Kids on their own on the boat - 10 yr old

[topnole]

3 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

Walkie talkies are used by some people but they are annoying for those around the person using them.

The thousands walking around aimlessly with their nose in their cell phones are more annoying to me.   So are the folks talking on them or listening to music/video on speaker mode.   Reminder folks.  Pull of to side if reading something on your phone on the promenade.   Get some earphones/buds and no need to shout when on a phone call.  90+% of folks are clueless about how loud they are or they are just plain rude.  Either way, they are annoying bozos.   

[LobsterStalker]

This whole thread scares the H377 outta me . Were any of you 10 years old before ? Dunno about you , but I did a lot of stupid S#!t as a bold and adventurous child . I would never feel comfortable wondering whether or not my child might think it is a good idea to climb up ( just 1 row ) on the railin to get a better look at the ocean below .

Some mistakes are ireversible

[cruise_co]

4 hours ago, toxicfairy said:

I would be more worried about the people on board. It's a ship but it's like a small city. You don't know who's on board. People are drinking and having fun but not everyone is nice. Bad guys don't wear signs advertising. 

6 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

I’d treat the ship like you would any town or neighborhood. With the amount of people on the ships there’s bound to be bad apples among them. Crimes do occur on cruise ships and I’m sure they aren’t all made public.

I agree, you never know who is on board with you.  I never really thought about it until I watched the pervert being arrested this past May as we were waiting on the dock to get back on the ship. They had found his installed cameras in the public bathroom in back by the flowrider where it was a popular changing room. Over 150 people with over 40 children in various states of undress, including naked, were captured.  While that is violating enough, you could say it was lucky he was only after pictures and not taking little kids back to his cabin.  I am glad my children are adults now. 

[smokeybandit]

7 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

This whole thread scares the H377 outta me . Were any of you 10 years old before ? Dunno about you , but I did a lot of stupid S#!t as a bold and adventurous child . I would never feel comfortable wondering whether or not my child might think it is a good idea to climb up ( just 1 row ) on the railin to get a better look at the ocean below .

Some mistakes are ireversible

We all know our children so we decide what's best for our children at any point in time.

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, Jingerwoppy said:

I'm almost 60 and my wife doesn't leave me alone. She knows better. I'm a very experienced 12 year old.  🙂 

 

I believe that the standard terminology is "12 with 48 years experience".  😄 

[klfrodo]

Only you know your kid and their maturity level.

some 10 yo can’t be trusted to go to the bathroom by themselves.

Others get themselves up in the morning, fix their breakfast, and take a subway/public bus to school by themselves.

[akb5k]

I gave my 11 year old permission to sign herself in and out of Adventure Ocean for the first time last month. She is an experienced cruiser. She was really excited about it and did a great job meeting me at the time and place we agreed on. 

[Tatka]

4 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

We were on the Wonder last month and I was shocked to see how many 5-7yr olds were roaming the ship alone!!!  We would see these same little ones every day…..all day…..every where……and never a parent in sight.

 

These ships are like floating cities with people you know nothing about.  You can tell little kids not to go into someone’s room all day long but how easy would it be for someone to snatch them into a cabin as they walked down the hall?

 

There were two ladies on an elevator and one said “where in the world is your daughter?”   To which the other replied “I don’t know and I don’t care because I am not a parent this week!”.  And then they laughed and laughed…😳

 

I guess I am old school and believe my job as a parent is to take care of my little ones and protect them even when I am on vacation!!!  

 

 

 

 

Well, maybe she is with her parents (kids grandparents) and they are taking care of her daughter. Why assume?

[moesyk4]

This is very much a nowadays problem. I am 40 and I walked to kindergarten by myself at 4. Would ride my bike around town by myself starting around 8 and was babysitting other people’s kids at 9. I was responsible and trustworthy and knew what do in case of emergency. We all managed to survive without cell phones and I would argue were better off bc we had to learn to problem solve on our own. I can’t believe the number of people I saw on one of my Facebook groups who wouldn’t leave their kids alone at 16. But nobody blinks an eye about kids having access to electronics and their own phones at 10 which statistically had a much higher chance of being dangerous.

Anyway…off my soap box. We let our son sign himself out of Kids club when he was 10. He could go back to the room or to where we were at…usually the show. He isn’t a big kids club guy so usually ended up with us, but he sure felt proud of himself for having the option. My current 10 year old…not a chance lol. I am not sure there is any age I could trust him unsupervised. You know your kid!

