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in Blog on April 13, 2019 by Meagan Francis

About “Those Parents” At Disney

This essay originally appeared in our monthly newsletter for The Mom Hour podcast. To get our emails, subscribe here. –Meagan

I recently had the opportunity to go to Disney World – sans kids. I’ve been there several times with my children at varying ages and stages, and often thought “Man, this whole process would be a lot easier without strollers, diaper bags, and small humans who may wait in a two-hour line, whining and wiggling, only to balk at the very last minute and refuse to get on the ride.” But I didn’t see myself actually bothering to take a kid-free trip. As much as I love Disney, and as much as I love my own children and the children close to me, spending my grown-up time at a theme park surrounded by other people’s children didn’t exactly sound like my idea of a vacation.

But the trip was offered, and on someone else’s dime, to boot – so of course, I donned my mouse ears (metaphorically speaking) and prepared to completely own the Happiest Place On Earth. Armed with my memory of the park’s busy and not-so-busy areas, a map, and a backpack; with no small hands to hold, no diapers, no sippy cups, no snacks, no tears, no whining, and nobody’s bathroom schedule to manage but my own, I figured I’d run laps around the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

The only thing I was worried about? Yeah, all those families.

Would I encounter nothing but annoying, screaming, entitled kids and checked-out, neglectful parents? (If you believe people’s “Dear Mom On Her Phone In The Target Aisle” social media rants, they’re everywhere….) Without my own children to act as a distracting force or creator of solidarity, would I become one of those grumpy grownups who can’t seem to remember that yes, all kids occasionally behave less than perfectly?

But during my time at the park, I made a few surprising discoveries:

You guys, Disney without kids is fun.

It’s basically like being a kid yourself, only you don’t have to ask your parent’s permission to ride It’s A Small World for the third time and you can giggle with your ride partner about the naughty things it looks like Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit are doing on the Splash Mountain ride. (Seriously, what were they thinking with some of those vignettes?) You can sip wine around the “world” at Epcot and straggle out of the park as it’s closing without having to worry about your little one having an exhaustion-fueled meltdown on the bus back to your resort. I was skeptical, but I’m a convert.

Kids or no kids, I managed to hold on to my sense of compassion for other parents in tough situations.

Every night at 10:30, like clockwork, the baby in the hotel room next to ours started wailing. It was the high-pitched, inconsolable cry of a young baby in pain: colic or gas pain or an ear infection, maybe. I remembered the time that Jon accompanied me to a writer’s conference in New York City and we brought Owen, who was three or four months old at the time. Owen developed an ear infection – the only one he ever had! – on the trip, and spent our last two nights there screaming his head off. We were trapped in an old, thin-walled hotel without many options – we couldn’t leave the conference early and our pediatrician wouldn’t prescribe anything over the phone. I remember how terrible I felt, hoping that our neighbors would be able to sleep and would give us some grace in an impossible situation, and remembering that made it so much easier to extend the same grace to the parents of the sad baby next door. Turns out, I’m not a crusty old curmudgeon quite yet. (phew! Remind me of this when I’m a grandmother, hmm?)

There was so much good parenting happening, everywhere I looked.

I was blown away by it. On my first morning there, on a bench waiting for a bus from my resort to the Magic Kingdom, I witnessed a little boy, about three years old, face-plant on the concrete and begin to wail. His sister, about 6, immediately burst into tears of fear or sympathy or both. The parents gave each other a Look – the one that says “oh my gosh seriously?” and then, without missing a beat, sprung into action. Dad picked up the little boy and cuddled him to his shoulder, while Mom bent down and looked in the little girl’s eyes, reassuring her softly that her brother would be OK. That initial example of proactive, low-drama teamwork played out again and again in various scenarios I witnessed, with calm, nurturing parents in control of some pretty stressful situations. Were there examples of yelling, drama, or disconnection? Sure, but the good stuff far outweighed them.

Disney World is magical, yes. But all those expectations, all the tiny disappointments, all those people, all the waiting, all the disruption of normal schedules – all of those things are stressful, too. When we’re in those situations with our own kids, we’re typically so tunnel-vision focused on them that we don’t even have time to witness how other parents are doing things. But as my kids get older and need me less, and as I have more and more opportunities to be out in the world unencumbered, I have the luxury to do more noticing. And what I noticed made me pretty optimistic about this generation of young parents – and their kids.

I’ll admit it, I get occasionally annoyed by kids. They’re, well, kids – messy and loud and illogical and unpredictable in the most predictable ways, and I don’t believe we are obligated to love all children just because we’re moms.

But while I may not love every kid I see – parents? You guys keep winning me over. Keep up the good work.

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Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #travelingwoes #travelingwithkids #familytravelmishaps
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"Like many families, mine is still figuring out how to teach our children about Juneteenth, as learning the history wasn't part of my education or my husband's when we were kids. The good news is, books written for children and families are a great way for the whole family to learn (and there are a lot of them!)."

Click this image at the link in our bio to read Kia’s book recommendations and more ways to start the conversation at home with your family.

#juneteenth #history #blackhistory #parenting #juneteenthbooksforkids #summerreading
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Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

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Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 minutes moving 25 chickens by hand from their home to the new chicken yard, because they refused to go on their own. And then an hour moving them back, because same.

It reminded me a lot of mothering a toddler, and got me wondering: what’s the most ridiculous thing mom life has brought you in the past week? -M
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Click this image at the link in our bio to access Jayme's roundup of resources.
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One of our most popular blog posts EVER is refresh One of our most popular blog posts EVER is refreshed for 2022! Click this image at the link in our bio to read the just-structured-enough approach Sarah took during those long AZ summers at home when her kids were 6, 4, and 1.5. 😎 

#stayathomemom #preschoolers #summermomlife #arizonasummer #summerschedulefortoddlers #summerscheduledforpreschoolers #samplesummerschedule #summerdaysathom
New episode! Most of us enjoy having a clean and New episode!

