Help! I need suggestions. Last fall, we went to the DLR and our child asked if she could go on Thunder Mtn., we told her she needed to see if she was tall enough. The CMs were great and told her (as she was several inches too short) that she needs to eat all her vegetables and meat to grow tall enough to ride.

Well, over the past 9 months, she has been a good eater and always mentions that she wants to be tall enough for Thunder Mtn. I measured her yesterday and she is about 39 1/2 inches tall when wearing her shoes. So, baring a growth spurt in the next month, she will not measure up when we go in late September.

Any ideas on how to keep a 3yr old that is almost tall enough get through this "trauma"?

Ok first off let me say that I am NOT an advocate for 'cheating' the system, however... you're not talking 2 or 3 inches.. a fraction of an inch can be adjusted just by the shoes she wears. The idea behind the restrictions.. to make sure their feet /middle/upper torso are where they need to be for safety issues.. a pair of shoes with a thicker sole will still have her firmly in place safety wise.

I have thhe same problem with my daughter. But I bought her some shoes that have a little bit of a "platform" style that boosts her up a little less than an inch. I got them at Mervyn's and they are Bratz shoes. My daughter says they are comfortable and she doesn't seem unstable in them at all. She calls them her ride shoes and she can't wait to go back to DL and get on all the rides she was unable to last year!

Anyway, I hope this helps! :o)

It's a good idea to plan ahead for what you might do if she can't ride. You know, a contingency plan. But I wouldn't really worry too much. Usually those signs they measure you at are off. Some are a tad shorter and some are a tad taller. So even though your tape measure says 39.5" it's possible that she could be tall enough, or even (worse case) look an inch too short.

Teach her how to stand up tall without slouching (I'm not talking about standing on her toes though).

In the event that she can't ride, well, I'd start out by talking to her about it now. Ask her what she would do if she still wasn't tall enough and how she'd deal with it. Ask her what she'd like to do instead. Don't build things up as if she will definitely be tall enough, but get her prepared for a possible disappointment. Then, if she is tall enough it will be like winning the lottery for her. If she isn't, at least she'll have some preparation for being let down and it won't hit as hard.

Edited to add: If it's a close call and the CM says she can't ride then don't argue with them about it. I think it makes things worse for the child to see their parent get upset about it and the CM is just doing their job.

A couple of notes:

• I do not at all advocate cheating the height systems.

• Even if she was 40.5" she might not get on some rides. Jumpin' Jellyfish is notorious for having an incorrect measuring stick. I've had CMs e-mail me and claim I'm wrong. Hi, my friend measured it with a measuring tape she had in her purse at the time and it measured 42" where they put it on her daughter's head. Thank you.

• As others have said shoes can help. They can. I wouldn't go overboard myself. I've heard people who buy shoes too big and add socks inside of the shoes. I think that's teaching a child: It's ok to cheat the system and lie to get something you really want. I don't want my child to remember this rule when he's a teenager.

• As others have said, don't argue with CMs if they say she's too short. This is a good opportunity to talk to her before hand and explain what might happen and to help her deal with disappointment. It's going to happen in life. We all need to learn healthy ways to deal with it so it doesn't get us down.

• Late September is further away than you realize. Kids this age GROW like WEEDS. Overnight they grow an inch at a time. It's nothing she can control, so I would try to not remind her more about it than I'm sure she's reminding herself! It's like losing weight. If you weigh yourself everyday, you're going to obsess and stress, etc. Let go a bit and MAYBE measure her again before you leave. You might be surprised.

Good luck,
Adrienne

thanks all for the advice! I don't want to teach her that cheating is ok. I have seen parents that have tried to cheat and have yelled at CMs and it is not pretty - I am definately not that type! I will just keep my fingers crossed for a nice growth spurt and also buy some thick soled sneakers for her!

Thanks for moving this thread. I didn't realize there was a section just for parenting in the parks!

By the way, Adrienne, your parenting reports are great!

I used to carry a measuring tape with me when my kids were of questionable size. I never had the chance to use it tho:)

Originally posted by Nancy
I used to carry a measuring tape with me when my kids were of questionable size. I never had the chance to use it tho:)

FYI: Even if you have a measuring tape and even if you show them that their measuring stick is incorrect and that your child is the correct height, they still will not let you on the ride.

My friend measured the 40" JJ stick as 42". She showed them that her daugther was indeed, 41" tall, and they STILL wouldn't let her on the ride because the stick said she wasn't tall enough.

tstan- thanks for the kind comments!

Adrienne

That's when that stupid wrist bracelet would come in handy...that is...if it measured correctly to begin with.

(My son, 41" tall at the time, measured at 39" and was told he couldn't go on the rides he'd been going on for the last 6 months. We said, no thanks, and had him measured at each ride. BUT, if it did work okay for you, then that would assure her a ride, even if she didn't come up to the sign's height line.)

Hmm. The last time I looked at the "height wristband station" (which was quite a few months ago), the "paddle" didn't appear to have any sort of leveling device. Lack thereof would tend to (pun intended) skew the readings. It seems to me that the same sort of omnidirectional bubble level you'd find on any really good camera tripod would solve that problem.

Of course, putting the kid in platform shoes might work, but what if the kid's a boy? Hiking boots? Doc Martens? Unisex clogs?

What I want to know is where Disney (and the traffic signal manufacturers, for that matter) managed to get hold of kelly-green LEDs!

Hopefully she'll grow at least a 1/4 in in the next month, probably will. Then buy some tall soled sneakers for comfort. Avoid JJ like everyone said it is not 40".

I took my dd and she barely made it onto the rides in her sneakers, she was 40 in at home in them (they were regular shoes) and she barely measured for the rides at the signs but she made it.

Be prepared to measured and remeasured throughout the lines, when they look close you can be pulled out of line by different CM's which can be annoying when it happens 3 x's. Also, don't carry her, it attracts CM's to take a closer look at you and remeasure you again.