What do you think of the points on the Manifesto? Is there anything you’d like to change or add? What do you think is the most important thing to make a museum family friendly? Museums and galleries are changing – the Manifesto compiled from your comments can help and support this change.
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September 28th, 2007 at 6:28 am
I really think the Manifesto is great. But I’ve never seen it posted up in a museum. Are there any that do?
October 9th, 2007 at 11:35 am
I think the manifesto is great. However as the curator of a small local museum I think that it should be noted that ‘family-friendly’ does not have to be ‘large and spectacular’. We at Annan Museum work hard to make sure kids feel welcome, included, educated and entertained- big is not always the most beautiful.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I agree that big isn’t always beautiful. In fact, it’s often easier for a small museum, with just a handful of committed and imaginative staff, to turn a museum round. Large institutions can be much more cumbersome and slow to respond to visitors’ needs. And they have to get the whole staff on board – which can be hundreds, rather than a handful.
I hope you’re displaying the Kids in Museums Manifesto at Annan! Many museums do.
warmest
Dea Birkett
Director
Kids in Museums
January 11th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Have just read about the manifesto in the Guardian, Saturday 10th January 2009 and so came onto the website to check it out etc.
The contents of the manifesto are good but is there anyone out there that goes around and checks out museums to see how well these ideas are implemented. For example, we live opposite the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, London and when my children were small we would visit often, at least twice a week to look at the toys and play on the rocking horse.
We then looked on with growing interest as they refurbished the museum with approximately £4 million of lottery money. Well, what a disappoinment it has been, they now have an even more expensive cafe that certainly does not allow the majority of the local population to even entertain eating there. The increase in toys and exhibits that children are allowed to touch has hardly increased, yes there are more special event days but the majority of the children in our local schools are still probably unaware of the existence of the museum. They need a far more active outreach team to make the museum well known in the locality as well as to those that can afford to visit in their 4×4 and eat at the cafe and then never come again!
What a shame not to develop the outside area, there’s a huge expanse of concrete slabs but why not some tunnels running underneath it and some adventurous climbing equipment around the edges and some skate ramps for teenagers. Did they actually consult with children, young people and adults at all, I offered my services before the refurbishment but was never contacted, and I know of other parents locally who did the same and were never asked.
It’s more of a museum for middle class adults to go to look at the history of toys and childhood and not one for children over the age of about 7 to go to and have fun, very sad.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
I noticed an article about the new director of the Museum of Childhood recently. She’s Rhian Harris who took over in September 2008 and used to be director of the Foundling Museum. She does seem to live locally but the article suggests she’s keen to attract more adults to the Museum of Childhood. Lorna, email me and I’ll send you details.
Rosemary
R.Silvester@bristol.ac.uk
January 14th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
It is important that the interactive items and things that children can touch and fiddle with are spread throughout the museum and not just housed in one area. The science museum lets itself down in this way.
Short & easy to read labels also help make exhibits more interesting to those children whose reading is not yet to adult levels.
January 16th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Liked the manifesto, haven’t seen it anywhere either. As a mum of a young toddler the things we like are specific under 5s activity days/session, clean accessible changing facilities (that can be used by Dads as well, not just in the lades loos!), step stools in the galleries and toilets, area for toddlers to run about, reasonabley priced cafe where you feel you really can sit with little ones (some of them look very exclusive and eating with a toddler in them would make me nervous!), and even better a picnic area where you can eat your packed lunch when its raining (we go to musuems a lot and can’t afford to eat int he cafe everytime)!
January 18th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
The Manifesto is great. Could extended hours be added? As working parents with hectic schedules, myself and my partner were amazed when visiting the Met in New York on a Friday which was open until 9pm (or possibly 10pm!). The museum was teeming with people of all ages, couples, groups of friends, families with young children or teenagers, even both. Many New York museums open late on a Friday and consequently are busy. I think some Museums in the UK do have extended hours, but for a busy family like us, visiting a museum on a Friday evening would be a great family activity and a great way to start the weekend.
