Hi all, 

I believe this is the old cliché "stuck between a rock and a hard place." The fact of the matter is this: in today's society there exists more tolerance for childish antics than in the past. Lax parenting, or whatever you want to call it, is more the norm than it used to be. 

There are really only two ways, then, to approach this - ride the cultural norm or fight against it. I don't think the latter will get you anywhere. By fighting unruly kids and apathetic parents, you make the museum a kid unfriendly place. When you start posting rules and enforcing them, you run the risk of garnering a reputation for unfriendliness, stuffiness, elitism, etc., etc., which then leads to a fall in attendance and membership long term. 

Riding the cultural norm, however, takes additional resources in order to make art museums and history museums more friendly toward children. The presentations of exhibits have to be layered in this scenario, something for the kids, for the parents, and for the intellectually curious as well. I usually don't give examples, but I offer up the old cartoon character, Bugs Bunny. In watching those old cartoons we see a layered presentation, the fluid movement and colors and physical slapstick that kids love, but there's also the one-liners and zingers that only parents get, and occasionally a word or two that stretches the vocabulary of even the best of us. Therefore, no matter who watches a Bugs Bunny cartoon, all the people watching can be entertained. 

Unfortunately, to create such a layered or tiered presentation, museums need additional staff, creative folks who can engage children, adults and intellects. Thus the rock and a hard place comment; there are only so many Getty museums out there; deep pockets and all the resources in the world.  

One interesting Getty exhibit, if I can use another example (and no, I do not work for Getty - in fact I am looking for museum work), placed twelfth and thirteenth century manuscripts from Europe before the general public, an exhibition on calligraphy. I seriously doubted anyone could pull off an exhibition on calligraphy - I was wrong. The Getty created "stations" and provided plenty of pencils and paper for kids to mimic the art. Allowing the kids to copy or trace out what they saw in a glass case which occupied their time while parents could peruse the exhibit more closely, and then the ancient texts challenged the intellectuals since the contents of the old tomes were available in a digitized format and the historical context provided. Layered, like Bugs Bunny! 

My advice...don't fight culture, ride that wave. 

Joe Krulder
www.joehistorian.wordpress.com
  

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Schulte
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 2:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Children in Museums

A close friend of mine (married, childless I should add) brought the following to the attention of another list serve . I thought I would share it and see how others deal with this or don't. Let the controversy begin..

 

My wife and I visit historic sites, museums and events. It seems that the experience is often spoiled by the unruly behavior of children - from babies crying to adolescents being...well...adolescent!

 

The concept of exposing children to historic and cultural things seems wonderful in theory. Indeed, many sources for funding insist institutions include kid-friendly components as a requisite for consideration. But I have to wonder if in practice that the average child - for whatever reasons - doesn't get anything out of the experience and often only ruins it for the adults who actually appreciate the opportunity.

 

I know not every child is like this - I was always a history geek, even when I was little. But several encounters with both individual families and school groups at events and exhibits have made me question how we approach this.

 

Now don't shoot the messenger, I have my thoughts as both an educator and museum professional. I wanted to see what others think or do. Then ill post mine in a few days

Peace

Jim


________________________________

To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1 

=========================================================
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).