As a Disneyland Cast Member, Iâll add my own experience onto this â
Very frequently, when I first speak to a child while Iâm at work, theyâll kind of withdraw and act uncomfortable and shy. Their parents will then rather frequently tell them to not be shy and try to coax them to talk to me â whenever that happens, I always, without fail, politely dissuade the parents from pressuring them.
âIâm a stranger,â Iâll tell the kidâs parents. âI donât blame them for not talking to me â if they were anywhere else, theyâd have the right idea, to not immediately trust me.â
I cannot tell you how many times Iâve seen that same kid â simply after hearing their initial reaction being validated, instead of reproached â immediately open up to me after that. I also cannot tell you how many times that child and I would go on to start a frigginâ marathon conversation, and I got to hear all about how great their day was or what their favorite Disney movies were or what rides they liked and didnât like or how much they like a certain Disney character or songâŠall from me validating that initial feeling and showing genuine interest in what they had to say.
This isnât just young children, either. I will always remember being positioned outside the Animation Academy one day and starting up a conversation with a young lady, perhaps 12 or 13, who joined the line with her father a full 25 minutes before the class was supposed to start. Now keep in mind, we do a drawing class every 30 minutes: there was no one else in line at that point, and no one else joined the girl and her father in line for a full fifteen minutes. So I could tell pretty quickly that this girl was very emotionally invested in getting a good spot for the drawing class: a conclusion all the more bolstered by the fact that she had a notebook under her arm. I asked her if she was an artist â she said yes, but seemed uncomfortable at the question, so I skipped even asking her if I could see her work, instead admitting that I myself wasnât very good at art, but that Iâm trying to get better and that I love the history of Disney animation. On the screens around us was video footage of different Disney concept art and animation reels, so I pointed one of them out (for Snow White) and asked if she knew the story behind the making of the movie. Upon confirming that she didnât, I proceeded to get down on the floor so I could sit next to her and her father and dramatically tell the whole story of how âUncle Waltâ created the first full-length animated motion picture, even though everyone and their mother thought he was an idiot for even trying, and how the film ended up becoming the first Hollywood blockbuster. After the story was over, the girlâs father said that his daughter really wanted to be an animator when she grew up, and she finally felt comfortable enough to open her notebook and show me some of her artwork. It was wonderful! Every sketch had such character and you could tell how much work she put into it! And I could tell how much telling her that â and sharing that moment with her, where we got to connect over something we both really enjoyed â had meant. And after the class was over, she sought me out to show me what she and her father had drawn â and sure enough, hers was great! (Her fatherâs was too, really. XD)
People, kids and teens included, love sharing what they love and how they feel with others. You just have to give them the chance to show it.
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