January 25th, 2009 at 12:32 am
I really like the Manifesto and would love to see it in more museums (it would help to know which ones already use it – as I’d be more inclined to visit them)
I agree with many of the previous contributors – longer opening hours (many parents work); good toilets and changing facilities (suitable to take a pram as well as being accessible for dads or men); tickets that allow you to come back again rather than trying to do it all in one day
As your manifesto says – I’d love more interactive items suitable for babies toddlers to use their senses (touch, smell, sight, listening); more activities for the younger under 5s such as song time or painting.
I’d really appreciate a play areas for under 5s to burn off some energy as this could mean we could go as a family and while the older children were looking around with dad/aunts/uncles etc, I could take the younger ones that have a shorter attention span to the play area. (why not have a playground in the grounds of the musuems that could demonstrate some of the exbihits such as mosaic tiles to brighten up the area – and there could also be picnic areas for people who have brought their lunch?); an additional request would be for musuems to have breastfeeding areas that are not in the toilets (this is the norm in most shopping malls!!)
January 30th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Love the Manifesto but, like everyone else here, have never seen it displayed anywhere. Agree with all its main points. My only other ones are to echo some of those posted here:
- Cheaper menus in the cafes. Working parents are often strapped for cash, so cheaper children’s menus would be welcome – the prices in gallery and museum cafes are sometimes over the top.
- Play areas for under 5s would be ace. I realise this is beyond the remit of most galleries and museums – they may well argue that they are not there just to provide soft play centres – but it would really help when going out with the family, or even when it’s just my toddler and me, to have a space where he can let off steam either before or after a ‘proper’ gallery visit.
- Training for in-gallery staff. My toddler runs around alot in gallery spaces (loves the wide open space) and, although he doesn’t cause any harm, he gets tutted at occasionally by attendants, annoyed, presumably, at him thundering up and down. This is what kids do, and it helps him understand that he is ‘allowed’ to be in a gallery or museum, and that it’s OK to have fun there. A happy toddler grows into an interested art lover, after all. So a little understanding of how toddlers operate would be invaluable to attendants who perhaps don’t have children of their own (and I am talking here about harmless running up and down, laughing and loud talking rather than being a nuisance – there is a difference, obviously!)
- On the breastfeeding areas, agree they shouldn’t be in the toilets, but I’d also encourage any breastfeeding mums to try feeding in public. I fed my son in cafes and the like for a year. Takes a bit of getting used to (and was done with the artful use of a scarf or two), but seeing a breastfeeding woman in public helps ‘normalise’ it and thus encourages other women. It’s a fabulous thing to do for your child – don’t hide it away!
February 5th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
hi, have only just seen an article in today’s Guardian about this. May I please put in a request on behalf of the rest of us who don’t have children. Whilst I am all for anything which will make it more ‘normal’ for children to go to museums and for it not to be perceived as ‘elitist’ (how I hate that word and the connotations thereof) we have recently visited several galleries/museums where the experience was thoroughly destroyed because of uncontrolled noisy (shrieking) children tearing about, with parents apparently oblivious to the fact that this kind of behaviour is very unpleasant for anyone who simply wanted to see the exhibits. Is it not also extremely bad manners to expect others to tolerate this? Before you all dismiss me as a bad-tempered sourpuss – could there perhaps be some periods set aside for those of us who really would prefer to visit in peace and quiet – especially when the entrance fees to many exhibitions are not cheap? Contrary to that which you all may think, I am not against children in museums and I am sympathetic to the basic premise – but, please, I don’t want to be pushed and bumped into and have to put up with levels of noise!!!!
Also, enough already, don’t lets normalise breastfeeding in public restaurants etc; of course it’s normal, part of life etc etc – I just don’t think that it’s appropriate in every situation.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I would like to point out the need to recognise children’s culture; recognise the necessity of a space, a public space, where children can have the opportunity to negotiate their activities and identities. This necessarily would lead us to recognise that children’s socialisation process is different than school and homes. At schools a fixed, predetermined, teacher-centred practices, are not essentially consider children’s agency and rights. Within the museum environment this could be translated, as the requirement for pedagogy of ‘informal learning environments’, where a different practice would not only recognise the affordances of the context; children’s culture, agency and needs, but would promote continuity and a trajectory of children’s activities. My reflections comes from an action-research, part of my PhD studies on ‘how children make-meaning with digital technologies in informal learning environments?’.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Please take your noisy kids to Disneyland, not to museums and galleries where they ruin everyone else’s pleasure. who are you kidding? Only yourselves.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Just replying to Mr Fred Smith, children can enjoy both Disneyland and museums. They’ll have a different experience at each place, they’ll also learn how different behaviours are appropriate to different places.
