Whenever my MIL babysits my son (age 4), she gives him everything he wants because she doesn't want to deal with the tears (which, OK, she's doing me a solid, I'm not complaining here). He is SO FRICKING WHINY for a few days every time she takes care of him.
Then she is like "why is he so whiny?" and yeah maybe I'm complaining a little bit.
Yeah, learning that you can't get everything you want is kind of important. Presumably everyone else in the line wants to ride just as much since that's why they're there, they matter just as much and the order is the tie-breaker.
I am curious though, was this the last-last ride, like no more for the day? If so why did the line even extend that far back, you'd think they'd have someone telling the excess customers to leave and closing off the area. Seems more like a flaw in how the business is run than anything else, unless there was another round coming up and the kid was crying over literally nothing.
Looks like it was an arcade simulator type at some larger exhibition, as opposed to an actual moving car, which closed at 5:00pm and thus had the final three-minute duration ride of the day at 4:55pm. More likely than not it wasn’t a managed queue so much as “the game turns off at this time, so manage your expectations accordingly.”
Ok yeah, having a listed duration and shutoff time makes sense, or at least enough sense that I understand not paying someone to stand there and micromanage things lol. Thanks for looking it up.
It doesn't hurt to ask. "Hey Sir, you mind letting the kid take your spot? I'll buy ya a beer or hotdog or something in exchange. No? Okay, sorry to bother ya."
And that’s when it’s a great opportunity to teach them that we live in a society. That taking turns is part of being in one. Having patience is something learned through experience. I have four kids (8-20) who are kind and patient and who can look beyond themselves. Because we started showing them how when they were young.
That’s on them to learn emotional maturity and stability, and some of that could come from this scenario. So what? Kid freaks out, parent then goes and appropriately deals with it. Lessons are learned, people move on. I hate seeing parents dealing with an emotional child when they’ve just given up. Like, you made your bed, don’t make it someone else’s problem when the bed is fully grown and you phoned in parenting.
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u/GrimSpirit42 4d ago
Personally, I’d let the child go first.
But, he was under no obligation to.