Most of us enjoy having a clean and tidy home, but have you ever kept track of how much you do throughout the week to keep it that way? In today’s episode, Meagan and Sarah share what seven days of real-life housework looks like in our homes. We reflect on the tasks we knew went into running a home, and some surprising ones we never thought of as housework before (like picking plums and chasing chickens!). Whether you prioritize deep-cleaning on a regular schedule or tend to tidy as you go and hope for the best, it’s eye-opening and gratifying to acknowledge the work that goes into managing a home full of kids.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #endlesscleaning #housework #cleaning #tidyingup #
Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes per day while away at school 7 hours per day, how many additional dishes will they dirty while home all day for summer break?

67. The answer is 67. Yes, I’ve checked my work! Maybe someone who passed calculus can explain? 🤪 -M

#mommath #drowningindishes #summerbreakisnotreallyabreak
Happy weekend - and a big thanks to our June spons Happy weekend - and a big thanks to our June sponsors! Every month, we like to take a little time to shoutout our partners who help support the show + remind our listeners of some of the great deals our sponsors are offering. For more info, specific promo codes, and links, just search the brand name on our website, and they'll pop up in our episode show notes. We also collect ALL our active promo codes (even the old ones that are still working!) in our email newsletter - which is full of other great things we want to share with you, too. Tap on this image at the link in our bio to subscribe today. 

Meet our NEW partners this month . . .
🗣️ @connectspeech (early language support!)
💙 @appahealth (1st month of mentorship free!)
💄 @thrivecausemetics (15% off your 1st order)

And welcome back to . . .
⭐️ @paireyewear (15% off your 1st purchase!)
⭐️ @autoapprove ($100 when you refinance!)
⭐️ @outschool ($15 off your child's 1st class!)
⭐️ @mindandchild ($20 off Parenting 101 course!)
⭐️ @flowkey_com (20% off subscription piano app!)
⭐️ @stitchfix ($20 off your 1st purchase!)
⭐️ @publicgoods ($15 off, no minimum!)
⭐️ @scholasticinc (books for kids of all ages!)
⭐️ @hiyahealth (50% off 1st order!)
⭐️ @kiwico_inc (30% off your 1st mo!)
⭐️ @ritual (10% off 1st 3 mo!)
⭐️ @athleticgreens (1yr of Vit.D + 5 travel packs!)
⭐️ @vionicshoes (free shipping on cute shoes!)
⭐️ @project_wren (10 trees planted when you sign up!)
New episode! If you travel with kids, it’s just New episode!

If you travel with kids, it’s just a matter of time before a trip goes off the rails in spectacular fashion. Maybe it’s a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, or an expensive vacation spent sick in a pricey hotel room. Today Sarah is joined by @catieparrish @stacybronec @emilyeroark and @lisaapayne4 – regular contributors to the show and seasoned travelers with a combined 13 kids – who share their most memorable travel mishap stories. (Full disclaimer: there will be puke-talk.) In sharing these stories, we hope to normalize that travel with kids doesn’t have to go perfectly to be “worth it” and remind you that you’re not alone if this summer’s adventures go awry. Plus, one of the only perks to surviving stories like these is that we get to laugh about them later.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #travelingwoes #travelingwithkids #familytravelmishaps
New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learn New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learning About Juneteenth, As A Family.

"Like many families, mine is still figuring out how to teach our children about Juneteenth, as learning the history wasn't part of my education or my husband's when we were kids. The good news is, books written for children and families are a great way for the whole family to learn (and there are a lot of them!)."

Click this image at the link in our bio to read Kia’s book recommendations and more ways to start the conversation at home with your family.

#juneteenth #history #blackhistory #parenting #juneteenthbooksforkids #summerreading
New episode! As moms, we can be hard on ourselves New episode!

As moms, we can be hard on ourselves…and sometimes we just need to hear the simplest, oft-repeated pieces of advice and encouragement to remind us that it is all going to be OK. Join Meagan and Sarah for a reflection on eight pieces of wisdom that have carried us through motherhood struggles at every age and stage. We are offering them to you, to ourselves, and to all of our future selves in Episode 369.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #momtruisms #momtruths #parentingadvice #motherhoodstruggles
Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 minutes moving 25 chickens by hand from their home to the new chicken yard, because they refused to go on their own. And then an hour moving them back, because same.

It reminded me a lot of mothering a toddler, and got me wondering: what’s the most ridiculous thing mom life has brought you in the past week? -M
New episode! Have you ever fantasized about atten New episode!

Have you ever fantasized about attending a camp-like environment for grown-ups? Much about the classic summer camp experience is appealing to us (though not EVERYTHING--we could certainly do without the bugs), and the idea of simply showing up for a perfectly curated experience without any responsibility, or planning, sounds AMAZING. Listen to this fun More Than Mom to hear all of our must-have activities (like food and wine tastings, yoga, personal style consults and more!), things that would be a hard no (like swimming in the gross, murky lake or participating in corny, guided crafts) and our daydreams about creating a Mom Hour Retreat (maybe someday?)!

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #summercamps #womenretreats #momretreat
New on the blog this week from @jaymesherrod: LGBT New on the blog this week from @jaymesherrod: LGBTQ+ Resources For Parents (And Anyone Who Wants To Learn!). 

"The fact is, none of us will get it right every time. Not with each other, and certainly not with our kids. But it’s important that we keep showing up and having the conversations anyway."

Click this image at the link in our bio to access Jayme's roundup of resources.

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