On Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 9:17 AM, Candace Perry <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Very true...I cannot stand gaggles of "grown ups" in front of work in the
> large art museums with cell phones. I always want to walk in front of them
> to ruin their experiences.

The hairy eyeball works on adults as well as children too ya know. ;)

As for children and the mothership strollers, one explanation is that
many parents are older these days and just don't have the energy or
the mentality to deal with young children. I teach dance and I've had
several "miracle babies" of parents who had them in their late 30s,
early 40s. Because they waited so long to have kids, they had
fertility problems and their little darlings are truly medical
miracles. These parents are now hitting middle age, have half the
energy they did when they were younger, are stressed out in their jobs
and have to deal with young children. They can also afford the
Mercedes strollers want to give their children "cultural experiences"
instead of seeing museums as a cheap way to spend an afternoon away
from the TV. Given that mix, you have parents who are too tired to
deal with their kids and don't because they think they are little
miracles that can do no wrong. They think that if they don't take them
to museums or art galleries or get them into the $40K/year
pre-schools, they will never get into Harvard and thus be nothing in
life. If we all had those problems, eh?

I think half of the problem is that parents don't know what to do with
kids in museums or art galleries. If people have something to do or
think about other than just looking at static objects, chances are
they'll be less unruly to begin with. Unless you have studied art, how
many of us really like looking at weird abstract art or think earlier
art is little more than pretty pictures? As others have pointed out,
this is where good museum guides and exhibit design come into play.
The Hirshhorn used to have a great family guide that was a set of
cards that corresponded to different pieces in the museum. The cards
told you where the object was located, a little about the artist and
the piece and something engaging that the parents could talk about it
with their kids. It was a great way to spend an hour or two in the
museum. The guide also stressed that it was best to only spend an hour
or two in the museum with young children as that is all they could
handle. Do a few pieces and come back some other time and look at more
things.

Deb Fuller

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).