Would This Offend You?

[declansdad]

I wouldn't be offend at all. It was something nice that the little girl will remember for a long time. For one, we bring glow sticks and give them around during our Disney stay. Last month we gave over 150 of them and it was priceless to see all the smiles. My girls love to give them away and it makes many many kids happy. They do ask the parents before giving it to the child and not one parents has declined yet. It's less then $20 out of my pockets and many many happy kids and it teaches my girls about sharing.

Maybe next time try to discretly ask the caretaker about it and then fill the kids life with joy. BTW is was a really nice gesture your dh made. It sure would have made my girls happy

Again this is completely different that the situation the op described.


In your case you brought items with you to give away. In the ops situation, she and her husband overheard the grandmother tell the child no but decided to buy the balloon none-the-less. It is a very nice gesture but it isn't appropriate given the circumstances.

 

[myheartlivesatwdw]

It is appropriate? Appropriate? A nice gesture? Dear Lord....Now you can't even buy a child a balloon? Seriously? What is going on in this country? Thank God my kids are almost adults, this hyper-parenting thing is insane.

 

[Tiggernut_jadie]

I would be very annoyed. Now I have to hold onto this balloon all day, deal with it on the rides, worry about it flying away and then having the tears to deal with. Meanwhile, you walk away feeling like you did something wonderful. You had no right to impose yourself on this family.

^^^This!^^^

Seems like this was more about the OP getting an 'aren't I great' feeling than anything else!

The G'mother would have been put in an impossible position - tell you no thanks and the kid resents the G'mother but instead the poor woman ends up lugging an unwanted balloon round for the rest of the day.

 

[declansdad]

It is appropriate? Appropriate? A nice gesture? Dear Lord....Now you can't even buy a child a balloon? Seriously? What is going on in this country? Thank God my kids are almost adults, this hyper-parenting thing is insane.

The grandmother said no.

 

[Metsfan520]

It is appropriate? Appropriate? A nice gesture? Dear Lord....Now you can't even buy a child a balloon? Seriously? What is going on in this country? Thank God my kids are almost adults, this hyper-parenting thing is insane.

So you're OK with a stranger undermining you? Most parents I know wouldn't be happy with that.

 

[GinnyEmma]

It is appropriate? Appropriate? A nice gesture? Dear Lord....Now you can't even buy a child a balloon? Seriously? What is going on in this country? Thank God my kids are almost adults, this hyper-parenting thing is insane.

lol, so you didn't have the right to like or dislike a stranger giving something to your child? Mine are grown, but I believe a parent should have final say. So no, you do not have the right to do whatever you like to or for someone else's kid. It is pretty simple. The care giver said "no." It has nothing to with parenting or hypersensitive parenting or non parenting.

"I'd like to outlaw obnoxious people who don't mind their own business and feel compelled to tell others what to do."

Maybe the OP should have followed your advice and minded her own business!

 

[crisi]

lol, so you didn't have the right to like or dislike a stranger giving something to your child? Mine are grown, but I believe a parent should have final say. So no, you do not have the right to do whatever you like to or for someone else's kid. It is pretty simple. The care giver said "no." It has nothing to with parenting or hypersensitive parenting or non parenting.

And it may have nothing to do with undermining authority - we have been through dozens of reasons why Grandma might not have wanted the child to have a balloon. And now the child has a balloon. And now grandma has to "babysit the balloon, replace it when it pops, explain when it can't be brought to the hotel or into AK, deal with the other children in the family when they discover that someone got something they didn't, or whatever....."

 

[Andrew78]

I am going to have to agree with MetsFan and the beautiful Princess Ginny Emma Grandma said no. When I hear someones Grandma say no, I don't think it's being hypersensitive to have to respect that.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I think it's a beautiful gesture that will be remembered by both. My only challenge would be trying to care for the balloon the reminder of the day. That's the tough part.

