Coming in a day late and an exhibit short, I guess, on the museum
discussion, just to say " Me too!" (Been entertaining the flu as a guest.
My eyes burn.)
 
But I do want to add that, during part of the ten years I worked at our
local museum, we had a director who shall live in infamy in my own mind for
what he did to us. He had a son. A small son at the outset. We had to
change all exhibits and gear everything to his son's level. Including
height on the wall!  And as the boy grew, so did the exhibits, to suit that
child's height and interests and tastes. And only that child's interests
and tastes.  Which were mostly mechanical in a museum of history and
science. You know what it was like!
 
Once I squawked about the level of all signage. He pointed out that was for
wheelchair-bound people   (Hah!) and when I inquired about other adult
people with bad backs or poor eyesight, he just shook his head tolerantly
at me.
 
Eight years later, when I had long since left in disgust, and the son was
about 13, and I had come back to the museum for a look at a new exhibit, he
happened upon me in the exhibit halls.  He pointed out that he had raised
all the signage a bit at my suggestion. He said he had just gotten it
completed! (Yeah, to coincide with his son's adolescence-onset growth
spurt.)  (And yeah, I asked him what the poor wheelchair-bound folks were
going to do now. And you guessed it, he shook his head tolerantly at me.)
He has left the building though.
 
Kids need to feel unprogrammed in order to wonder. And they need to be able
to stand upright. I'm all for kids in museums...they are the scene of some
of my happiest, most discovery laden, and probably most formative hours as
a kid. And with my own kids.  But with supervision and with just a little
reverence inspired in them in the face of all these wonders.  (Wanta talk
about kids in restaurants???)
 
Lynn Scheu (former teacher, and mother of two former kids I adore!)
[log in to unmask]
Louisville, KY, home of the 1999 COA Convention, where the Silent Auctions
will be a wonder to behold!