A museum is not a playground

[dbblsanta]

We had a class field trip to the Quai Branly museum in Paris yesterday, and it seemed that every elementary school in France decided to visit as well. At the entrance it was cute listening to little kids talk to each other in French, but inside the museum they became little maniacs. Our tour guide was obviously unnerved by the commotion and at one point during her talk excused herself, went towards a group of kids who were running around, who then ran from her at top speed in a hall full of delicate objects.

At another point she was interrupted by a small crowd of pre-schoolers led by a woman. She asked their teacher for a bit of silence, s'il vous plaît, to which she responded, "They're pre-schoolers." Boo fricken' hoo. Discpline the brats or don't bring them to quiet public places like museums.

[skeptic53]

Visited D.C. second week of May one year, thought it was an ideal time since it wasn't Cherry Blossoms or spring break or summer vacation.

WRONG! It was prime school-field-trip season. A marble-and-granite museum full of 3,000 middle schoolers is noisy enough to wake the dead.

[Sheldonrs]

I must disagree. I'm perfectly fine with kids running all over the place at a museum. Provided it's either the Museum of Broken Glass or the Museum of High Explosives.

[boringscreenname]

I don't understand why people would even bother taking a bunch of over-active, hyper preschoolers to a regular museum. It sounds like a recipe for disaster and my worst nightmare.

I only take my son to the children's museum, until he's old to appreciate and behave appropriately in a regular musuem.

[RestaurantDude]

I must disagree. I'm perfectly fine with kids running all over the place at a museum. Provided it's either the Museum of Broken Glass or the Museum of High Explosives.

What about that new Museum of Broken Glass, High Explosives, and Sharp Pointy Things they are opening this June?

[Mnemjian]

Can preschoolers even appreciate a museum? My friend's two-year-old barely comprehends the zoo yet, and that has big cute animals!

[protege]

Noisy and unruly children are *exactly* why I don't go to museums or other places until it's summer. Why? Well, they're out of school by then...and the vast majority would rather play video games or watch TV. Which means that they're not annoying the hell out of me

[greek_jester]

Our tour guide was obviously unnerved by the commotion and at one point during her talk excused herself, went towards a group of kids who were running around, who then ran from her at top speed in a hall full of delicate objects.

My mother, who walks with a stick, can be a bit sucky about things like this. After the first rugrat has cannoned into her legs, she'll ask the guardian to keep an eye on the kids. After that, if they're still running around, she'll stop in front of a display & stand with the stick cocked out at an angle if she sees them heading in her direction. If the kid goes flying, her attitude is that the guardian should have made sure the kids were under control after the first incident.

Sucky? Yes. Can't say I entirely blame her, though, after some of the bruises she's come home with over the years. Particularly after one little bastard who knocked her off her feet stood there laughing while she tried to get up - & the mother joined in

[Treasure]

Particularly after one little bastard "darling" who knocked her off her feet stood there laughing while she tried to get up - & the mother joined in

OOOHhh... my mother also walks with a cane, and its bad enough the dogs at home try to knock her off balance as they escort her to the bathroom... but if someone's little "darling" were to do this to my mother.... after I got her up and made sure she was OK, I'd probably get myself banned from whatever place we were in for my choice words that i would deliver, not only to the responsible party but to their irresponsible parent. (parent is the nicest word i could decide on that wouldn't get me in trouble)

[greek_jester]

...but if someone's little "darling" were to do this to my mother.... after I got her up and made sure she was OK, I'd probably get myself banned from whatever place we were in for my choice words that i would deliver, not only to the responsible party but to their irresponsible parent

She wasn't with me that day, & she didn't tell me about it until months later. My mother knows me well - my temper is pretty short when someone hurts my family.

The last time someone cannoned into my mum in my presence (with a trolley!), the little *ahem* 'darling' had several strips torn off of his hide with my tongue (& I was quite proud that I kept it expletive-free). When him mum came around the corner & realised what had happened, she tore a few strips off of the other side.

[Erin]

I'm having health problems this month, and am starting to want to use a cane because of a balance issues.

Anyone's kids knocking me down, or laughing at me after they've knocked me down will become pinatas.

My mom also has balance issues (and bad knees, and is now recovering from a broken shoulder) and the last time we were out in a crowd, a bunch of kids went pushing past her and nearly knocked her into a store display of breakables. My dad had to restrain me from wanting to kill the brats.

[Crime Scene Scarf]

My friends and I go to the Natural History museum in London, every summer, to look at the animals and dinosaur parts.

We have a system for dealing with children who run into us, and that is to simply walk forward, quickly. Knocks them off their feet, if they're small, and goads them into being obnoxious enough to get a parents attention, if older, which normally ends with them being taken to anothe part of the museum.

[dutifuldaughter]

Today a class visit (university, second- or third-year level) was scheduled here at the Museum of Amazing Stuff. I shake down everyone for their bags and coffee cups before letting them into the program room, which is laid out with much Amazing Stuff relevant to their subject of research.

But I am powerless to ask one student to leave what she has brought in one of our lockers, because what she has brought is a boy child of maybe two years of age. Even my limited experience with children allows for the fact that bringing a two-year-old into a room full of rare and expensive objects is what you might call a bad idea. Especially when said two-year-old is active, wide awake, annoyed at having been deprived of his sippy cup due to our no-food-or-drink regulations, and bored to tears. I don't blame the child, who was quite predictably bored to tears in a room full of stuff he couldn't touch and adults who were shushing him - the point is that he shouldn't have been there in the first place, and his mother was either oblivious or deranged to have thought that this was going to work. Does she take him to class during the week, I wonder? (I doubt it.) Why would a field trip to the Museum of Amazing Stuff be somehow permissible when bringing a two-year-old to class is not?

To her credit she was eventually convinced of the error of her ways and removed him from the program room, but not before much of the lecture had been disrupted ... whereupon she removed him to our gallery for a while, where he ran around bleating, striking things randomly with a toy truck and otherwise letting off steam. I was honestly trying to repress the thunderface but I don't know that I was successful, especially when I had to peel him off my book truck. It was a full half hour before she finally decided that perhaps this was not a successful experiment and packed him into his stroller and left.

He's two, lady. TWO. Think next time. It's not his fault. It's yours. Yes, if you hadn't brought him you would have had to miss the lecture. But may I point out that you missed it anyway?