Unsupervised Teenagers

[7swans]

I am very concerned that our students behave respectfully toward others during our upcoming trip.
We had our own nightmare experience with unsupervised teens during Nights of Joy 2001. I have also on separate occasions witnessed teens mocking overweight guests, cutting in line, and swearing while at WDW.

We are going to try to sensitize our students about the right of everyone at the parks to enjoy their vacation.

I would like your input as to both positive ideas to encourage our teens to good behavior and interaction with fellow guests, and examples of bad behavior you have witnessed to help me illustrate what others would consider rude.

This is very important to me personally, I hope to improve their character by this conversation, I truly value your input!

Thanks,

Chris

[AFMom]

That's a tough one. Sadly - there are still many adults who cause as much trouble as the teenagers.

[nono]

Carrying on a conversation with one's friends who are several yards away. I tell my kids to stand in line quietly, and when they see young adults behaving badly, they try to emulate it. It annoys the adults too. I'm not talking about "Hey you want lunch?" types of conversations, but gossipy, long winded chats that others must overhear. Only ever had that happen 1x.

I've not run into any other issues at WDW with young adults though. In fact, I've had several occasions where school trip kids went out of their way to talk to and play with my child(ren) while we waited in line or for a show to start.

[Blue&Gold]

I would like to think that you wouldn't have to tell Graduating High School Seniors what types of things might be considered rude.

If you cover foul language, rambunctious behavior that runs the risk of hurting someone, disrespectful attitudes towards others, or intentional breaking of park rules you've probably covered 95% of the behaviors "resonable" people would view as inappropriate.

For encouragement, you might want to discuss the idea that the other guests at Disney World have paid hard-earned $$$ for the opportunity to enjoy a "magical" (or at least entertaining) experience. Acting poorly or doing something to detract from that experience is analogous to stealing their admission money...

[7swans]

Originally Posted by Blue&Gold

For encouragement, you might want to discuss the idea that the other guests at Disney World have paid hard-earned $$$ for the opportunity to enjoy a "magical" (or at least entertaining) experience. Acting poorly or doing something to detract from that experience is analogous to stealing their admission money...

Thanks I will work this idea into our talk!

[carolina_yankee]

I like the bit about reminding your group what others have spent for this 'magical' vacation and Nono's story.

Maybe encourage your kids to think of ways they can be a part of sharing that magic with others? (Being friendly, looking for First Visit and Birthday buttons, etc.)

Dirk

[7swans]

Originally Posted by nono

In fact, I've had several occasions where school trip kids went out of their way to talk to and play with my child(ren) while we waited in line or for a show to start.

This is what I am hoping for, any suggestions for interactive ideas?

[nono]

Originally Posted by 7swans

This is what I am hoping for, any suggestions for interactive ideas?

Eh, just let it develop. I think some adults see right through groups of teens. Tell them to skip talking to those folks. Personally, I like to feed off teens' energy and perspective on the world. As you can tell from my original post, I've seen almost exclusively good behavior from the groups of kids I've encountered. The cool thing about a place like WDW, unless the bad behavior is happening in the room next to you or above you, you can get away from it pretty darn quickly.

[Canuck]

One big suggestion would be to get your teens to respect the cast members who help make the magic and follow their directions. Help them realize that a lot of these people take Disney jobs not because of the pay, which isn't that great, but because they like helping people have a safe, happy, magical vacation.

[glypnirsgirl]

I believe that your kids will meet your expectations. By that, I mean that if you assume in talking to them that you will be proud of them and suggest that they think of ways to enhance each others and strangers experience and how much fun it is to make someone's day, they will do so.

While I was saving up money for college (and was a part-time student at a junior college) I waitressed in a restaurant near SMU, a campus full of highly privileged students. I was normally treated well by them. What was surprising to me was the high school students that would come in to town for conferences and camps (cheerleaders especially) - they were almost always uniformly nice to me. Much nicer than I expected.

I am old and fat now. I could easily be the butt of jokes from teenagers. If I see that someone is gearing up to be ugly to me, I head them off at the pass, I simply start asking them questions. Where are you from? Have you been here before? What have you enjoyed the most? (If they have been there many times) What should I make sure that I see? What do you think most people miss that you really like?

It is amazing that almost no one can be rude to someone that is treating them well.

One of the things that one of my friends that teaches special education students always tells her students before an outing is, "Isn't it nicer to exceed someone's expectations instead of living down to them? Don't you want people to think, "well aren't they wonderful" instead of something not nice.

I am sure that your kids will be wonderful!

Elaine