[Tatka]

Agree. And they suddenly teenagers are difficult. When they are babysat for so long, they do not have gradual experience with freedom. 

[European_CruiseGirl]

It’s a ship with around 6000 passengers at any given cruise. And you don’t know almost any of those people. Most of them are most likely nice folks. Others are not. The ship is like a small town: there are all kinds of people there. 
 

So the question in my opinion would be: would you let your 10 (or 11 or whatever) year old child wander around alone in an unknown town full of bars and rowdy people (as we know some people start drinking first thing in the morning on a cruise)? I wouldn’t but every parent makes their own decisions. 

Edited August 11, 2023 by European_CruiseGirl

[smokeybandit]

5 hours ago, European_CruiseGirl said:

It’s a ship with around 6000 passengers at any given cruise. And you don’t know almost any of those people. Most of them are most likely nice folks. Others are not. The ship is like a small town: there are all kinds of people there. 
 

 

A small town that you can't leave, have limited places to go in the first place and that has cameras everywhere.

 

Sure, bad people are on cruises. But crimes of opportunity against people on cruise ships are extremely rare for a reason.

Edited August 11, 2023 by smokeybandit

[Joseph2017China]

This is not a question to ask other parents.  It is a question to ask yourself only.  

 

At 10 I was walking to school, riding a bike, and going to friends houses.  Going to a local mini store.  By 12 I had a paper route.  I lived in a big city.  At 10 my kids were free to walk to a friends house.  School was 3 miles.....and uphill, so they took a bus, but they did walk from the bus stop.  

 

But I know parents who pick their kids up at the bus stop, a block from their house and drive them to the friends house.  

So, it's up to you, to decide.  

[smokeybandit]

50 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

At 10 I was walking to school, riding a bike, and going to friends houses.  Going to a local mini store.  By 12 I had a paper route.  I lived in a big city.  At 10 my kids were free to walk to a friends house.  School was 3 miles.....and uphill, so they took a bus, but they did walk from the bus stop.  

Many on this board at age 10 had a lot more freedoms than 10 yr olds now do.  

[mjkacmom]

17 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Many on this board at age 10 had a lot more freedoms than 10 yr olds now do.  

But some of us raised our kids in the same manner that we were raised, since our world is statistically safer now in spite of our skewed perceptions based on 24/7 news. Confidence and situational awareness are learned skills, important skills.

[GTO-Girl]

11 hours ago, Tatka said:

Well, maybe she is with her parents (kids grandparents) and they are taking care of her daughter. Why assume?

I didn’t “assume” anything because we saw these children ALL day, EVERY day, all over the ship!!  Eating by themselves, riding the elevators by themselves and wandering aimlessly in the Promenade by themselves!

 

There was NEVER one single day where there was EVER an adult in sight so you are the one who doesn’t need to assume it didn’t happen….because it did and the parents/grandparents of these kids needs to be ashamed!!

 

[Scottdalfonso]

My kid is 11...we live in a VERY big city. For the past 2 years he has walked himself to school, goes to the park a few blocks away, walks to camp, goes to various stores within .5 mile or so and will roam the neighborhood "pokemon hunting" or just hanging out.  We JUST got him a phone this past month so now he has even more freedom.  If I trust him wandering around the streets of Philadelphia with cars and people everywhere, I feel I can trust him to walk around a floating hotel.  Our goal this next cruise is for him to make a few friends that he'll be able to hang out with occasionally, as the last time he hated AO so much on day 2, he wouldn't go back.  But people know their kids, if you are from a small town and the kids don't get out much, or you know you're kid may be a little more adventurous or maybe TOO friendly...then you know maybe you don't want them roaming alone, It's totally up to the parent to understand the kid and how much freedom to give them

[BND]

To me, it's like Disney where people make the assumption because it's Disney it's safe.  The ship is a small city and believe it or not, bad people take cruises too.   There have been incidents over the years.  I just think it's more than easy to walk your child somewhere.  

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, GTO-Girl said:

I didn’t “assume” anything because we saw these children ALL day, EVERY day, all over the ship!!  Eating by themselves, riding the elevators by themselves and wandering aimlessly in the Promenade by themselves!

 

There was NEVER one single day where there was EVER an adult in sight so you are the one who doesn’t need to assume it didn’t happen….because it did and the parents/grandparents of these kids needs to be ashamed!!

 

 

You know this particular kid? Did you watch kid whole day long?