I remember one trip we were on and my DN was eating one of those popsicle things. A good portion of it fell onto the ground and although I felt bad for her I explained that I just couldn't get her another one right then. The kind gentleman in line next to us (we were waiting for a show in Epcot and had a long wait in front of us) slipped out of line and bought my DN a new one. I was touched by his generosity and DN was thrilled. While she may not remember it any longer, this memory still makes me smile.

OP, I think your hubby did a beautiful thing and it will be neat for you to share the magic again in the future.

For myself, I've already started stocking up on glow sticks for my DN and DD to share during our August trip.

 

[ZooKeeper13]

OP, I do believe you had the best of intentions but I would not have been pleased at all. I know I'm weird but I can't stand being close to balloons; they always seem to pop right next to me & scare the you-know-what out of me!


Another scenario to think about: maybe Granny is just along for the ride & under parents' rules. Mom & Dad took other kid(s) to xyz while Granny & dgd went to parade. Granny was told to NOT go overboard this trip & check with parents before buying anything. Granny is now snickering to herself after your generous gesture & Mom & Dad will have 3 kids and 1 balloon.

To the glitter lady: I would have had a fit if you'd sprinkled glitter on my kids. That stuff gets everywhere and in FL heat, forget about it coming off! Please rethink your plan to use it next time.

 

[GinnyEmma]

And it may have nothing to do with undermining authority - we have been through dozens of reasons why Grandma might not have wanted the child to have a balloon. And now the child has a balloon. And now grandma has to "babysit the balloon, replace it when it pops, explain when it can't be brought to the hotel or into AK, deal with the other children in the family when they discover that someone got something they didn't, or whatever....."

Absolutely. I was just giving one example. Someone had a great list earlier of possible issues, and frankly, the grandmother had the right to say no for all or none of them. That was what I meant by authority.

 

[Andrew78]

I think it's a beautiful gesture that will be remembered by both. My only challenge would be trying to care for the balloon the reminder of the day. That's the tough part.

I remember one trip we were on and my DN was eating one of those popsicle things. A good portion of it fell onto the ground and although I felt bad for her I explained that I just couldn't get her another one right then. The kind gentleman in line next to us (we were waiting for a show in Epcot and had a long wait in front of us) slipped out of line and bought my DN a new one. I was touched by his generosity and DN was thrilled. While she may not remember it any longer, this memory still makes me smile.

OP, I think your hubby did a beautiful thing and it will be neat for you to share the magic again in the future.

For myself, I've already started stocking up on glow sticks for my DN and DD to share during our August trip.

That was a very nice thing that man did, and I think a gesture many of us would do. It's not really similar to this situation that was posted. But I tihnk it's a good example of when many of us would not mind a stranger buying our child something. And I think most of us have no porblem with the glow sticks

 

[MSSANDRA]

I just went back and reread the whole thread. Thing is.... I can see BOTH views. I am parenting for the 2nd time and am much more laid back about many things, Reality is, a 5 minute encounter with a stranger at WDW is not going to under mind your daily parenting skills. You can use it as a teaching time to reinforce your values as a family AND how to be gracious to any gift giver. " This balloon is not something our family chooses to spend our money on, but was it not so sweet of that nice lady to want to share her gifts with you.
" Of course if there is a REAL reason you do not want your child to have the gift, such as an allergy or a moral conviction against say a super hero on the balloon, you certainly need to be gracious but decline.

I can also see the balloon being a real pain to carry around. I however would at least make an effort to hang on to it for a while. Tie to the stroller or your back pack or a belt loop.If it is too much trouble give your child the choice to carry it or pass it on or simply tie it to a bench somewhere.

It does not have to create a problem if you do not let it.

 

[Wadecool]

On our last trip, we did something that I still think about. While waiting for the parade in the MK we overheard the little girl next to us ask her grandma for a balloon. grandma said no, that they had just gotten there and she didn't want to buy something that was going to get lost so soon. With balloon prices starting at $10 a pop, I can understand that. So my husband pretended like he was going to buy me a balloon and asked the girl which one she thought he should get. Then we gave it to her and told her to have fun at WDW. The little girl was thrilled and grandma was appreciative. You never know, maybe one day that little girl will return to WDW all grown up and do something nice for someone, too! We'd love to do something similar on our next trip if the situation presents itself. My question is, as a parent, would you be offened by something like that? It's just that we realize that going to WDW is an expensive trip for a family, and as a little girl my family didn't have a lot of money, so I would NEVER even ask for a souvenier. So, I would like to do something nice for another little kid. Would a parent get mad at this? Where are the bounderies here? As a non-parent, I just don't know...

