Making Museums Count

By Jason Adair

I’ve read that as parents, it is our job to provide our children with culturally enriching opportunities so that they may develop into fully realized adults with an appropriate understanding of themselves, the world around them, and how to mix the two. Experts agree that the best way to achieve this is to take them on a tour of several different countries, (at least three from each continent plus Greenland) see the cathedral at Chartres, Lenin’s Tomb, The Sphinx, and Amish people hand-churning butter. Really good parents will also give their children opportunities to: build a hovercraft, get a parasite, have lunch with a famous author, and, of course, blog about all of it. I know what you’re thinking, “How can I build a hovercraft?! I never even took physics!” To that I say, “The hovercraft is a pipedream!” and “There are alternatives that don’t include visiting Greenland!” Finally, I would also like to add, “There are plenty of enriching activities that don’t require air travel—or tapeworms!” I’m speaking specifically of taking your family to any of our local museums.

Now, a trip to a museum might seem like a simple task, and it can be, but if you want your kids to get the most out of it, you’re going to have to put some work into it (not as much as it takes to do your taxes, but a little more than making your morning coffee). Placer County Museums Curator of Education, Karen Mattson, gave me a list of helpful tips that will turn a good museum trip into a great one:

1. Do some research.
Karen says, “It’s always a good idea to find out what you can expect to see when you visit the museum.” Check out the museum’s website or give them a phone call to see what they have on display. “Not only will you be able to answer some of your kid’s questions, but you’ll also be more engaged in the experience.” It’s also a great way to gauge how kid friendly a museums is. Some might have a lot of hands on displays while others, like the Crocker Art Museum have activity packs for kids to use while in the museum.

2. Find a museum experience that suits your family.
Let’s face it—passively attending cultural events for the sake of absorbing culture is an adult idea (and no fun!). Kids, on the other hand, need to be actively engaged by either the subject matter or their parent’s enthusiasm. For example, even though I personally am not into trains, my son loves the Railroad Museum so much that I have a good time there in spite of myself. Conversely, I am so into the Sierra Sacramento Valley Museum of Medical History—which has one of the last working iron lungs on the west coast!—that, through my enthusiasm, he is able to get into the whys and wherefores of physicians from bygone eras.

3. Have the talk.
So many parents assume their little angels know how to act in a museum setting, but Karen says she can spot (in “less than one second”) those kids who have been properly briefed on how to behave in a museum setting, and those who have not had the talk. Granted, museums often inhabit a point somewhere between a library, school, an antiques store, a playground and your uptight grandmother’s house, and this makes it difficult for kids to figure out just what’s expected of them, especially when every museum is so different. But this is just yet another reason to learn about the museum before you go. Any kid’s best bet is to approach every museum as if it were a cross between the antique store and the library. In short: expect a learning experience; don’t expect to be able to touch anything, and use your indoor voice. This way, if you go on a guided tour of a house museum, like the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento or The Bernhard Museum in Auburn, your kids won’t feel all caged up, and if you end up at the Discovery Museum’s Science and Space Center— where they can touch just about anything inside and then go for a walk on the nature trails outside—it will be a pleasant surprise.

Armed with this sage advice from Karen, who is one of the best in the business, (disclaimer: Karen Mattson and I work together for the Placer County Museums), and further prepared with online museum info from placer.ca.gov/Museums.aspx, you and your family are now set to have perhaps the greatest museum experiences of your life. Congratulations!

Jason Adair is an award-winning columnist and freelance writer as well as an exhibit preparator for the Placer County Museums. His favorite museum of all time is LA’s Museum of Jurassic Technology, followed by every maritime museum he’s ever been to.