What can you do when your child is afraid of thrill
rides? First of all lets breakdown the
reasons why some children do not like thrill rides.
-
The Dark:
Some kids are afraid of the dark. Anything they can’t see tends to freak
them out. If you really break this down
it’s a fear of the unknown that most kids outgrow or get over through
experience. Problem is if your kid is afraid of the dark rides like Dinosaur,
Tower of Terror, and even tame rides like Pirates can be a deal breaker.
-
Noise: You can also call this the loud
factor. Some kids are freaked out by
loud noises. Let’s face it Disney can be
crazy loud at times. Whether you like it
or not your hearing is most likely worst than your child’s. So the big boom
that made you jump made your kid jump, was louder to them, and they have no
positive experience with loud noises which means it’s going to be a negative.
-
Drops: This is a big one. The human body was not
designed to feel an accelerated plummet. It’s just not a natural feeling. Our minds naturally resist the
sensation. For adults the mind can segment
bad from good when it comes to this. For
kids that might not be the case.
-
Reflection:
Reflection is the parents.
Parents can amp a kid up or calm them down. For example. My niece and her parents went on
Splash Mountain. Her mother hates all
rides. I’m not sure if she’ll ever be turned but she freaks out! She freaked out bad while on the ride. Guess
what happened. My niece freaked out so
bad she refused to ride any rides for the rest of the trip.
Those are just some of the most common things that freak a
kid out. You could also add characters
for some kids but we are talking about rides.
Do not underestimate the impact of the above on your kids. You know your child. You know what freaks
them out. Do not force them to do
something they are not comfortable with.
Doing this will make things worse.
However, don’t despair. Children can overcome their fears.
First let’s do a small case study of how a kid broke and
how, and when, he came around.
The kid in question was not afraid of the dark or of loud
noises but he was petrified of drops. This fear came about as the result of an
incident when he was very young. His
family attended a theme park which had a Snoopy roller coaster. The child did not want to ride but the rest
of his family coerced him. The fact that
Snoopy was on the roller coaster helped. This brings us to rule number
one. Never coerce a child onto a ride
they are nervous about. Why?
When a child is nervous or intimidated the body releases
ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone). This hormone serves for one purpose. Get to
your adrenal cortex and cause a dozens of other
hormones to flood the body.
The sudden spike of hormones like epinephrine,
norepinephrine and dozens of others causes your heart rate to spike, pupils to
dilate, blood-glucose to spike, and your digestive system to shut down.
The funny thing is the same thing happens to someone who
wants to go on the thrill ride. The difference
is its impact on the person’s brain. If
it’s not a willing event it can lead to post traumatic stress. Your brain
treats the event must differently if you willing seek out the event.
So what happened to the kid?
Bawled his eyes out and screamed even after the ride was
over. He also didn’t willing ride
another ride with a drop for a decade.
The parents tried give him tough love from time to time by
dragging him on a flume ride or similar ride.
His friends even tricked him onto a roller coaster where you couldn’t
see the drops. Instead of helping these
events made things worse. The reason is
same as above. They were not willing
experiences.
How did this kid ever start riding thrill rides again?
Positive reinforcement was the key to getting this kid to
like thrill rides. Remember this kid
only had negative memories associated with thrill rides. Positive ones had to be established. Positive ones could only be created if they
kid willingly got on the ride.
One warning – compensation IS NOT positive reinforcement. If you tell the kid they will get a treat or
everyone will do something they want to do if they ride the ride it’s not
positive. They are not willing getting on
the ride.
So how do you get the kid on the ride?
First things first, tell the child the family is going on
the ride and they can wait in with another family member. This works well in Disney World because of
child swap. Try to avoid play
areas. You want the kid to be bored.
After the family has gone on the ride DO NOT tell the kid
how fun it was. That can kick in a defensive mode or make the kid feel bad.
Instead have the other family members talk about their favorite parts in an
excited and positive manner. Do not use
any negative adjectives like “scary.” Do not discuss the ride with the kid
unless they ask questions. When they do,
answer the question in a positive and calm manner. When you do this you are making the kid feel
like they are missing out on something without telling them they are missing
out on something. This method draws the kid to that conclusion on their own.
If the child asks to ride the ride, after everyone has
ridden the ride, tell them you will later.
The reason for this is reinforcement of the missing out but it also lets
you redirect to a less intense ride. For
example if your kid is afraid of roller coasters and you use the above on Space
Mountain, redirect to Big Thunder Mountain.
For most kids BTM is must less intense. Then you can build up to Space
Mountain without overloading the kid.
Try to avoid rides like Pirates or Splash for this. The combination of dark and drop could be too
much.
There is a good chance that once they start willingly
getting on these rides they will quickly start riding everything. Even if they still balk from time to time –
LET THEM. Forcing them could undo any
progress you have made.
This even works for teenagers. The kid in the example was 16 when he finally
got back on thrill rides.