Children can learn to have respect for other visitors and appreciate that people come to museums for all sorts of reasons, museums do belong to all of us and we can all enjoy visiting them.
Mr Smith may like to read the interview with Joanne Young, the first British member of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel, go to the ‘What’s Happening’ page and the second item – ‘features’ will take you there. He can read Joanne’s views about Theme parks and Museums and the comparisons she makes about visiting with her family.
February 6th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I think balance, understanding and respect are what’s required here. Children are people too and the old adage of them being seen and not heard is simply outdated. We have so much to share with children that many galleries, museums and historical sites are doing a fantastic job with. It is the attitude of some that limits the opportunities for others. I appreciate what others have commented on regarding visiting museums whilst children are present but I expect its a case of not noticing all those times you have visited museums with quiet and engaged children there, we are so quick to highlight the negative. Communication goes a long way and in part it is not necessarily the parent that is failing the child in those cases but the museum they are in.
I have enjoyed many memorable visits to galleries and museums all over the country and abroad it is my absolute favourite thing that we do as a family. I think that better understanding and tolerance of just why these experiences are so valuable to young people will undoubtedly nurture a more respectful culture. Lets see if we come come up with some sensible solutions to making visits to galleries and museums positive for us all? Maybe a designated session recommended for families with discounted entry might be useful? Grown ups without children should perhaps plan their visits during lunchtimes as children tend to need to eat between 12pm-1pm? and last but not least breastfeeding should ALWAYS be supported in public.
Favourite museums with kids; V&A ( love the garden especially the water!),
Tate Modern (great food and views), Charleston, Sussex (beautiful countryside for walks and picnics)
February 7th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I am totally against your views and actions. There are precious few places left in this life where we can visit to enjoy a tranquil and quiet experience, away from the hustle & bustle of modern life. Museums are special places which have always had a dignified, quiet and respectful ambiance. The last thing I want are clusters of squealing, excited kids shattering that calm, peaceful atmosphere. Museums should be places where we can think, contemplate and study, they’re not places for rowdy children to giggle, shout and spoil everyone else’s enjoyment. Children are catered for in most areas of public life. They can chatter, squawk and cause chaos in parks, fast food establishments, sports centres, swimming pools, funfairs and a whole array of public arenas. Because of this, some places should be kept for people who don’t want to suffer the disruptive antics of other people’s offspring. Indeed, these parents should be teaching their children that there’s a time and a place to be noisy and a time and a place to be quiet. Children need to understand that they can’t do what they want, when they want and they should respect other people by not irritating them. Like the early gentleman said, if you want your kids to scream and shout, take them to Disney land. I’m sick to the back teeth of parents expecting others to tolerate their noise polluting children.
February 7th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I should have liked to have been able to commend an initiative designed to appeal to the fresh senses of imagination,wonder,curiosity and adventure and mystery possessed by children and adolescents and to attract them into museums so that the ‘museum experience’ could form a fruitful part of early years formation and lifelong learning. I am however offended by the word ‘kids’ which is trivialising, belittling and demeaning of, and grossly offensive to, children. Put simply, it disrespects them. Along with my interest, please would you kindly register my complaint and consider your terminology.
Yours,
Peter Thornber
February 9th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
I like children, honest – some of them, at least – but I too resent the notion that every public space and event must be child-friendly. Most art exhibitions are pitched at adults, and those adults’s experience of the art can be severely compromised by all that natural childish exuberance, not to mention howling babies. Inevitably, family groups are focused on each other, forming a moving mass that the childless ignore at their peril.
As for all the stuff about making things in shops cheaper – well, we’d all like that, wouldn’t we? I doubt museum shops price things in order to annoy parents or indeed to miss possible sales.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
As I listened to the CBC radio this morning at work I heard your interview about Kids in Museums. I work in a small museum in New Brunswick Canada and have been here for almost a year now. One of the first things I did as the Museum Manger was attempt to make the museum visit experience for families a pleasant one.
