Rejecting a trade from a kid? Help!

[tinkerbelle1956]

Wow , Abby , that is crazy ! You all handled the situations very responsibly . Parents need to teach children , just because they like something, they can't always have it .

 

[jfgibson73]

I'm glad some of you brought up the fact that there is nothing wrong saying no to kids. Maybe it has to do with the mindset of being on Disney property and feeling like you don't want to dissapoint a child while they're visiting the happiest place on earth, but you're not actually doing them any favors by letting them have anything they want. And they probably would trade your hard to find pin away the next time they find something pretty. My feeling is that if a kid is visiting a Disney park, they're already pretty lucky. They don't need to be spoiled, they need to realize how special that opportunity is (like the girl, Lily, in that viral video--she gets it). The story Donnam told about the parent who went and got a cast member because someone wouldn't trade with their kid? That was such a harmful example to give that child. There's a kid who's going to have such a sense of entitlement and no sense of appreciation.


I had my 4 year old daughter with me the first time I went to a pin trading night at the Contemporary, and I realized within minutes that it wasn't going to work. Every book she looked at, she was zeroing in on pins that were WAY out of my trading range (the "expensive taste" that was mentioned). Not only that, but it would have taken constant coaching to make sure she handled the books properly. I didn't want to make people feel guilty or uncomfortable about a little girl wanting their pins, so I had the rest of my group take her elsewhere. It was nice that some of the traders had special books or handouts for kids, but I felt like she would need to be older before she could really participate.

 

[tinkerbelle1956]

:lol: john I did the same thing at the NJ event . Took my 2 year old grand daughter to her 1st pin event . Yeah, that worked out great ! NOT !!! Thank God, Daddy and his girl friend were there . ( Daddy is divorced ) Never again, it even turned me off taking her in May . She is just to hyper yet , but then maybe if her mother didn't keep her in a pac n play most of the day, she may not be so hyped . She wants to run n go . :lol:

 

[Pin Pal]

I too wear a lanyard for kids to trade any pin for. About a month ago I was at Disneyland and a little girl came up and asked to see my lanyard. However she did not see anything she wanted to trade for (it had already been pretty picked over). So she went to the next table and found a pin in his book that she wanted. However he did not want the pin she offered. So off she and her mother went. About 20 minutes later a CM, the mother and the child came back and confronted the trader next to me. The CM said that if we were to be trading on the barrels provided by Westward Ho we had to abide by the rules. He went on to explain that this meant we must trade any pin in our books to the person offering us a pin. We all stood there with the dumbest looks on our faces. Thinking this was some kind of joke/prank. No, he was serious. We all moved our books aside and read the rules. We explained to him there was nothing there that said what he was stating. The CM said "Now what are you going to do for this guest". The trader said he was a guest as well and there was no way he was going to trade any pin in his book just because another guest wanted it. We all agreed with him too. With that said, the CM said he was going to call security to have us all escorted from the park. Thank goodness the manager of the Westward Ho area came by just about that time and we explained to him what had just happened. He went into the store to speak to the other CM about the problem. We later learned it was a "big deal" because it was a child. There are so many of the traders that have special lanyards or boards for the children to trade on that this made no sense. It is so much fun to see a smile when they find a pin that is special to them, but an LE100 Auction pin for a cutie pin - no way. Thank goodness it all worked out but it was a pretty crazy day. I guess we all have to be careful to explain to the new pin collectors/traders that we are not cast members so they do not expect the same trading rules for our pin books.

I think a little retraining is in order... I understand that making guests happy, especially when they are children, is a huge focus in the parks. It cannot come at the expense of another guest though...