My Kids Think I'm Crazy

We arrive in 24 days, the Magic Bands are due to be delivered today, and I’m beyond excited.

Before I left work yesterday, I printed a packet for each kid (12yo and almost 17yo) that included the color coded itinerary table, each day’s Touring Plans, and a color map of each park (I love PassPorter’s maps!).

When I got home I eagerly called them to the kitchen table so I could hand them out and we could discuss them. There was very little discussion, some complaining (Can I go back to what I was doing on the computer?), and there may have been eye rolling.

Apparently they have no need to look over the Touring Plans and they fully “trust” me to figure it out for them and they will just do what I want to do.

How are these my children?

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This sounds familiar. My wife goes through the same. She does all this planning, making sure everyone has everything, understands what they should do when, etc. She asks a million questions to make sure she didn’t miss anything. But the kids just want to go back to what they were doing.

THEN, when the time comes for my wife’s plans to play out, if ANYTHING is missed, guess who gets all the blame? That’s right! My wife. Their mother. Of course they don’t notice the 1001 things that she did to get ready. They just notice the ONE thing she didn’t think of because it wasn’t really her job to think of it to begin with!

I think in this case the word “trust” doesn’t mean what you think it means. It means they are too lazy to think about it for themselves and would rather wait and blame you later than have to take responsibility for it! :slight_smile:

Fortunately for me, I’m the father. No one ever blames the father. He’s just the guy who gets everyone from A to B and, at least in our case, finances everything. I’m the hero! (Because, truth be told, if I’m missing anything, guess who I’m going to blame? That’s right. My wife!) :wink:

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My DS did a lot of the planning when he was 11 and keeps asking me suspiciously if I’ve started planning our Aug 2019 trip yet because he doesn’t want me to do it without him. I tell him no but I already have a pretty good idea of what TS I’m booking and have picked a yellow MB with a Be Our Guest decal.

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Oh, I can assure you that if there is ANY complaining or blaming…I will reference the conversation last night as well as the, “We trust you, Mom.” comment.

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Perhaps you could get them to put that in a text? Just to have it it writing LOL.

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I see no hope for change if your family is anything like mine about communicating and planning… I interview each member to find out what they most want to do, I make the FPPS, I make the ADRs, I make the touring plans. (secret: I ENJOY this part very much) I ask them for change ideas a few times. I do not hand them each their TP for the day until breakfast time that day. I always say: “this is what you asked for; I do not care if you follow it or not, but if there is a note that you are doing this activity with one of us, be sure to let the other person know if you will not be meeting them at the assigned time. The ONLY thing I require is that you show up for the ADR on time because we have already paid for that. Have fun!”
I can do this because the youngest member of the family is 33. So I feel safe letting each person do their own thing. And we do a lot of it all together or in groups of 2s. My plan does not work for families with young children, but it saves me from a lot of flack. 30 year olds should be beyond giving their mothers flack anyway, right?

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This is hysterical!

I hope so - my son is 25 and he is not beyond it yet.

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Awesome… this is what I look forward to in 15 years! :rofl:

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:joy::joy: too funny! I had one binder. I had all our itineraries by day, by hotel, by park, maps and also printed out the menu of each place we were eating at. They loved looking at the menu’s.

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I kept asking my BF if there was anything in particular he wanted. Now that I got my plans kind of figured out, he realizes he would like to go to Coral Reef, because that was his favorite thong they did (or the only thing he remembers) from the trip he did as a kid…

So I added it. And had to remake all my plans. But I kind of enjoyed that part :wink:

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We have a deal in my house - DH doesn’t help plan, DH can’t complain. He does a fairly good job. DD is only 7. She will help by watching youtube videos… when watching It’s Tough to be a Bug and she yelped “TURN IT OFF!”, well, that one just got crossed off the list! More time for the pool!

It sometimes sucks to be the only “planner” in the house. It also has benefits.

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This cracks me up-pretty much had the same conversation last night. My DD is 9 and wants to be included in the planning, but really doesn’t remember much from her trip when she was 4. DH says it’s up to me, but then occasionally he’ll come out with something he really didn’t like. I’m trying to keep track, but it’s hard!

Our DD4 is fully onboard with the planning - she keeps telling me which Fastpasses she wants in each park and where she wants to eat! DH is another matter. Whenever I try to get him involved his eyes glaze over almost instantly. On the other hand, he tends to come out with something like “How come we’re not going to x restaurant, I really like that place” a few days before we’re leaving - happens pretty much every trip. Drives me nuts, but I’ll still try to fit it in, mostly because it means I can do some real, actual last minute planning rather than just stare at my completed spreadsheet…

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My family calls me the “vacation Nazi” I ask everyone for their “must do” meals, parks, attractions, and recreation. Then I take over, plan all meals, fast passes, resort days, usually a Blue Man Group for dh, and I love it! We haven’t had a bad vacation yet. They don’t want all of the details, just to wake up, and have fun.
It works for us.

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My kids are younger, 9 and 6, and they have no interest in planning. Neither does my DH. I ask for their preferences on rides and restaurants and they tell me their preferences and that’s about it. My DH trusts my plans and goes with them. We also do some spur of the moment stuff in the parks as well. I got a few grumblings from the kids, but when they figure out it turns out well and they get to do what they want to do plus fun things they didn’t know about, it ends prettt quickly.

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Nooo, say it isn’t so. My oldest is 16 and I thought we were getting close :laughing::sob:

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I gave each member of our family (DH and kids age 7-16) a survey for rides, restaurants, resorts, days in parks, pace of vacation, RD, and 5 Must Dos each. Our trip is next spring but I want to start planning. They were all into the survey and discussing the answers. Everyone loves that we have a schedule and knows that their wants/needs are included at some point so they are willing to go along (well except maybe the oldest with RD :roll_eyes:). But now I’m left to my own devices and when I ask for input for a trip>200 days away, they act like I’m a nut and say “didn’t we already talk about this?”.

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HAHAHA - in 2016 we took our 21 and 23 year old sons and YEP I planned Fast Passes and ADRs for the 4 of us - no complaints from the sons. Only complaint was from DH who absolutely HATES backtracking even to save wait times, but he doesn’t understand that Fast Pass has changed GREATLY. So now planning our September trip and I ask him questions daily!!! and he just says - whatever you want to do. Guess I need him to text me that statement

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My DD13 always says that she wants to help with planning. But, in reality every time I start to discuss anything with her or ask her for opinions I get the glossed over stare (it is eerily similar to the one I get from DH) and I know that she is thinking “mom is nuts why did I offer to help with this”.

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