Beware of Perverts - Unfortunately, even at the happiest place on earth

[Andy B]

I whole heartedly agree with Amy+Dan and Osjah&Landon'smom. I do not let my 11 year old go to the bathroom alone, or play video games alone in wal-mart, etc. because I love him too much. He is priceless. Bad stuff happens, and 12 is a common age for abducted kids. And you can call me over-paraniod if you want, I don't care! I will have my children the next morning, every morning because I care about them, therefore watch them and don't let them off alone. Unfortunately bad stuff happens to some kids, and I hate to say this, but it usually happens to those kids who are off by themselves, in the restrooms alone, etc. because their parents think it is good for them.
At a movie theater here in town a few months ago, an 11 year old boy was in the mens bathroom and a man came in and put his hand over his mouth and pushed him into a stall and tried molesting him, but thank god he got away. The News crew was there and wanted to interview us about what we thought and I told them, weirdos are everywhere, I don't let my kids out of my sight, and it is not hurting them, it is protecting them!

Well that has told everone else off!

The vast majority of child molestations are by family or friends.

 

[KarenW]

It's sad to think that WDW (and, indeed any location where children are present in large quantities) is a target for creeps like this one. It's one reason why WDW has always had (and always will) a very aggressive policy regarding cooperating with local authorities to prosecute these predators. You may rest assured that the Cast takes an equally dim view of this sort of behavior (it's worth mentioning that WDW runs CBCs (Criminal Background Checks) on all prospecive CMs before hiring).

Oh yes... one more thing...

Parents, please tell your kids that if they ever get lost or need help, or it's an emergency, they should immediately look for a Cast Member wearing a white nametag like this one:

Remind them NOT to go to someone wearing a blue nametag, or a red nametag, or a black nametag -- only a white one.

Thank you, Buzz, for posting this picture. I called my children in and showed it to them. It was much more effective to see a picture than to just be told. Thank you for helping us to keep our kids safe!

 

[TruBlu]

I haven't read this entire thread, but I wholeheartedly agree with the posts that I've seen so far. I am always amazed at parents that just send their young kids out to play for hours at a time unsupervised. We are dealing with this in our nieghborhood right now. There are 7 kids that run around all day unwatched. The oldest just turned seven and the youngest is 2! A couple of weeks ago an email came out from our HOA telling us that a convicted sex offender has moved in down the street. (Our state makes them register. The conviction involved minors.) So, I called one of the moms to let her know. She said thanks, but we don't really worry about that. We know we pass them (sex offenders) in the mall all the time. All the kids still run around on their own. DH and I end up watching them when we are out with our kids.

 

[LilGMom]

People tend to, for some reason, drop their guards when they enter WDW. I know I like to think of our trips as "escapes from reality for awhile", but I still watch my kids like a hawk. My oldest is only 5yr. and even though I preach to him about 'stranger (and nonstranger) danger' I don't think he fully gets it. Even though I've shown him pictures of convicted felons that look like they'd be respectable citizens and have told him an abbreviated version of what they have done, my ds's idea of a bad person is someone that looks bad or mean like Cruella. When I'm shopping wth my boys, without dh, they go into the women's restroom with me or we find a family restroom to use. Before each WDW trip I tell mt ds about finding a CM with a white name tag, find a cm working at the front of a ride or selling merchandise, yell "fire" (tends to get more of a response from others). At the playground dh or I are right there and even if we aren't physically following ds we are visually following him. It floors me when I see a young child unattended. No reason (holding a table, etc.) is a good one especially at a place as big and as crowded at WDW. Yes, you have to teach your kids to survive as individuals but there is an appropriate age for that and as young as 5 or 7 is too young in my opinion.

Thank goodness for that father and his son. I shudder to think how much farther it would have gone for that poor little girl.

 

[ladyjayhawk]

I have an 11-year old boy and an upcoming trip to WDW. The bathroom issue is really bothersome to me. I think he will just be mortified if I make him go into the women's restroom with me. Let's face it, others will stare at him and make him feel even more uncomfortable. My sister will be there so she can sit with him while I go (thank goodness), but there won't be anyone to go into the men's room with him. I'm just not sure what the answer here is. I guess I know how long it should take him and if there is any delay, I'll holler in to make sure he is all right??

I also have a trip this summer where we will be flying and no sister along. I usually avoid the bathrooms on the plane, but I think the best thing for us will be to use them instead of having to go in the airport. I would never let him wait for me to go in such a public place.

