Shy Child and Adventure Ocean

[DublinFC]

Hello,

I have been chatting with my 10yr old.  She is more on the shy side when it comes to meeting new people.  Can anyone give me an idea of how the AO staff help children who are shy become involved and excited about being in AO?  We have a few sailings scheduled and of course my wife and I want to have some time to ourselves to enjoy a nice dinner and entertainment.  But, we want our daughter to feel comfortable being in AO while we do this.  I would hate to think she is not enjoying her time there while we are out and about having a good time.

 

[JimnKathy]

What I've heard works pretty well is to make sure your shy kid attends AO at the outset of the first day so that they're on equal footing in regards to meeting all the other new kids. I think it would be more difficult if they show up after all the other kids have already broken the ice the day before. Good Luck.

 

[DublinFC]

59 minutes ago, JimnKathy said:

What I've heard works pretty well is to make sure your shy kid attends AO at the outset of the first day so that they're on equal footing in regards to meeting all the other new kids. I think it would be more difficult if they show up after all the other kids have already broken the ice the day before. Good Luck.

 

I think this is a great idea.  I hope it helps. I know once she gets in and make a connection then she will love it.  Just getting her to try and experience a little is what I think she will need.  Being there in the beginning might help with not being overwhelmed joining in when others have already been there.

[FionaMG]

To add to what JimnKathy said, AO usually is open house during embarkation day, so parents can go along with their children to explore the facility and speak to the staff. This would give your daughter a chance to familiarize herself with the room her age group will be using and meet some of the staff in your company and without any pressure on her to actually stay there. This will hopefully make her enthusiastic and excited about going along to the meet and greet session for her age group later on in the day.

Details of the time of that all-important first session will be in the Compass. Note that there is a separate AO compass for the different age groups so be sure to pick one up from Guest Services if you don't get given one at embarkation.

[DublinFC]

@FionaMG I forgot about the open house.  We took advantage of something similar with NCL on embarkation day.  That cruise we had friends and their kids with us. Our daughter had friends already with her to make it easier to get in and have fun.  

Will the app have the info for the st AO session?  Or will I need to get the hard copy?

 

[FionaMG]

54 minutes ago, DublinFC said:

Will the app have the info for the st AO session?  Or will I need to get the hard copy?

I am pretty sure it will be in the app but the app is not 100% reliable, so it's definitely best to get a hard copy. The time and place should be listed on the "normal" adult compass as well as in the dedicated AO one, and you can always just ask when you pop into AO during the open house. 

The open house usually finishes up just before muster and the meet and greet sessions tend to be after sail-away and before the start of early seating dinner, so around 5pm to 6pm depending on your departure time. Even in these days of My Time Dining, a lot of the children's activities are planned around first seating dinner times.

[DublinFC]

6 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I am pretty sure it will be in the app but the app is not 100% reliable, so it's definitely best to get a hard copy. The time and place should be listed on the "normal" adult compass as well as in the dedicated AO one, and you can always just ask when you pop into AO during the open house. 

The open house usually finishes up just before muster and the meet and greet sessions tend to be after sail-away and before the start of early seating dinner, so around 5pm to 6pm depending on your departure time. Even in these days of My Time Dining, a lot of the children's activities are planned around first seating dinner times.

Good to know, we have the early seating on our cruise in Dec.  We will make it work though.

[melski94]

My response depends on if you are going on your cruise during a school holiday.  If you are and there will be a ton on kids on board, I would suggest skipping the first night.  AO is overwhelming the first evening with tons of kids, the staff is trying to make sure everyone is properly registered, and some kids are out of control (ie boys throwing ball around wildly as pinging kids in the back of the head even the quiet coloring kids).  

I would suggest going in a morning or afternoon session as it tends to have only a handful of kids and can be craft based.  The other evenings outside the first one, it is much more packed than the daytime, but not as overwhelming as the first night.  My DD9 is also shy and I tend to take her to some evening entertainment as she really likes the shows and has been scarred by AO.  

If you are going while school is in session, then the overall number of kids will be reduced and the evenings are not that crazy.  

[DublinFC]

8 minutes ago, melski94 said:

My response depends on if you are going on your cruise during a school holiday.  If you are and there will be a ton on kids on board, I would suggest skipping the first night.  AO is overwhelming the first evening with tons of kids, the staff is trying to make sure everyone is properly registered, and some kids are out of control (ie boys throwing ball around wildly as pinging kids in the back of the head even the quiet coloring kids).  

I would suggest going in a morning or afternoon session as it tends to have only a handful of kids and can be craft based.  The other evenings outside the first one, it is much more packed than the daytime, but not as overwhelming as the first night.  My DD9 is also shy and I tend to take her to some evening entertainment as she really likes the shows and has been scarred by AO.  

If you are going while school is in session, then the overall number of kids will be reduced and the evenings are not that crazy.  

School will be in session, but getting close to Christmas/Winter break for most schools.  I appreciate this point of view as well.  Thank you!

[Matt]

On 5/1/2020 at 9:31 AM, DublinFC said:

Can anyone give me an idea of how the AO staff help children who are shy become involved and excited about being in AO?

The staff is usually very accomodating.

First and foremost, go to the open house on embarkation day so your shy child can meet the staff and explore the area. Familiarizing with the staff and area helps establish a sense of comfort.

Second, tell your child they do not have to participate in the group events. Sometimes my daughter says she doesn't want to go, and I tell her she can politely ask the staff if she can color, read a book, or simply watch the event.  That can be a good first step, and eventually they join in.

[ScooterScott22]

On 5/1/2020 at 9:31 AM, DublinFC said:

Hello,

I have been chatting with my 10yr old.  She is more on the shy side when it comes to meeting new people.  Can anyone give me an idea of how the AO staff help children who are shy become involved and excited about being in AO?  We have a few sailings scheduled and of course my wife and I want to have some time to ourselves to enjoy a nice dinner and entertainment.  But, we want our daughter to feel comfortable being in AO while we do this.  I would hate to think she is not enjoying her time there while we are out and about having a good time.

You know your child the best so only you can really determine if they might have a positive experience in AO.  The staff will attempt to engage and even though our experience is that most of the staff have some official educational background and child life training the success can be very individual.  It seems that with regards to shy children they all make an effort to engage everyone but some of counselors do better with certain individuals, so a little luck may be involved also.  

To me there seems to be two types of shyness in children.  The first being a true shy child that appears to be much more of an introvert and the shyness may wane but is persistently present.  The other, which seems to be more common, is the child that is shy to start but once they get engaged open up and they tend to engage easier with subsequent events.  It is not an either/or situation as as shy children can be somewhere in between.  Our son is pretty shy to start but usually after a day or so gets pretty comfortable once he finds a few friends or a counselor that he likes.  After a couple of days it become hard to get him out of the club.  

All children have a pretty good is chance to enjoy themselves as the type of events in AO will vary each day.  Besides the open houses, I would encourage you to review the daily schedule.  If your child is more of the first type I described above the GaGa ball and other similar activities would be better to avoid.  The “classroom” like activities, like the science classes, that are on the schedule might be good to attend.  Some of those allow the parents to attend also.  It may take a couple of visit but with the right events, right kids or counselor the AO usually wins the kids over at some point.

[DublinFC]

@Matt and @ScooterScott22 Thank you for the information.I am hoping that once she gets in and starts experiencing what AO has to offer that she will get a good balance of fun with other kids and time together as a family.