I have three kids and I personally know how awful it can be taking a child to a cultural organization. I have never been “asked to leave” a museum (stores yes) but I know that it can be challenging to keep a child interested and calm in a gallery space. I have visited galleries where my toddler and I were followed by security from one gallery to the next as though we were criminals. It really bothered me because I was keeping an eye on my child and I knew that he was not going to touch anything. As well, they have cameras that they could use to watch you discretely. On another occasion, my toddler and I discovered a clay table at a gallery that was staffed and set up for children. What a great day for us, we stayed for a record hour and left very happy and with some of our own art.
I find that parents with kids make short visits and parents do not always have time to look at all the things that they would like to. We try to create games that take children from one gallery to the next and have a few small areas set up for kids to play or read. We have colouring pages, and puzzles in case they’re not the colouring type, for when the parent’s watch our Orientation video. I’ve enlisted the help of my daughter (she’s eight) and she loves that she gets to volunteer at her Mommy’s work creating programs. She knows better than I do on what keeps children entertained.
As new exhibits are installed we try to think about the children patrons and what we can do to make the exhibit interesting and accessible for them. If you can keep the child happy in the room then Mom and/or Dad have a better chance to look around. I don’t expect that the children will suddenly become history gurus but they can be engaged or entertained whenever possible. So far we have had a positive response from most families and they always say that they want to come back to see more. We are a very little museum (non-profit) with a tiny permanent staff (1) but we do our best.
I would like to note that our provincial Museum (The New Brunswick Museum) is excellent. I took my children for a visit last summer and they have a room for kids, activities throughout and staff on hand to interact with them. It was a stressful visit for me because my kids were REALLY high-strung that day but they enjoyed their visit and in the end so did I.
I love what you are doing; there is definitely a need for it. I feel that if we want our children to grow up to appreciate art, history and museums/galleries then they have to be exposed to it at a young age. Even if it’s done in short visits, it will make the difference in the end.
Cheers!
Ruth Murgatroyd
Museum Manager and Mom of 3 energetic children
February 18th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
This website, and the idea behind it, needs to be shhhhhhd!
Some of us will never give up on teaching children to be quiet and respectful where it will interrupt others.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:24 am
I was involved with two small rural museums in Canada for many years, both which catered to children, adults and families alike. I wholeheartedly support the Manifesto. The time has come to shed the “Shsh!” doctrine in museums, which is happening little by little at more and more museums in Canada. Change is slow, but the momentum is there and less and less grumbling is heard from the public. And for sure, both sides have to be respected.
We accomplished this by specifically targeting a large part of our programming to children – which also by design appealed to older visitors. The older attendees are free to ‘roam on their own’ so to speak, while we have a completely different set-up for children (14 and under).
Without all the details in this space, our children’s programme was structured on a teacher’s lesson plan as used in his or her class, but heavy on ‘classroom management’ as well. The teachable component looked after itself, but we knew that it was as good as gone if we – as volunteer staff – could not control the children. This ranged from small groups from a pre-school to as many as 90-100 children from three Grade Six classrooms.
We were fortunate in having retired school teachers among our volunteers, who gladly showed us non-teachers key management techniques. These applied both for small groups and the very large.
Not only were disruptions few and far between (through the 25 years I was involved) but also we began to notice that as we led the lesson with the children, nearby adults not with the group stood by to take it all in as well. Fine with us! But before leaving one station to go to the next, we always invited those other visitors to precede us. Show respect for your elders, class.
Some of the students held the doors for them, or shushed classmates behind them, or escorted a senior a little unsteady on her feet. In turn, they always made a point of thanking them for their kindness, which the entire group saw. Mutual respect doing its thing.
As long as children visiting our two museums clearly see that
1) they are welcomed by a smiling adult;
2) are read the ‘riot act’ by that same smiling adult, and
3) see that their visit is also going to be a lot of fun -
they and all unrelated adult visitors can mutually enjoy their time in the same space. Not once in all our years have we had one complaint from an adult about misbehaving children. Indeed, many have commented that they wish “..more children were like this.”
We recognize that adults and children visiting a museum will have very different expectations about their visit, and we manage to cater to both. (One benefit for us is that our volunteers enjoy their time so much that our attrition rate is very low. Many are 10- and 15-year veterans.)
Admittedly we have a bit easier time on this issue than an older, established, inner-city large museum, but are convinced that policies can be modified to appeal to both age groupings. It is being done.