There are several companion bathrooms now in the parks but they are a bit spread out, so plan ahead. The ones I can think of right now are:

MK - to the right of Space Mountain; by Splash Mountain; by Pirates of the Caribbean

Epcot - by Soarin' entrance; by Test Track; in Norway

AK - by the entrance of the Maharajah Jungle Trek; in Dinoland

MGM - by Star Tours; by Tower of Terror



Edited: I found a more compete list of companion bathrooms. Here it is: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/disabgeneral.htm#Rrooms

 

[love2teach]

This is truly disgusting.

 

[MojitoMiss]

Oh yes... one more thing...

Parents, please tell your kids that if they ever get lost or need help, or it's an emergency, they should immediately look for a Cast Member wearing a white nametag like this one:

Remind them NOT to go to someone wearing a blue nametag, or a red nametag, or a black nametag -- only a white one.

Which is exactly why I hate that Disney is selling these things. Weren't there enough personalized money-making opportunities for them without selling fake castmember nametags? A small frightened child will remember CLEAR, SIMPLE directions....this just creates confusion and could lead to a dangerous situation. I mean.....if you were a pedophile, wouldn't you buy a "nametag"? The first thing a pedophile does with an intended victim is build trust. And we as parents tell our children....if you're lost, find a castmember. You can trust them. Now we have to explain that only "white-tagged castmembers" are trustworthy. Unnecessary confusion. Bad idea.

There is a very tricky balance between protecting our children and scaring them silly. Between preparing them for life and making them feel like prey. The right mix depends a lot on your personality and that of your kids. I teach kids and parents about personal safety as part of a volunteer program. So I probably think about this too much.

Disneyworld is deceptive....it seems like a safe place for children, yet that same illusion makes us lower our inhibitions and possibly put our kids in danger. I have thought many times that it would be easy to abduct a child from WDW. How many crying kids are physically carried out of the parks every day? So many that no one even notices. And how many children do you see without parental supervision because..."Hey! it's Disneyworld. What could happen?!"

I have my own personal rule of thumb when I'm trying to find the balance. I guess you could call it the "Million Dollar Rule"... I ask myself if I would leave a wallet with a million dollars by the pool while I order food......in the Main Street Emporium while I run down to Town Hall to get a parade schedule...in the car while I run into the grocery store for a few things. My kids are worth MUCH more to me than a million bucks. If the answer is no to the $$, it's a no-brainer when it comes to my children. Just my two cents. (No pun intended. )

 

[TruBlu]

There are several companion bathrooms now in the parks but they are a bit spread out, so plan ahead. The ones I can think of right now are:

MK - to the right of Space Mountain; by Splash Mountain; by Pirates of the Caribbean

Epcot - by Soarin' entrance; by Test Track; in Norway

AK - by the entrance of the Maharajah Jungle Trek; in Dinoland

MGM - by Star Tours; by Tower of Terror

Thank you for posting this! I didn't know they were there.

 

[ladyjayhawk]

That being said, I would never leave a small child (say, under the age of 7) near open water, and don't let my 6 year old wander too far away from me. But, occasionally I let my 8 year old ride her bike around the block without me. I let her go to the washroom without me. When we are at wal-mart, sometimes I let the girls go to the toy section while I'm picking up groceries with the understanding that they must stay together while they are there (for short periods of time...like 5 minutes).
JMHO
Heather, Mom to Emily (8) and Sarah (6)

I can't even imagine doing this with my children. You do know that the Toy section is where the sickos go to find their victims, right? It only takes seconds for someone to drag your child off to the bathroom, changing rooms, stock room or even a quiet corner of the store. There are stories all the time in the news about someone molesting a child at Target or Walmart. That is not the place I would teach my kids a lesson about independence.

 

[earthfaries]

Well that has told everone else off!

The vast majority of child molestations are by family or friends.

