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Communicate with 11 year old


gracemom

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20 hours ago, gracemom said:

I will be going on a cruise in August with my 2 kids. My son will only be 11 and so it says he can't use the chat feature. How do I communicate with him? Any advice is appreciated. 

Talk to him!  Put the phones away and communicate with each other!  Set up a schedule so you both know what is going on and check in occasionally.  Can go to far on a ship.

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 a lot of people also use a small whiteboard/dry erase board in the cabin to let their family or friends know where they’ve gone. you can also let your stateroom attendant know if you need anything too 

 

i’ve seen it posted on the outside, on the cabin door too, but the type A in me doesn’t want the entire ship to necessarily know my plans ahead of time 😂

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29 minutes ago, FJ28 said:

Talk to him!  Put the phones away and communicate with each other!  Set up a schedule so you both know what is going on and check in occasionally.  Can go to far on a ship.

Thats easier said than done. I will have an 11 year old, and in the most part we will let him roam and set up some meeting times and points... but kids tend to not pay attention to times, or might get turned around on a ship that size. It's nice to have a backup plan in case you need to get a hold of them! 

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1 hour ago, ScottD said:

 

Thats easier said than done. I will have an 11 year old, and in the most part we will let him roam and set up some meeting times and points... but kids tend to not pay attention to times, or might get turned around on a ship that size. It's nice to have a backup plan in case you need to get a hold of them! 

IT is also possible that schedule times may pull him away from an activity that is running late.  Definitely get the wifi package. Your 11 year old will thank me.  LOL!

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1 hour ago, FireFishII said:

IT is also possible that schedule times may pull him away from an activity that is running late.  Definitely get the wifi package. Your 11 year old will thank me.  LOL!

we were originally against it, the whole "unplug and relax" thing... but the more we get closer to the cruise, the more I realize we are going to want it for 1. this reason, getting in touch. and 2. we are going to be in the room at night or between activities, and it will just be easier if he can grab his tablet and watch a few minutes on youtube or whatever to keep him occupied while we get ready or relax for a bit. 

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Not sure why an 11 year old needs to wander the ship unsupervised.  Our kids and grandkids stayed in the area with us or at AO.  If they wanted to swim, we went to the pool deck, flow rider/slides we went & watched, food, ok if we were on the pool deck, they could go grab WJ food, a fountain drink or ice cream and bring it back to eat.  Nothing good comes of roving bands of preteens.  Don’t have to be glued to you but in sight 👍

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11 minutes ago, Pooch said:

Not sure why an 11 year old needs to wander the ship unsupervised.  Our kids and grandkids stayed in the area with us or at AO.  If they wanted to swim, we went to the pool deck, flow rider/slides we went & watched, food, ok if we were on the pool deck, they could go grab WJ food, a fountain drink or ice cream and bring it back to eat.  Nothing good comes of roving bands of preteens.  Don’t have to be glued to you but in sight 👍

I don't think anyone was recommending having the kids just wander all over the ship.  But if they are in the AO and was going to meet their parents for lunch at the MDR, they really don't need to be escorted at 11 year old.  I think they are old enough to make that journey by themselves.  But it really all depends on how mature the children are.  Some 11 year old can do it while some 18 year old can not.  Or maybe the child wants to leave AO because they are bored and wants to meet up with their parents.  The internet will allow them to keep in contact with their parents to ask them where they should me.  

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On 11/14/2022 at 8:30 AM, FJ28 said:

I often wonder how we adults ever survived adolescence.  My kids didn't even have cell phones till they where 15.  It really amazes me every time we cruise how many phones are at the table and nobody is talking with one another.

This, while this new tech is certainly convenient I survived just fine without it as a kid traveling with parents/grandparents. It's called rules and set free time and as I recall I knew how to pay attention to the clock at age 11, or there would be consequences to any future free time. Granted we also may live in amore dangerous time than the early eighties where that's concerned yet I feel the danger still existed thus I wasn't given a very long leash when traveling far away or in bigger cities. And I would think it's a bit safer on cruise ship where you're not going to get far and there are plenty of concerned citizens around that would likely intervene if something looked off to them. 

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I just cruised in October with my 11 and 13 year olds. When they weren't with me, they told me where they were off to, called the room phone if they were running late, and had watches so that they could keep track of time. For my 11 year old, she was the lucky age - AO available and could sign herself in/out, and the teen stuff if you sign a waiver. The white board in the room helps too! We didn't miss having phone/Internet connection to communicate while on board at all. You might be okay without it!

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12 minutes ago, HeelThatCruises said:

As a dad of a 15, 13 and 10 year old who have cruised for a long time - I can't fathom the idea that you allow kids at a certain age (11?) to just run around the ship.

Every kid is different in terms of maturity and how responsible they are.

I don't let my 11 year old just disappear, but I do let her go with her sister and/or friends to do a certain activity and come back.

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Not sure if anyone else has done this. But our family (2 x 40+ year old adults, and a 9 & 11 year old) all have Apple Watches with Cellular & Wifi. When we travel, if we're somewhere that they can have some independence and be safe, we like being able to track and communicate via the watch's. We can send them message, setup alerts if they leave a certain area, etc. We are by no means trying to be big brother. We're just very technology oriented and like to be able to easily communicate.

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