Oh trips, that sucks. How unbelievable. As if being in hospital and having an operation isn't bad enough without feeling like no one has the time to help you or even give you a place to go. Without being insensitive though, I hope you take a little bit of comfort from the fact he actually cried - I know it must have been awful to watch, but I know its also a struggle for you that he usually deals with stuff in a more distant manner and maybe its brought to the surface some of his fears. Hope that makes sense. Big hugs.
Also for you, LargeG&T (thanks for the link Frumpy), sorry to hear about the complications with your beautiful DD and I hope the future only brings you solutions and not problems.
I'll be praying for you both xxx
Dingdong, Disney was fab.
Top tips for going with four year olds:
- Expect to be shattered and for them to get grumpy, then you just grin and bear it when they do, instead of thinking "We're at Disneyland for the love of Pete, whadya mean you're having a tantrum about some triffling little nothing when you're having the dream holiday of a lifetime?"
- To try and avoid shouting, threatening and complicated negotiations where you end up promising your soul to them if they'll only just wait in the queue for the Lion King in peace, invent some sort of behaviour system before you go. I used ten 'points' (glass pebbles) in a jar. If they started being naughty I quietly warned them they would lose a point and rattled it at them. I took away enough to show them I meant business, but not too much that they lost them all.
- As a reward for having some points left, on the last day of the holiday, they were able to choose a present (or two) from the giftshops. This was pure brilliance on so many levels - they couldn't just pick something at random, they had to really think about it instead; we could go into gift shops everyday just to browse, without tantrums and wailings; instead of going "whoops, we accidentally spent £40 on six different occasions meaning we went way over budget", you work out how much you're spening because you're only doing it once; and (I'm not kidding when I said genius) instead of huge explosions and tears when its finally time to say goodbye to 'Mickey Park', its exciting present time! Let's play with them all the way home in the car instead of fighting with your siblings!
Oh, and the Buzz Lightyear ride rocks. Here endeth the lesson on Disneyland Paris .