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No. Why do we need to crack down now on childhood? It's a fleeing time, let children have their childhood magical experiences - plenty of time for stern stressed out adulthood soon enough
Yeah...No. This girl has the legal right to take a photo with santa at the mall. She doesn't have to go to PetSmart. She has the legal right. Bottom line. This isn't an emotional support animal. It is a full fledged service dog.
She doesn’t have a legal right to take a photo with Santa at the mall. No one has a legal right to do so, and having a disability and service dog doesn’t elevate her. The ADA protects from discrimination on the basis of a disability, it does not give disabled people whatever they want no matter what.
I find it hard to believe that this dog had to be at this child’s side for the quick picture. It sounds like the mom is being inflexible and making a big deal out of something that could have been very simple. The ADA doesn’t give someone free reign to act like an entitled drama queen, it ensures there is no discrimination against disabled people. Here, mom was told the DOG couldn’t be near Santa. Not the kid. Meeting Santa doesn’t take long. If the kid can cheerlead, she can sit on Santa’s lap for a photo with her dog 10 feet away for 2 minutes.
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"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mondayafternoons
No. Why do we need to crack down now on childhood? It's a fleeing time, let children have their childhood magical experiences - plenty of time for stern stressed out adulthood soon enough
I almost always agree with you, but really, by the time a kid is 10 they need to be able to figure out that Santa is a fantasy.
Otherwise, they're not thinking things through.
So back in the day I was assisting in a gifted and talented 4th grade class. Their assignment was to figure out how long it would take Santa Claus to visit every household in the world, spending 15 minutes at each home. The kids were capable of calculating this mathematically. It was years.
There were still some who, after calculating this, somehow were too dim to realize Santa wasn't visiting their home on Christmas Eve.
Holy cow. Grab the reins, kids. Look at your calculations and realize it's all a fun fantasy.
I almost always agree with you, but really, by the time a kid is 10 they need to be able to figure out that Santa is a fantasy.
Otherwise, they're not thinking things through.
So back in the day I was assisting in a gifted and talented 4th grade class. Their assignment was to figure out how long it would take Santa Claus to visit every household in the world, spending 15 minutes at each home. The kids were capable of calculating this mathematically. It was years.
There were still some who, after calculating this, somehow were too dim to realize Santa wasn't visiting their home on Christmas Eve.
Holy cow. Grab the reins, kids. Look at your calculations and realize it's all a fun fantasy.
I think kids often choose to hang onto the belief. Or they think it’s magic, it's not unusual for kids to believe in unbelievable things just by nature. Kids have amazing imaginations, even at those slightly older ages. Maybe it’s not possible for a normal person... but Santa isn’t just some normal person. That kind of thinking.
Yeah...No. This girl has the legal right to take a photo with santa at the mall. She doesn't have to go to PetSmart. She has the legal right. Bottom line. This isn't an emotional support animal. It is a full fledged service dog.
I was saying that it's an alternative, not saying what they did was right. You came to that conclusion on your own.
Kids using and developing their imagination is thought as just "impractical" by some but it has a role in a child's brain developing into using higher thinking skills and creativity (if we MUST have a reason for it other than it's just wonderful and that time is so short so hey relax and enjoy it. Kids are not small adults)
Sometimes I think that if it weren't for Facebook, people would walk away mad, grab an ice cream cone and forget about it 5 minutes later. That's what normal people used to do.
He doesn’t get much in this life, you know? He wants friends but doesn’t have any. He wants to go to college but never will. He wants to go on a sleepover & that can’t happen. He wants to grow up & be a cartoon animator but nobody will ever hire him.
He wants a girlfriend but girls are afraid of him because he looks different, acts different, sounds different & walks different. He wants to take a vacation to Japan (Nintendo!) but since I’m unemployable to be his caregiver? I can barely get us to the grocery store to feed him. He’d like to be like other 14 year old boys that don’t need their moms help to use the restroom but he can’t & to top all this off?
His estimated life expectancy has been cut in half by his disability.
Over my dead body will I let anybody take Santa away from him.
I have no clue as to if this girl is similarly impaired & I'm not even processing the whole dog/allergy issue yet. I’m just here to endorse Santa; within the context of children with disabilities.
I read the article, and it seems that the employee was in the wrong, but I think it might have been an omission in training, as Santa's employer sided with the parent -- although it would not surprise me if that might be an attempt to avoid a lawsuit. (Lawsuits have been filed for less reason than this.)
That being said, I agree with others that employees should have the right to not risk their health, either, and the girl being separated from her dog for two minutes would probably not have harmed anyone. I think the mom was either over-protective or looking for her 15 minutes of fame.
I happen to be "so sick of people" and their stupid bias towards making accommodations for disabled. Unless you live, you don't get it.
Can the child be away from the dog for 2 minutes? It detects seizures. It doesn't pick up news papers or makes her happy...it detects seizures! And she was willing to get the photo without the dog, he just needed to see her. And they refused even that.
And they know they messed up and are making reparations.[/QUOTE
I edited the OP so we can stick to the point.
The dog was not allowed on the red carpet. The girl could have seen Santa and had her pic taken without the dog. Both the mom and daughter refused-- so that the mom could rush home and blab on FB about what an "awful" experience they had, and how it "ruined" their evening.
Yes, this is something that is bugging me. The girl obviously needs the dog, it's not a matter of people claiming fake service animal needs...and maybe THOSE people should cut it out because they are making it look bad for those who truly (physically) rely on these animals, like this child. But an allergy to animals is also real. In this case we're talking about a child getting a photo with Santa, just a couple of minutes, with the dog in sight. I don't know. Seems like a no win situation.
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