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RockyMtnPea
PeaNut
PeaNut 492,471
December 2010
Posts: 271
Layouts: 0
 |  Posted: 2/20/2013 11:09:54 AM
DD (11) and I traveled this weekend (Several states away) to a competitve sport competition. I am coming to the Peas as perhaps veterans of this activity can shed some light on what I observed.
I am thinking I must have missed the memo that says once you check in to the hotel your parenting duties are over until the moment you check out. I am still in shock over what I observed.
Kids running and screaming in the hallways at all hours. Kids running and screaming and knocking on random doors. Kids playing elevator tag. Kids doing handstands and other physical activities in the elevator. Kids throwing Mike and Ike candies down to the lobby area from the 6th floor. Kids acting like they were unfamiliar with the use of a scoop in the treat (pretzels, gummies, trail mix)bucket. Basically kids let loose to run around the hotel actinglike they have little or no home training. (and heck, maybe they don't)
All this was occurring and not a single parent was monitoring. MAybe htey were enjoying an all day happy hour????? I know you are wondering but yes, I did get on a few kids about their behavior.
My all time favorite was watching a 3-4 year old little girl enter the elevator alone, study the numbers on the panel, push a button, and exit at that floor. Not a single big person with her. I kept thinking that a Creeper would have grand time at that hotel.
So anyway Peas...is this the norm? It was unbelieveable.
Oh and no, we were not staying at a crap hotel. We were at an Embassy Suites which was not a dump.
And no...DD was not allowed to behave in the manner described above.
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Sarah*H
Bring me that horizon!
PeaNut 239,162
December 2005
Posts: 27,893
Layouts: 413
Loc: The final frontier
 | Posted: 2/20/2013 11:18:51 AM
That has not been my experience with travel sports teams so far. Being in the indoor pool area is probably dangerous for your future hearing ability but for the most part, the teams we've traveled with and other teams we've observed at the hotels are as well behaved as you can reasonably expect a pack of kids that age to behave. Of course we don't have buckets of treats either so the absence of sugar may have something to do with it. |
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SusanArdoin
StuckOnPeas
PeaNut 144,056
April 2004
Posts: 2,762
Layouts: 63
Loc: Germantown, MD
 | Posted: 2/20/2013 11:31:09 AM
I've seen it all too often. My son plays travel baseball and we've been MANY, MANY places out of town and have witnessed what you are describing. One year we were in Knoxville, TN with our junior legion baseball team (so 15-16-year-olds) and there was another team staying at our hotel of 12-year-olds. They younger kids were HORRIBLE, just as you described. One bunch of them went around the hotel breaking off forks in the card key locks. They ran around in the halls and made lots of noise. The hotel staff praised the behavior of our boys and they were happy to have us back the following summer, too. Some parents think they're on vacation and just let their kids run wild and don't care.
Susan. |
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hop2
AncestralPea
PeaNut 43,893
July 2002
Posts: 4,348
Layouts: 0
 | Posted: 2/20/2013 11:31:35 AM
I do not have a child who travels on any team but I have had the poor luck to stay in a hotel taken over by participants in a soccer tournament. I was the victim of some of what you describe and was not very happy.
I do not know who is supposed to be watching these hoards of players but they sure behave poorly and they ought to have more supervision of someone. I was under the impression that the parents were not there but I dont know really.
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Maryland
Ancient Ancestor of Pea
PeaNut 87,597
May 2003
Posts: 8,797
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/20/2013 11:55:24 AM
That is unacceptable behavior by both the parents and the kids.
We travel for dance competitions and our dance parents travel a lot for sports (dance, baseball, volleyball, hockey, etc.). We encountered a group of girls in the competition behaving exactly how you describe. We all said that we would never allow our sons and daughters to act like that. I think the hotel should kick them out without a refund for such behavior.
It's one thing to have a good time with your friends, but it's another to disturb other paying guest.
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MerryMom937
PeaFixture
PeaNut 472,567
June 2010
Posts: 3,076
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/20/2013 12:00:30 PM
I think it is situational and it depends on the expectations that are outlined for the parent chaperones.
We go to an out of state CC tournament and the CC Booster Rep has it all organized. We have a schedule of what areas we are to chaperone and at what times. We have "room assignments" to monitor. Our rooms are staggered between the athletes rooms. Girls on 1 floor and boys on another.
Ahead of the trip, the athletes are schooled on proper behavior at the hotel and things like:
"At the hotel breakfast, if other hotel guests are in the line behind you, please allow them to go first."
"Don't go to the breakfast buffet and take 9 pieces of bacon and leave nothing for others."
When they sign up to go on the trip, the athlete and parent sign a "code of conduct" and all the rules are outlined.
You don't follow the rules, you don't run.
The hotel clerks and managers complimented our group's behavior and said that they do have groups that are not allowed to return due to behavior.
I honestly put that on the adults organizing and chaperoning. If the expectations as to the youth's behavior are made clear and the adults are expected to monitor it, then it is a great experience. Kids usually live up to the level of expectations.
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Kelpea
In a HapPea Place
PeaNut 176,832
November 2004
Posts: 12,218
Layouts: 2
Loc: gone to chemo with BethAnne
 | Posted: 2/20/2013 12:05:29 PM
This is our 8th year. And it sucks when parents absolve themselves of all responsibilities during hotel stays.
I'm the bad mom. I ask for the rooms on another floor, furthest away from the elevators. I can't stand all that crap, and we are on the team! |
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journey fan
"Rome! By all means, Rome."