That is awful. I know this thread is not talking about family and friends, but it is a big concern. Once again, I just educate my children on what is appropriate or not and hope they would let me know if there were ever a problem. I homeschool, and my kids don't really go out without me, and when my son is at chorus rehersal, acting class, etc. I stay and watch. (I am usaually the only parent there but anyway!)
Last year, when my daughter was 3, the neighbor was over playing. His mom and I were sitting there talking and her son, 5, and my daughter then 3, were in a playhouse (a card table with a cloth playhouse over it) playing. After a couple of minutes, she comes out and says " Mommy, xxxxx was touching my ******" I was shocked. His mom started screaming at him and told him to go home, she left before we could even talk about it. I went over there after talking to my daughter, she said he put his hands in her shorts and was rubbing her privates. I was so proud of her telling me. The mom denied it,and said if he admited to doing it she would beat his xxx. No wonder he didn't!!! I told her she should talk to him about someone else possibly touching him because children at that age should not know about doing that stuff, or be interested in it. He lives with his dad and dad's family on the weekends. She just blew it off and said no way. Sometimes people won't even consider someone in their family would do such a thing. It is very sad.
Anyway, it goes to show it can happen even when you are sitting right next to them. It really upset me knowing that. No more playing alone in playhouses with kids we don't know to well for us and no more playing with xxxxx.

 

[earthfaries]

Which is exactly why I hate that Disney is selling these things. Weren't there enough personalized money-making opportunities for them without selling fake castmember nametags? A small frightened child will remember CLEAR, SIMPLE directions....this just creates confusion and could lead to a dangerous situation. I mean.....if you were a pedophile, wouldn't you buy a "nametag"? The first thing a pedophile does with an intended victim is build trust. And we as parents tell our children....if you're lost, find a castmember. You can trust them. Now we have to explain that only "white-tagged castmembers" are trustworthy. Unnecessary confusion. Bad idea.

There is a very tricky balance between protecting our children and scaring them silly. Between preparing them for life and making them feel like prey. The right mix depends a lot on your personality and that of your kids. I teach kids and parents about personal safety as part of a volunteer program. So I probably think about this too much.

Disneyworld is deceptive....it seems like a safe place for children, yet that same illusion makes us lower our inhibitions and possibly put our kids in danger. I have thought many times that it would be easy to abduct a child from WDW. How many crying kids are physically carried out of the parks every day? So many that no one even notices. And how many children do you see without parental supervision because..."Hey! it's Disneyworld. What could happen?!"

I have my own personal rule of thumb when I'm trying to find the balance. I guess you could call it the "Million Dollar Rule"... I ask myself if I would leave a wallet with a million dollars by the pool while I order food......in the Main Street Emporium while I run down to Town Hall to get a parade schedule...in the car while I run into the grocery store for a few things. My kids are worth MUCH more to me than a million bucks. If the answer is no to the $$, it's a no-brainer when it comes to my children. Just my two cents. (No pun intended. )

About the million dollar rule. I just used that example with my son last week!!! We watched the pink panter again, the new one, and my son was talking about how valuable the pink diamond was and I told him, would you leave that diamond laying in wal-mart? out back? in the parking lot? No. Why? You are worth more than anything else in this world to me. More than that diamond, and I wouldn't leave my purse, a diamond, or anything else of value laying around unsupervised, and I am not leaving the most important thing in MY world laying around unsupervised either. He got it.

 

[Mandygrrl]

Maybe I'm too trusting, but I honestly believe that as a society today, we are smothering our children. I find it hard to believe that as adults we should never let our children (especially 12 year olds?!) "out of our eye sight". What kind of message are we sending to these children about the world and their ability to cope with it?

I teach my daughters about "stranger danger". More importantly, I teach my children about "not-stranger" danger...let's face it...it is very rare for abuse to occur from a stranger - most is due to someone the child knows. I teach them to trust their instincts, and if something doesn't feel right or if they are nervous about a situation, then they should seek out help.

However, I refuse to let my children grow up afraid to play outside without me standing there watching them every minute. I want my children to become independent, strong-minded individuals who can look after themselves if a situation arises.

That being said, I would never leave a small child (say, under the age of 7) near open water, and don't let my 6 year old wander too far away from me. But, occasionally I let my 8 year old ride her bike around the block without me. I let her go to the washroom without me. When we are at wal-mart, sometimes I let the girls go to the toy section while I'm picking up groceries with the understanding that they must stay together while they are there (for short periods of time...like 5 minutes).

I guess I just feel it is better to equip our children with the right defenses and then let them live their lives. No matter how much you try to keep an eye on them every minute, every mother becomes distracted by their cell phone, a conversation, a salesclerk, etc. I refuse to spend our lives agonizing over a greatly over-stated risk that they may be molested by a stranger.

JMHO
Heather, Mom to Emily (8) and Sarah (6)

You're quite right! A child is much more likely to be molested by someone they know, so being afraid of all strangers is not very productive. Actually, teaching your child about trusting her instincts and which strangers she should approach if she's ever in a situation to need someone else's help will probably keep her safer than teaching her that all strangers are bad. You're doing a good job!