Very nice thing to do OP! You earned a lot of good karma there, and no I wouldn't mind at all.

 

[mdsoccermom]

I just went back and reread the whole thread. Thing is.... I can see BOTH views. I am parenting for the 2nd time and am much more laid back about many things, Reality is, a 5 minute encounter with a stranger at WDW is not going to under mind your daily parenting skills. You can use it as a teaching time to reinforce your values as a family AND how to be gracious to any gift giver. " This balloon is not something our family chooses to spend our money on, but was it not so sweet of that nice lady to want to share her gifts with you.
" Of course if there is a REAL reason you do not want your child to have the gift, such as an allergy or a moral conviction against say a super hero on the balloon, you certainly need to be gracious but decline.
I can also see the balloon being a real pain to carry around. I however would at least make an effort to hang on to it for a while. Tie to the stroller or your back pack or a belt loop.If it is too much trouble give your child the choice to carry it or pass it on or simply tie it to a bench somewhere.

It does not have to create a problem if you do not let it.

See, you don't get to determine if a reason is real or valid. If a parent says no, then it's no. And I would be polite but firm while saying "no, thank you", even if the reason had nothing to do with an allergy and moral objection.

 

[Poohforyou]

Well if the grandmother really meant no she would have declined the gift. She clearly knew what was happening if Op's DH took the kid to "pick a balloon".

No, based on what the OP wrote, the grandmother didn't clearly know what was going on.

 

[Mandyjg20]

I think what you did op was totally awesome! I want to be able to do stuff like that when I go next

 

[plutoplanet]

You guys are getting all upset over nothing. So someone was nice to your kid. You don't like it? Then it's unfortunate you live in a world where people try to do nice things...maybe before anyone does anything nice for anyone else, they should have them sign a contract stating it's ok with everyone, no one has any allergies, and they agree to give the free thing to every child in the family. How's that? Look if you don't like it, or even of you do like it, suck it up, you're at Disney world and someone took the time and effort to try to give your child some more magic...sorry it wasn't to your liking. I think it's a sad world when you can't even try to do anything nice for people without going through a list of questions to make sure everything is acceptable to them.

MAYBE you could do this- lady gives you a balloon and you didn't want your kid to have it. So thank the lady for her generosity etc Carry the balloon aroun d a little while then ask your child to share the magic by choosing another child to pass the balloon along to. Talk to them about how nice the lady was to share something and wouldn't it be fun to pass that on and make another kid happy?
If your kid won't go for that then start teaching them about the joy of giving and how fun it is to do nice things for other people.
Just an idea.

In any case, whether the parent wants the balloon or not, it was a kind act done in a spirit of giving and that's all that should matter.
Don't want the balloon? Pass it along and make it a fun thing for your child to get to choose another child to pass the magic along to. It can end up being a lesson in giving and a memorable experience. It feel good to give and it is good for kidsto learn that when they're young.

 

[GinnyEmma]

Lol, the grandma said no. In what world is it respectful of that family to go against grandma. That isn't 'nice." treating people like they don't matter is "nice" where you cone from? 'cuz around here it isn't.

Eta: suck it up??? Are you kidding? Overreact much?

Omgosh, you are all of 15 with 1 year old? And you are telling people to suck it up. That is a hoot. Grow up, spend 20 years raising that kid and your opinion might mean something. No wonder the respecting the child's parent means little to you.

 

[Allison]

I don't see anybody getting upset.

I see people responding to questions directly asked by the OP.

Would a parent get mad at this? Where are the bounderies here? As a non-parent, I just don't know...

Just because you don't agree with the responses doesn't mean people are upset.