March 24th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Don’t know if you look for animation to help your cause… we did some films for Tate Kids recently:
http://kids.tate.org.uk/films/
All the best
TBM
April 10th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Your project emphasises the immediacy of physical, sensory and conversational gratification over the contemplation and silence where a child’s imagination really grows. It is the same disastrous short-termism that plagues us everywhere else. This whole project is a horribly misconceived attempt on the part of adults who use their children as proxies to hold on to the creativity they think they’ve lost in their own lives.
Point 10 – teach kids respect. Fine, but does this mean teaching kids to have respect for the contemplative needs of other adults in the museum? In my experience not.
Point 15 – Provide some quiet space. What else is a museum?
Point 16 – Don’t say shush. Well, yes, do say shush. Not all thoughts are worth expressing immediately. A child’s silence is creative, both for the child and the adults around it. Your attitude is therapeutic. Say what you feel as soon as you feel it and don’t repress it. You will cure your children of their imagination rather than nurture it.
Go to anywhere where real imaginative work in the sciences and arts is being done, and guess what, it involves a lot of stillness and silence. Go to any boring office space where people are doing pointless work and what is it like? Full of noise and people talking. What do you want for your children? It starts now.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
We love the manifesto and have used it in staff training at the Highland Folk Museum.
It would be great to have large posters of the manifesto to display at reception – are they available?
April 15th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Highland Folk Museum again – Kids in Museums supplied their Logo and we created a great A3 poster for Reception – with the Manifesto and also asking if visitors can make further suggestions to create a family friendly site – The Mammoth is really great and looks superb on a poster.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I’ve recently been to see the Van Dyke at Take Britain with son (6) and daughter (9) – we have family membership. I hired the headphones for myself, but was amazed how much the children enjoyed using them – and how much more they got out of the exhibition- and once they got used to the technology – and also how quiet they were. However, what would be an idea is to add a separate voice over aimed at a younger audience – with perhaps children being involved in the making of it. A great way of keeping children’s attention and avoiding “letting off steam” mid-exhibition. I agree that children shouldn’t ruin an exhibition for more serious art-lovers – but separate viewing times seems a little drastic.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Why shouldn’t children be able to enjoy museums? As the parent of a disabled child i also feel that it is paramount that museums are also made more accessible to ALL children, regardless of their age or ability. Those who have left comments saying that children are not welcome in museums should perhaps take on board that the only way to eradicate ignorance and bigotry is to be more accepting of difference and to allow children to grow up in a world where EVERYONE matters.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Hello,
I used http://www.kidsinmuseums.org.uk forum to get information for that i had in my class. This is an excellent site for this information
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm
My top 3 places to visit this last fortnight.
West Stow Anglo Saxon village in Suffolk. The friendly, archaeologist guide was superb, the homes & trails amazing. The exhibition was interesting, the cafe great value & shop had good things to buy.
The National Portrait Gallery, BP Portrait Award 2009 has a very good quality Family Trail leaflet for children to enjoy. A real buzz going on. And free!
We took friends with their 12 year old son to the Enjoy Bristol Science on Sunday. Very interactive & I liked the animation opportunity. Good shop with decent objects to buy priced at £1. I am sending a bendy Morph to my son in Antartica!
August 5th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Thanks for all those recommendations. Do nominate them for the Family Friendly Museum Award. Further details how to do so on our Guardian Award pages. Families decide the winner!
October 15th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
I just wanted to say that I took my 13-year old daughter and her 12-year old friend to a Jacqueline Wilson event at the Foundling Museum last Saturday. It was the most AMAZING day, the event was terrific, and very well organised. The Foundling Museum itself was so interesting and informative, and very stimulating – my two girls got home after a very tiring day and immediately went out to the park to take some photographs and try and make a short film as they were so inspired by the short b/w films running in the basement gallery of the Foundling Museum. I hope the Foundling Museum becomes better known, it was purely by accident that I met someone at a networking event at Middlesex University who is the events co-ordinator for the Foundling Museum. I had never heard of the Museum before that, and it is the most fantastic place to visit.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I have worked in a rural life museum for the past 4 and a half years. We are an independant Museum so we have to charge an entry in order to survive. It is set on a large site with many open spaces. We are going to sign up to the Kids In Museums manifesto as we believe in many of it’s aims. If children do not feel welcome in Museums they will not visit them in adulthood. Do those people who have complained about children in museums remember being a child? I bet they were taken to museums etc when they were younger and that is why they still go today. EVERYONE should be welcome and we need to remove the elitist middle class image of museums and galleries. They preserve and promote our culture for the whole of the country not just the chosen few.
