A few helpful tips to keep your kids from turning into brats.
What is it about over priced stuffed animals and crazy expensive key chains that make kids go nuts? I was very worried about getting to the park and the kids would want every shiny thing their little eyes happened upon. I was so impressed with my children while we were there. We were three days into our trip before either one of them asked for something. I am no expert, all I can do is share the tips that we used to help
Since my children are very different ages we had two different strategies. First for Disney XD. He was almost 9 years old at the time and had a pretty good understanding of money. My dad gave him $25 before we left, and I had set aside $30. Total he had $55 which is enough {in my opinion}. We made it very clear to him that he only had $55. We were only carrying cash so weren't going to be able to give him more once we were there.
There were a few things that he found that he came close to buying, but in the end he decided on a pin collection.
It was a pretty funny story too. I was with Disney Jr. buying dinner at our resort and XD asked if he could go look at the gift shop. Sure thing. So while I was checking out he came running over to me with a pack of Puffle trading pins. He was so excited and wanted to buy them. I hated telling him to go bring them back, that he wasn't allowed to leave the gift shop with something he hadn't paid for! "OOOH!! OOOPS!" We had a little laugh and he ran back to put them away. After dinner we started looking at the pins and he made his selection.
Disney Junior is a little harder. He was just about to turn 3, so he had no concept of money. He also didn't understand "no". He had $30 to spend in the park, but that really didn't mean much. His thing is stuffed animals. Most other things he looks at then walks away from. He would take home every stuffed animal if we would let him though. How I handle this {everywhere we go, not just Disney World} is we hug them.
Every. Single. One.
We hug it, then put it back and find a new one to hug. This seems to work really well with him. If he has a chance to touch it and hold it and love it he is fine to walk away. No surprise that his souvenir was stuffed animal. Lotso Huggin' Bear to be exact.
Every time we went to the Disney Store he had the hardest time walking away from this guy. I knew that it would be something he would treasure so I was sure that it was a good buy. It has been. He sleeps with that guy every night and talks about the day he got it {which also happened to be his birthday}.
So there you have it. Carry cash, clearly explain there will be no more money to spend, let them pick up and experience all the things they want, then move on.
Do you have any good tips?
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