Parents not parenting

[angus40]

I have noticed a steady increase of Parent not controlling their children will viewing the lights .
This year has been the worst but I am leaning towards -> we have all had enough of this pandemic and maybe just need to let the hair down this time of year .

On Christmas eve I decided to monitor the show closely via vsecurity cam and run a sequence by sequence manually controlled . This way I could force drivers and foot soldiers to keep moving along.

What my family and I witnessed this year was truly unbelievable. I would pause the show every time someones child would grab onto the mega tree strands .

Each parent 's reaction would be different and some more comical than others as to how they would deal with this immediate stress .

The absolute funniest was a father with 3 young children under the age of 10 .
One of his children shook my tree violently and of course the effects stopped(frozen) immediately as I hit pause . The father looked around at the crowd then proceeded towards his child . He must have said something to his kids because the next thing we all witnessed was him running away with his kids struggling to keep up behind him .

This manual control on Christmas eve was a excellent way to enjoy the show without having to physically go outside and confront unruly viewers .

I have learned a valuable lesson thus far and will incorporate measures to prevent viewers from harassing the poor old Mega tree .

[Keith R]

Funny! I put in my display a sign during my announcements asking that people stay in their cars (as well as the usual announcement) or I will stop the show for their safety. I only had to pause the show once this month due to a couple walking towards the display to take pictures. My dogs started barking and I looked at my camera pointed at the show. Once they stepped onto my yard, the show stopped. I went outside to confront them, but others in their cars were already yelling at them to get back in their car.

[angus40]

Well in the spirit of HAPPY HOLIDAYS we have decided to make our display 100% child friendly and as much of an interactive experience as possible .

I get it as I have 4 grown adult children . I was reminded to think back to when they were children and could quickly get
into mischief .

Looking forward to forging a new path for 2021 and keeping the holidays fun for everyone .

[TSL]

Unfortunately, there will always be the ones who are more “special” than everyone else. Ones who the rules don’t apply to....in their minds. We have to take it in stride and call them out when you catch them.


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[MartinMueller2003]

Here in the northeast, it is rare that anyone would want to venture out of their cars. Although we did have a few kids dancing in the cul-de-sac the other night when we had unseasonably warm weather and a break in the rain.

[jimboha]

I normally see no evidence of people in the yard during the display, but this year we had a fresh blanket of snow (about 4"). I went out the "de-ice" the Santa and Grinch inflatables - in our show they are normally deflated but inflate for their special songs. I found fresh footprints all around the Grinch and some going behind the nearby arches. I could have pulled up the security footage to see who and what , etc. but they were gone and it didn't look like they were in the yard long or did much 'dancing' around.

On the one had, I would like to let the kids have an enjoyable time. On the other, I don't think they know how tedious it is to find and fix unknown wiring issues UNDER THE SNOW had they managed to mess up any power or control wiring. I do have a "keep out fence" prop but hey stepped over it, and sometimes I hang "Keep Out" sings, but hadn't this year. I guess I will if it be comes a problem. And now since Christmas is passed, I suspect there will be ever fewer visitors to worry about. And if h show breaks now, it's not the end of the world.

Jimboha

[jimboha]

oops.