PeaNut 308,186
April 2007
Posts: 11,521
Layouts: 0
Loc: California Coast
 | Posted: 2/20/2013 12:41:35 PM
We travel a lot for sports. I've seen better and I've seen worse.
The hallway and elevator stuff can get crazy, We wouldn't allow it anyway, but our kids want to play well the next day so we're usually pretty chill and turn in early. They usually swim but one of us is there.
The last place we stayed had an outdoor bbq, basketball court, and grass for football. That was nice because the kids could get their energy out yet still have fun with each other. |
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journey fan
"Rome! By all means, Rome."
PeaNut 308,186
April 2007
Posts: 11,521
Layouts: 0
Loc: California Coast
| Posted: 2/20/2013 12:42:50 PM
Oh and no, we were not staying at a crap hotel. We were at an Embassy Suites which was not a dump.
Oh, and Emb Suites usually has free happy hour. That might be where the parents were  |
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RockyMtnPea
PeaNut
PeaNut 492,471
December 2010
Posts: 271
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/20/2013 1:22:36 PM
To clarify. I was traveling with DD. (and always will(or the daddy) due to her age otherwise she is not going)The other girls were also traveling with their mothers. NONE of our girls participated in this behavior. This was a huge competition with folks from all over the United States, Asia and Europe.
I am talking thousands of athletes although of course they were not all at this hotel, but you get the idea. I saw lots of adults so I assume plenty of the girls were with their parents. That and I saw lots of siblings in tow so I don't think they were all traveling with the chaperones responsible for the athletes.
The snacks I spoke of were provided by the hotel. Embassy Suites has this every evening along with drinks, pop, juice etc. So if the kids were getting a sugar high I was not the one providing it.
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pheestand
Ancient Ancestor of Pea
PeaNut 6,487
September 2000
Posts: 5,028
Layouts: 16
Loc: Livonia, MI USA
 | Posted: 2/20/2013 4:22:37 PM
We were at a dance competition last July at the Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati (Mason). The second day of competition went well past midnight. Two 10'ish yr olds were left unattended in their hotel room past midnight as their mom and her friends were with her older daughter on stage competing. The two 10 yr olds back at the room decided to make popcorn, and had the microwave set for 15 minutes. Smoke filled the room, setting off the smoke alarms, and causing the hotel to be evacuated. The ballroom that the competition was being held in was attached to the hotel itself, but because a fire wall separated the room and hotel, the fire alarm never went off in the ballroom, but the door separating them was guarded by hotel personnel to prevent parents reentering the hotel until all was cleared by the 15 fire engines and ambulence that showed up.
I can't describe the number of parents threatening the hotel personnel to let them back into the hotel because their younger children were left unattended in the hotel rooms.
My son and husband were in the hotel, I was in the ballroom with my daughter. Hubby was texting me that there was a fire, and trying to tell me where he and my son were being evacuated to so we could meet up. He didn't realize that on our side, we had no alarm and I had no idea what was going on with his side until the near riot ensued to get back to the rooms.
That was one weekend for the history books for us. I can't imagine allowing young children to be on their own in a hotel, even if they were sound asleep, for that very reason. You just never know. | |
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5littlebugs
StuckOnPeas
PeaNut 66,775
February 2003
Posts: 2,705
Layouts: 15
Loc: O Fallon, MO
| Posted: 2/21/2013 6:42:16 AM
You weren't in Dallas for the WOGA Classic were you? That sounds exactly like my experience this weekend. I went to our floor (12th) Saturday night to heat up our dinner. Our parents and girls were meeting in the lobby to eat together with leftovers and some cheesecake add ons. While I walked to the elevators, I could see 2 7/8 yo girls coming down from the floor above. I get in, they jump out, I see they have pushed EVERY SINGLE BUTTON. I look at them and said, you've got to be kidding me. I get out quickly and they ended up in another elevator with me. Very quiet and then tried to say - we didn't do that! I told them that I find it hard to believe since it was just them and I could see them come down.
I also when to the concierge to complain when some lovely little darlings were dropping hard candy from the top floors onto one of our parents. We have done these trips for many years, although it breaks my heart that next year is dd's senior year, there are a few bright spots. |
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writermom1
Thrift Whisperer
PeaNut 114,407
November 2003
Posts: 22,289
Layouts: 66
Loc: At the intersection of Hooterville and Stars Hollow
| Posted: 2/21/2013 12:38:54 PM
That has not been my experience. It was usually fairly quiet (pool area excepted).
Upon check-in, Hampton Inn had each room sign a group conduct code. It covered everything from no cleats in the lobby to no unattended minors in the common areas. We all signed willingly and thought it a shame they had to get a signature on common sense.
Pheestand - excellent point.
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RockyMtnPea
PeaNut
PeaNut 492,471
December 2010
Posts: 271
Layouts: 0
| Posted: 2/21/2013 2:52:21 PM
5LittleBugs...yep that is where we were. First time traveling out of state with DD. (she is Level 7 and at our club you don't start traveling out of state until Level 7)
We were on the 11th floor...we probably saw each other.
The little darlings (3 boys) that were throwing candy down from the higher floor received an earful from us.
Please tell me that every event is not like this...(although I would think not) 
I agree with WriterMom, it is a shame a hotel would have to have people sign a "I promise to behave letter" when visting a facility.
I also wondered how these kiddos behave while at school...if it is anything like at the hotel I feel for the teachers. | |
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