Having said that, leaving a young child alone at WDW makes no sense to me. Especially near a pool - I'd be more afraid they'd drown than be abducted! I think it's fine to let a child over the age of 7 use a restroom by herself - as long as you wait outside. However, every child is different. But, by that age they're using the restroom by themselves in school, and doing so in public is not much different (e.g., there are people in school just as likely to molest your child, including other children!).

I think that both being irresponsible with your child in terms of leaving them alone when they're too young and smothering a child who is too old can lead to disaster.

As far as the statement about things not being different these days, that is also true. Child predators have always existed, they just weren't reported or caught as readily until the past few decades. We are safer living in our world than any other generation before us. Thank goodness for that!

 

[tbrenk]

This makes me so sick. I was even more careful of my DS5 in Disney when we were there a few weeks ago.

 

[earthfaries]

Has anyone watched the movie "Human Trafficking" ?

 

[Andy B]

About the million dollar rule. I just used that example with my son last week!!! We watched the pink panter again, the new one, and my son was talking about how valuable the pink diamond was and I told him, would you leave that diamond laying in wal-mart? out back? in the parking lot? No. Why? You are worth more than anything else in this world to me. More than that diamond, and I wouldn't leave my purse, a diamond, or anything else of value laying around unsupervised, and I am not leaving the most important thing in MY world laying around unsupervised either. He got it.

I understand the point being made but I do not think it is a valid comparison, there are a lot more people who would take a non sentient apparantly abandoned $1m Gem or wallet than would take a young child who may be alone at that time but is clearly not abandoned.

 

[Andy B]

You're quite right! A child is much more likely to be molested by someone they know, so being afraid of all strangers is not very productive. Actually, teaching your child about trusting her instincts and which strangers she should approach if she's ever in a situation to need someone else's help will probably keep her safer than teaching her that all strangers are bad. You're doing a good job!

Having said that, leaving a young child alone at WDW makes no sense to me. Especially near a pool - I'd be more afraid they'd drown than be abducted! I think it's fine to let a child over the age of 7 use a restroom by herself - as long as you wait outside. However, every child is different. But, by that age they're using the restroom by themselves in school, and doing so in public is not much different (e.g., there are people in school just as likely to molest your child, including other children!).

I think that both being irresponsible with your child in terms of leaving them alone when they're too young and smothering a child who is too old can lead to disaster.

As far as the statement about things not being different these days, that is also true. Child predators have always existed, they just weren't reported or caught as readily until the past few decades. We are safer living in our world than any other generation before us. Thank goodness for that!

A very balanced post.

 

[earthfaries]

I understand the point being made but I do not think it is a valid comparison, there are a lot more people who would take a non sentient apparantly abandoned $1m Gem or wallet than would take a young child who may be alone at that time but is clearly not abandoned.

Actually, the point I am making to them is there are dishonest and bad people out there, not how many people would take money or gems compared to children. I wouldn't take a wallet or gem if I found one laying around, but some people would. I don't care if it was worth a million dollars. It belongs to someone else and I have no right taking it just because I found it. And yes, I have found money, digital camcorder at WDW, etc. and I turned it in. People need to watch their purses, camers, childrens and all things of value because there are people who take them when left unattended.

 

[Mandygrrl]

A very balanced post.

Thank you

That's what good parenting is all about, though - balance.

ETA: One of the best parenting books I've read is "Protecting the Gift" by Gavin DeBecker. It teaches parents what they really need to focus on in terms of keeping our children safe. The author stresses most importantly to follow our instincts, however if we're afraid of everything, we won't even hear our instincts. I highly recommend it to every parent!

Something I also wanted to add about Disney employees being safe. It's very good that they do background checks on all employees...every employer should. However, please keep in mind that this check will NOT cover child predators who have never been caught! There are MANY of these people out there. My advice is to teach your children to approach a female employee if they are lost, or simply, just another mom in the park. The reason? Child predators are 99% likely to be male.

 

[Andy B]

Thank you

That's what good parenting is all about, though - balance.

I agree, finding that balance is not allways easy.

 

[Buzzfanmom]

That is absolutely aweful. It goes to show you that you can't take your eyes off your children at all. I am one of those parents that even gets nervous sending my kids into their own backyard!
I hope that poor little girl is OK not to mentio the countless other children this creep has hurt.
Disgusting!