I run a historic house museum that often hosts tours of elementary students around Christmas time (to see the decorations) and middle school students in the spring (history of technology...today versus 1890's). While my docents cringe at the mention of student groups, I find that typically they are some of the better behaved tourists/patrons that we get in a typical year. As a matter of fact, one of the docents refers to one of the local senior citizen group tours as "herding cats" as some wander ahead or lag behind the guided tour. Furthermore, we see more adults attempting to handle artifacts than the children do. We usually start out a children's tour by stating that this is a Museum or a "hands in your pockets" place. Never had a problem/complaint...knock on wood. I am also a volunteer/board member at our local county Museum. My wife and I annually host the entire 7th grade class field trip the last week of school...what I refer to as "lack of lesson plan week". Typically the group will be 100-150 students, four teachers, one administrator, and maybe three parents. It is a whirl-wind of organized chaos...we usually give a short introduction with a scavenger hunt. Works well, but it totally scares our volunteers (we are the only volunteers willing to work with this particular demographic of visitor!). As it fills the capacity of the building, we will typically close to the general public for the hour or so that the large group is there...though our research archives will remain open. Bottom line, in my experience, I prefer to work with kids of all ages in the Museums that I have contact with. I enjoy trying to engage them and find something of relevance for them. They typically remember the contact years later, and sometimes become members/supporters. Just my two cents.... Ray Ray Lennard, Curator William G. Thompson Museum & Gardens 101 Summit St. Hudson, MI 49247 517-448-8125 thomsponmuseum.org ----- Original Message ----- From: James Schulte To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 7:35 PM 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.449 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3749 - Release Date: 07/07/11 06:34:00 ========================================================= 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).