As parents determined to raise global citizens, my husband and I were reticent to channel financial resources toward a Disney-vacation rather than taking our children abroad for enrichment. But, there is something that stirs inside both of us when it comes to celebrating the ephemeral days of childhood that made us reconsider.
Here in the US, a visit to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida or Disneyland in Anaheim, California is a childhood hallmark. In fact, I have met parents, who began planning their Disney vacation the moment they found out they were pregnant with their first child.
And even though a Disney family-vacation can cost upwards of several thousand dollars (with hotels, park tickets and flights), it doesn’t necessarily mean that parents will wait until their children are old enough to fully enjoy the experience nor, in some cases, are even old enough to remember it; tots, barely able to toddle, are a common site at Disney theme parks.
Researchers say children as young as three can recognize the mouse-eared logo of The Walt Disney Company. I venture to say even children younger than two can recognize it.
Whether you like it or not, Disney is ubiquitous; nearly impossible to avoid in the times we live in.
Gone are the days when children had to wait for Disney to come out with a new theatrical release; beginning in the 1980s, with the arrival of the Betamax and VHS video cassette recorders, films migrated from the movie theater into the family home. Nowadays, a child can watch something from the Walt Disney Corporation 24-hours a day on one of three Disney cable channels, view any one of Disney’s 53 full-length animated films on Internet TV or DVD, or play character-based computer games on the Disney website. As long as a child has access to a screen, Disney is lurking nearby.
Don’t misunderstand, I am not slandering Disney for being opportunistic, just difficult to avoid.
I grew up with Disney. I was a devoted fan of the Mickey Mouse Club [M-I-C, See ya real soon! K-E-Y, Why? Because we like you! M-O-U-S-E] and all of it’s teen-idol Mouskateers. My family and I were regular viewers of The Wonderful World of Disney family TV specials and the first film I ever saw in a movie theater was…of course…a Disney movie [The Rescuers, 1977].
As a teenager, I began collecting Disney movies on VHS. By the time I was in my 20s—about the same time that DVDs came into vogue—I had amassed a considerable Disney video collection. I imagined someday I would share this collection with my children.
But, by the time I became a parent in my early 30s, I vowed to shelter my children from screen-time until the age of two—naturally, I did a better job of this with my first-born than my second. I vowed to do so because I was determined to protect my children from consumerism, character branding and gender stereotyping for as long as reasonable.
Ironically, I faulted the Walt Disney Corporation as the primary evil among media enterprises. With princesses for our little girls to model their virtues and values upon and villainous rogues to titillate our little boys’ senses, I felt Disney flew in the face of all I hoped to instill in my children.
Thankfully, Disney images and stereotypes are changing; most considerably in the past two decades. I would venture to say the change came about through Pixar (which Disney acquired in 2006), beginning with their 1995 release of The Toy Story. Disney’s celebration of strong, female characters, positive images and a decrease in gender-stereotyping continues to broaden. They are winning me back as a fan and have completely captivated my young charges.
Despite all our efforts to steer our children toward quality, educational programming and the type of children’s shows found on PBS, Disney Junior has become the favored television station since we got cable last year. Sophia the First (who, progressively, is a step child) and Jake and the Neverland Pirates, have quickly replaced Curious George and The Cat in the Hat as favorite Saturday Morning Cartoon shows.
Last summer, my husband and I took our children (then 7 and 4) on a three -week trip to Europe, which entailed three countries and five international flights. Today, for roughly the same cost and what feels like even more planning, we are heading to Disney World for just four days and one, round-trip, domestic flight.
Will it be a treasured childhood memory? We think so. Will it expand our children’s global perspective? Perhaps not but at least our trip includes a visit to EPCOT, where—in whirl-wind-American-fashion—at least we can visit 11 countries in a day.
See ya real soon!
What are the unavoidable childhood hallmarks in your part of the world? How do you feel about exposing your kids to them?
This is an original post to World Moms Blog from our managing editor and mother of two, Kyla P’an. Kyla likely will be found donning mouse ears somewhere around the Boston-area when she returns.
The image used in this post is credited to photographer Sam Howzit. It holds a Flickr Creative Common attribution license.
These last holidays, I began showing our boys around New Zealand. I am hoping to get at least the North Island seen before the oldest is too ‘cool’ to hang out with his mother, and hoping the youngest (4 yo) is old enough to remember what we see and do. Seeing iconic places in your home country (even places like Disney) are such a great thing to do, IMHO.
As for your questions, screen time, and the constant barrage of advertising aimed at children, would be the main thing I try to keep my boys from – but it can be a struggle at times with the oldest being 12 and ready to do more screen based activities. I try to limit these when the children are small and ease them into them as time goes by.
Would you believe that visiting Disneyland and Disney World are on my Bucket List? 🙂
I LOVE Disney and started collecting Disney story books, before I even got pregnant! In fact, one of the first movies I went to see when I started dating my husband was The Little Mermaid! 🙂
Simona – I love that you saw the little mermaid as a date with your husband! 😀
Great post, Kyla!
I grew up with Disney too, but when I had kids and popped in those old favorite movies, I realized how times have changed. G movies are a lot less graphic now. We had to hold on to some classics until the kids were older.And as a parent, I developed a cynical edge to the messaging and marketing of the Disney corporation. But the thing is, with all the downsides, there are still many good sides to be found. And the truth is, my kids love the magical world of Disney.
Like you, my kids especially love Disney Junior, and we just took them to Disneyland this past December for the first time. While not my first choice for a holiday getaway, the kids had the time of their lives. They loved it so, so much and fully felt the magic. Both my 8 year old and my 3 year old talk about it every other day, if not daily. And they ask all the time when we can go back. They aren’t wrapped up in “the stuff”…the toys, the mouse shaped pancakes, or the dvd’s. They loved riding the rides…seeing characters…and wondering around the various lands. To see their reactions…how bright eyes and amazed….it’s something I will definitely do again.
Kyla – this post made me laugh!! You could be describing my childhood and my home :). I too had amassed a rather large collection of Disney movie VHSs and now my kids DO watch them when they go to my mom’s house. And, like you, some PBS shows have been replaced with Disney Jr….which was done begrudgingly (I still try not to turn on Nick Jr, except for Dora – since there are so many commercials). But at the end of the day – I have been wanting to go to Disney World with the kids, because it is fun, after all…. and that’s what being a kid is all about – having fun! Now I just have to convince my husband to go 🙂
We took our kids to Disney World in Florida last year after I attended the Disney Social Media Moms conference. We weren’t planning to do Disney, but I’m really glad we did. The girls still talk about it! I’m headed to Disney Social Media Moms again this year, but unfortunately, won’t be able take the kids afterwards again because of the timing.
As for exposure to things in our side of the world — I thought fast food would be really difficult to avoid with kids. So far, so good!! We rarely are in a situation to go, and when we have long road trips, we pack our own food.
I look forward to hearing all about your trip when you take it!
Jen 🙂
“Researchers say children as young as three can recognize the mouse-eared logo of The Walt Disney Company.” Oh my gosh – yes! I can remember when my youngest was just learning to talk. There was a Disney vacation add on the sidebar of a website I was reading. It was just the silhouette of the mouse ears. She was standing by me, looked at the computer monitor and said “Mickey Mouse”.
Disney is hard to avoid, but for our kids a visit to Disneyland has been a happy memory that they too (as Tara mentions) often reflect on.
I hope you and your family had a great trip Kyla!