I have to say that we very rarely have any problems with children being disruptive to other visitors. The only time this may happen is when they are not properly supervised by the adults with them and not through noise as other vistiors usually see that a museum should be a place of fun.
The visitors who cause the most trouble tend to be adults who disagree with paying, who ignore barriers and climb in displays or complain about things such as puddles (something which is very hard to do anything about especially as we are based on an old farming estate).
January 12th, 2010 at 9:55 am
The new manifesto looks great! Can’t wait to see all the reaction to it at the Launch on Thursday!
January 14th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I’d like to wholeheartedly agree with Trevor, George, and Fred’s comments above and add a few more.
I’m a regular visitor to museums and galleries and have seen all of them over recent years turn into little more than glorified creches, full of parents letting their children tear around the place shouting and screaming. Or as the museums like to call it “participating”. Hove museum is a wonderful place, but I avoid it at the weekend as you just can’t hear yourself think in there.
Weston Park museum in Sheffield used to be one of my favourite places to go as a child – it was dark, warm, quiet, a bit fusty and full of amazing things that I could look at for as long as I wanted. Today it’s like the Early Learning Centre.
Children spend most of their days being noisy and racing around at school, after-school clubs, playing computer games, etc etc, why can’t we keep museums (and galleries) as a calm, peaceful environment and parents use them as a chance for their children to experience something different – being quiet, looking, thinking and drawing.
If they don’t want to do this or are incapable, then please take them to the nearest playground.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Keep children out of museums, they’re usually not interested and just ruin the experience for those who are interested. Museums and galleries are not an ‘activity experience’, they are places where people come to contemplate and marvel at wonderful works which are usually beyond a child’s understanding. Middle class parents should put the children in the park and let their imaginations work for themselves instead of filling up every public place, because they are too lazy to manage them properly.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:39 pm
our home educated children are in a museum at least once a week. i usually negotiate the cheapest entry fee i can, but it is irritating to have to do so when i could be better spending the time engaging with the kids and exhibits.
on the plus side, i have 100% praise for all you very patient and kind museum people who deal with us, from desk staff to behind-the-scenes curators. we use our fantastic museum resources as part of our learning lifestyle, and we would not do so were we not greeted with interest and kindness.
but what has ed balls to do with this? what is his agenda here? is he coming up with a fantastic idea to have a great big non-uniform family database here, run for our convenience by capita?
March 1st, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Why does a museum have to be child friendly? I would prefer a museum visitor friendly (that encompasses EVERYONE, no more ghettos please).
What does it mean then childfriendly? I am a curator in a museum and what it really means is that we have to dumb down information and labels, using simple words. Of course you cannot use ‘technical’ words all along but by doing so, very often, you loose the accuracy of the information you want to convey. An example: we were told ‘you cannot use the word electron’. What do you then propose to use? Would you prefer ‘subatomic particle carrying a negative electric charge’? Surely not. Parents should take control and explain to their kids. That’s called communication. And if the parents don’t know about it. Why not a trip to the nearest library with your kids? Museums are here to inspire and educate. To educate you should aim at just above the visitor’s level of education. Otherwise watch ITV or Channel4 ‘educational programs’.
Playgrounds are here for kids to run around, shout, scream…Playgrounds are the places were you should advice ‘don’t say shush!’. Not museums. In Museums yes, please says SHUSH. And yes please say DON’T TOUCH.
A question: Are kids ever seen wondering alone in museums as are adults? Of course not. They are always accompanied by their parents. So parents, please start to be responsible for your kids and theach them good manners and behaviour. A kid’s behaviour is the mirror of the parent’s behaviour. THat’s whom they learn from.
For all those propably screaming at my post (poor souls!) I will say that I have 2 children. We go to the museum I work for often enough. THey enjoy the place. But when they want to run about we go to playground or even better woods.
This ‘manifesto’ brings more harm to museums than benefits.