water! We have also set down ahead of time that they will either be with us or in the cabin by midnight each night. Our DS will either be in the kids program, with us or with his two sisters at all times. No one will go off on their own while on shore.

 

Another point is the reaction people have when you mention misbehavior of their children. The majority today take offense that you have criticized their child and take the child's word as the truth. My parents would have made it so that I wouldn't be able to sit down for a week if an adult came to them about something I did or said. Of course they never had to do that since I was such a little angel!!! My kids know that we will invariably take the word of an "older adult" over theirs until proven otherwise. There were several instances when each of the girls were falsely accused of doing something that someone else did. I made sure during those cases that "while the jury was out" they treated the involved adult with respect and offered their sympathy that the event took place, while maintaining their innocence.

 

Too many people are more concerned with having fun on "their vacation" rather than doing what is required to have a safe and fun "family" vacation. Your responsibilities as a parent do not end when you walk up the gangway. However, judging by the roving hoards of young teens roving the local malls on Friday evenings, many don't fulfill their parental responsibilities while at home.

[michmike]

Yet another reason we cruise on HAL and now tend to take 10 day cruises. VERY few children..I'd sooner slit my wrists than be on a cruise ship w/ 100 + kids.. *UGHHH*

[Sweet Honey Bee]

I am SO impressed with those of you who responded on this thread!

 

K&R Curt, your kids are so fortunate to have you as parents. Have a great time on your cruise.

 

We made a big mistake in taking a Hawaiian cruise last August. The ship had over 400 children on board, and while some were well behaved, the majority were not. I rarely saw parents around when these children were being destructive and wild. No more summer or break-time cruises for us.

[VentureMan_2000]

Simply put...

 

If you bring your children on the trip, the trip then becomes about the children.

 

If you do not bring your children on the trip, the trip then is all about you.

 

The kids running amuck belong to the parents who brought them, yet are trying to make the cruise all about themselves, and not the kids.

 

They refer to the railings on the ship as the "baby-sitters".

[SailAways]

I agree with everyone of you, and I too was previously called several names for stating almost exactly what is stated here. I believe the thread finally went poof as people became more and more abusive.

 

It truly didn't bother me, as I felt it must have been some of the parents who would allow terrible behavior of their children who found it necessary to toss a few stones at me.

 

People often still ridicule if I mention how well behaved our three boys were when we were out in public. They either say my memory is failing, or that I am exaggerating.

 

That is just not so. We were the family who often had people stop by our table while in a restaurant, to compliment us on our boys manners. As adults, they are a joy, and have reared their children in the same fashion.

 

That is the crux of the problem. There just aren't that many people around any longer - adults or children - who even have a clue what manners are. Too bad for all of us. I suspect it will not change any time soon.

[RichardK]

I don't believe that a number of Parents feel that they are leaving their Kids unsupervised at all!!

 

A lot of Parents figure that they have 2500+ Crew and other Pax to baby sit their Kids while they enjoy themselves............

[SailAways]

I don't believe that a number of Parents feel that they are leaving their Kids unsupervised at all!!

 

A lot of Parents figure that they have 2500+ Crew and other Pax to baby sit their Kids while they enjoy themselves............

 

Sounds like the type of people who really should never have been parents to begin with, doesn't it?

 

With all of the terrible things going on in our world, and getting worse all of the time, this mentality is very difficult to grasp.

 

We do need to be ever vigilant and take care of our young and innocent while they need us to do so.

 

Why people would assume that some of the 2500 people on a cruise line are any less likely to harm their children than 2500 in a city is somewhat alarming.

[EmJakeBubbie]

we just returned from the SERENADE - it was our family cruise with grown son and DIL + Em(8) and Jake(6). I've told the family "no more cruises w/the little ones". It's not that we don't trust them, it's what we have seen on many other cruises. (the SERENADE did not seem to have out-of-control kids, but tis not always/all ways been the case on other cruises!). Yes, the pricier and longer cruises seem to have fewer kids. I have this story I wish to share: yesterday in COSTCO, we were shocked (other shoppers witness to this demonstrated shock, as well), well shocked to witness 3 young boys obviously under the age of 6 jumping - yes!jumping - from EACH piece of furniture to the next on display! I mean here is this young, rather attractive mom and dad pushing their shopping cart along the aisle whilst their wild out-of-control boys were screaming and jumping and messing up the furniture. Folks just stopped and stared in disbelief - like us, we couldn't believe this was tolerated! Finally (did the mom "feel" our eyes?) the mom very quietly/calmly said: "now, boys, please stop it"..... they never even heard her! Even when they got to the end of the aisle/furniture down to the floor they jumped and started running everywhere. I can't imagine a cruise with ThatFamily, but I can imagine what living in their house must be like! Just glad I'm not the Bubbie there! grrrrrr..... And, yes, tis nice to see this thread is "civilized";)

[cusyl]

We were on this ship for the week of Christmas...there were many many children on this ship but never saw any problems. Princess had several very visable men in Yellow shirts which said Youth Security on the back. They did an excellent job of keeping things under control.

[Bebet]

There was actually an editorial in todays paper on the subject of unruly kids/and parents who didn't squash the behavior in public. Evidently some cafe in Chicago (A taste of Heaven) put up a sign that said "children will have to behave decently, and speak in reasonably quiet voices inside the eatery". Evidently there were parents who where insulted by it. The whole article was about how parents didn't care to monitor their kids behavior in public, much to the dismay of those around them. The article was written by Karin Kkein in the LA times.

I'm all for kids being able to have sorts of experiences, but if they can't manage the appropriate behavior for the situation then they need to try again when they are older.

[bplazo]

I work in a restraunt and there was this one table that had a child around two years old, the little girl sat in the middle of the table for the entire meal. The parents just said that she didnt like sitting on a chair. Makes you wonder about who was in charge in that family.

 

I have to say that I was on a cruise last month and did not notice any unruly children.

[EmJakeBubbie]

hey, Brenda....heard the week after us was full of rotten kids! including teenagers cannonball jumping into the pool! I think "our week" was just fine - EmJake are well socialized, but I'm too hesitant to take them when they are older because of the 'other' kids! such a shame as the misbehaviors will someday become the future leaders of America:rolleyes: hope the table w/the two-yr old as the centerpiece wasn't your table!