Also, what age? I took bus and subway from the age of 9 and walked everywhere. I hope strangers were not concerned. Why? Unless child is doing something inappropriate why are you concerned? Wandering is not breaking any rules. Riding elevators too!

Do you watch adults wandering aimlessly? 🙂

 

Kids are overprotected till teen years and then parents are surprised teens who suddenly got freedom (and often a car as parents are tired to drive them everywhere) do stupid things.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Tatka

[Homosassa]

21 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

 

 He almost got a martini dumped on his head but I saved it.  The martini, not the kid.  

Glad you had your priorities straight.

 

The child in your scenario fared better than the one who ran into me in the buffet while I was carrying two cups of coffee.  The hot contents of both cups ended up being poured  over the kid as I tried to catch myself (successfully) but sacrificed the contents of the coffee cups.

Edited August 11, 2023 by Homosassa

[Tatka]

15 minutes ago, BND said:

To me, it's like Disney where people make the assumption because it's Disney it's safe.  The ship is a small city and believe it or not, bad people take cruises too.   There have been incidents over the years.  I just think it's more than easy to walk your child somewhere.  

 

  This is why kids should know basic rules like ... not talking to strangers, not going anywhere with strangers and such.

 

  US is very different from most of the world where cities are full of families with kids and suburbs are rather exceptions. Kids from the age of 9-10 easily take public transportation to schools, activities and such. Rules are all the  same.

[GTO-Girl]

6 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

You know this particular kid? Did you watch kid whole day long?

Also, what age? I took bus and subway from the age of 9 and walked everywhere. I hope strangers were not concerned. Why? Unless child is doing something inappropriate why are you concerned? Wandering is not breaking any rules. Riding elevators too!

Do you watch adults wandering aimlessly? 🙂

 

Kids are overprotected till teen years and then parents are surprised teens who suddenly got freedom (and often a car as parents are tired to drive them everywhere) do stupid things.

These children were 5-7yrs old!!!  Much too young to have the run of a ship with 6,000 strangers!!

 

My husband is retired law enforcement who has seen a lot so we are not so naive about what can happen!!!

 

We will just have to agree to disagree!  Have a good day!!

[Tatka]

5 is definitely too early. 7 is a bit too yes.

[BND]

21 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

You know this particular kid? Did you watch kid whole day long?

Also, what age? I took bus and subway from the age of 9 and walked everywhere. I hope strangers were not concerned. Why? Unless child is doing something inappropriate why are you concerned? Wandering is not breaking any rules. Riding elevators too!

Do you watch adults wandering aimlessly? 🙂

 

Kids are overprotected till teen years and then parents are surprised teens who suddenly got freedom (and often a car as parents are tired to drive them everywhere) do stupid things.

Most parents I know, myself included didn't overprotect them until one day we just released them on the world.  Mine were gradually given more responsibility as they got older.  

 

But, the reality is, this is about the letting a kid wander around on their own on a ship full of strangers.  The ship is not their hometown.  You need to look at it from that perspective.

 

I, myself have stopped several children (usually around 10-11 yrs old) running up and down hallways and stairs and around corners.  It's all fun and games until they run into and knock someone over, especially an older person.

[BND]

13 hours ago, moesyk4 said:

This is very much a nowadays problem. I am 40 and I walked to kindergarten by myself at 4. Would ride my bike around town by myself starting around 8 and was babysitting other people’s kids at 9. I was responsible and trustworthy and knew what do in case of emergency. We all managed to survive without cell phones and I would argue were better off bc we had to learn to problem solve on our own. I can’t believe the number of people I saw on one of my Facebook groups who wouldn’t leave their kids alone at 16. But nobody blinks an eye about kids having access to electronics and their own phones at 10 which statistically had a much higher chance of being dangerous.

Anyway…off my soap box. We let our son sign himself out of Kids club when he was 10. He could go back to the room or to where we were at…usually the show. He isn’t a big kids club guy so usually ended up with us, but he sure felt proud of himself for having the option. My current 10 year old…not a chance lol. I am not sure there is any age I could trust him unsupervised. You know your kid!

Babysitting at 9?  That wasn't even legal when I was 9 and I'm 63.  12-13 is appropriate (and legal in most places) age for babysitting.  We had a lot of freedom as kids, but no way would my parents (or us or anyone I know) ever let a 4 year old go anywhere by themselves. 

Edited August 11, 2023 by BND