Children refusing to ride and such

Hi all, here is my potential situation. I have a 9 y/o who will probably not ride anything more than the Gemini as far as intensity, and a 7 y/o who will ride anything. If my wife and I plus the kids get in line for a ride, and the 9 y/o refuses, can the adult waiting with him swap with the other adult to ride, or is that only for infants?

Your best bet for an accurate answer is to call the park directly. (419) 627-2350

You can do parent swap. You will have to give the paper ticket to the ride op when exiting, then have your wife come up the exit ramp and she can get right on.

Sometimes the attendants at the entrance to the ride do not have these little slips of paper. If that's the case, just let the ride op know when you're getting off the ride.

Thanks, I was hoping for something else if and when he chickens out, but I'm not sure what. Parent swap might be the best and only option.

Parent Swap is a great option. You can take your 7 y/o back on the ride with you so they actually get to ride twice. Just make sure you get the parent swap form from guest services at the beginning of the day.

Yes, you can do the parent swap option. 9 y/o is still too young to be left by their self while waiting in line.

TMAN264, this sounds cruel but it worked. A friend had a 9-10 year old son who always chickened out on rides. Twice they told him since he never would ride and someone got cheated out of a ride to stay with him he couldn't go and stayed home with grandma. The next time he said he would ride so they took him. While in line for the Corkscrew the kid was nervous, and shanking when they got on the ride. His dad told him he didn't have to ride but he stayed. The kid almost cried going up the lift hill. After he ride, on the brake before the station, the kid asked his dad if they could ride it again. I guess you call that hard love.

No, you would call that child abuse -- but people will do whatever they want to do --

As a single adult who has no kids I don't really give a hoot. I see stuff like this at amusement parks every day and I turn my head and walk away...But if a parent told me that story when they were talking to me in their psychotherapy session, I would advise them that I would need to report that to Child Protective Services if they actually carry through with it, You are absolutely not allowed to put any child in a situation of duress under threat of any kind. You can though leave him at home with Grandma and go without him.

RonAnnArbor said:
No, you would call that child abuse -- but people will do whatever they want to do --

Um, that is hardly child abuse. I got pushed into my 1st coaster at Cedar Point, it happened to be the Corkscrew as well, by my father. He was tired of me being a chicken and threatened me with (go ahead and call CPS) a good old fashioned spanking if I didn't go- in public even... I went kicking and screaming, I was 8 at the time.

When we pulled into the station, I discovered that I loved it and then rode every other coaster that I was tall enough for in the park that day! I am not emotionally or mentally scarred from this incident, what caused me duress was my own self- not my father.

Sometimes kids have to be pushed in order to get over themselves...

<rolls eyes>

No, ABUSE is when they physically hit the kid.

Not spending $44 at a roller coaster park on someone who doesn't want to ride roller coasters is practical.

How is spending a day with the grandparents "abuse?" If the kid is afraid of water, would letting him visit his grandparents instead of forcing him to go to the beach be abuse?

His father TOLD HIM HE DIDN'T HAVE TO RIDE and you are calling Protective Services. I shudder to think what you think should be done to parents who, gasp, set a curfew for their kids. The Death Penalty?

It is people like you who trivialize serious issues like kids getting beaten up that are the problem. Not spending money on him is NOT remotely the same as real abuse.

BTW, is not letting a kid leave the table without eating their vegetables abuse or a lesson in responsibility? And should making the kid eat Brussell Sprouts carry a tougher jail sentence that making him eat peas?

RonAnnArbor said:
No, you would call that child abuse -- but people will do whatever they want to do --

... I would need to report that to Child Protective Services if they actually carry through with it, You are absolutely not allowed to put any child in a situation of duress under threat of any kind.

I would like to nominate this post for most hyperbolic of the year.

Child abuse? Seriously? Man, that's a reach, even for some of the folks on this board.

Letting a kid know there are consequences to decisions does not equal "duress under threat".

I'm not necessarily saying I agree or disagree with Bluestreaker's friend's approach, but you went way overboard with that accusation. I have a 6 and 8 year old myself. I don't "push" them to ride anything they don't want, but I don't coddle them either. I suppose I should be locked up!

^ only if you use "duress under threat" to get them to eat their vegetables.

("No TV tonight if you don't eat your green beans almondine" is a 2 year minimum sentence. 1 year for the duress under threat, 1 year for serving them anything almondine :))

Bluestreaker clearly stated that the kid was told he did not have to ride, but chose to do it.

If the kid doesn't want to and a parent "makes him/her", it's not child abuse by any stretch of the imagination. It does, however, have a very high rate of backfiring. Can it work? Of course, but this approach actually fails more often than it succeeds.

Much better to enroll your child at Mount Union when they turn 18 and get them in Abnormal Psychology with moi.

:)

Ann Arbor - Liberal tree hugging panty wetting center of Michigan - Home of the time out. And they wonder why they can't beat Ohio State.

I would like to nominate the above as best post of the year. I keeping with my post nominating theme in this thread.

I live 30 minutes from AA, but would never call myself a U of M fan. They wouldn't have taken me, and I couldn't have afforded it anyway. I'm better for the path I took. Thank goodness I am not a panty wetting tree hugger!!!

This entire thread is pretty imbecilic.

Wow, I check my thread this morning and it turned into a child abuse/U of M vs. OSU derailment (MSU FTW BTW).

So back on the tracks, I appreciate the opinions here, so for our trip in June we'll get the parent swap paper.

Back off the tracks, and back in time 35 or so years.......imagine a time when the Gemini was the World's Tallest, Fastest, yada yada. It was, and I was the 7 or 8 y/o who chickened out, leaving my dad to ride solo. To this very day I wish I would have ridden it ( I think it was the 2nd year it was out, so 1978'ish), and would have no hard feelings if my dad did the tough love approach. I probably will not "tough love" my 9 y/o at CP in June, since CP rides are the biggest he'll have seen by a long shot, but I will say at Disney I tough loved him onto Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Expedition Everest with mixed results, hence not doing it at CP. He has stated he will ride anything that doesn't go upside down or backwards, so we do have some latitude for our visit.

As mentioned above, Parent Swap is the way to go...there is no rule about the age of the kid.

Just go to guest services when you get there, get the pink slip, and the most important thing....don't forget to give it to the ride attendant after you ride. :)

It's pretty seamless, but there are some ride attendants who have no idea how it works this early on in the season, so you may find yourself explaining it to them.

I will have to decide on what approach I will need to take this summer with my 5 year old- just measured him this weekend and has the 48" clearence! He says he is going to ride all the big rides (MF, Gemini etc) now but we will see when we get to the park. I will for sure have my parent swap in hand just in case.

I am pretty sure though I wont spend the day in CP jail if I threaten him with no elephant ear if he doesnt ride....

One approach we took with our niece, who was in a similar position, was to spend a few minutes at the exit of Gemini last year. We waited for some kids her age, and asked them how the ride was (of course, we made sure they were smiling kids!)...after listening to a chorus of approval from others her size and age, and quite a few who were smaller, she was convinced.

It was one thing for the adults to say "oh, it's safe and fun", but hearing from her peers made it resonate a bit stronger.