Culture and children..Make the Effort

When I was growing up, I dreaded the weekends of museum stalking. My father used to pile the four of us into the back of his old cutless, and let me tell you, there wasn't enough room for all four of us back there - and he'd drive us to DC to see the museums. There was no thought given to if this was something the kids would enjoy or not. These were museums that he wanted to see, outings that he enjoyed, and things that I supposed were good for us.

I have rebelled, taking my older children there a few times and then lavishing in years of no museums! My youngest kids, who are now 7 and 8, had yet to see museums, and here we live, right near the museum capital of the world. Well, something happened this past summer. While on vacation in Massachusetts, we took the children to several museums, and had a difficult time getting them OUT of them! Yes, they loved them - reading every exhibit and learning about long-ago worlds, cultures, and animals.

My hubby and I decided that perhaps we were being selfish by not exposing them to the culture that surrounds us. Upon our return to the area, we decided we'd hit a museum and see how it went - knowing full well that house and yard work would go by the wayside, we'd be exhausted and perhaps have to battle the "I'm tired! I'm hungry!" from the children on a constant basis - but we gave it a try. The strangest thing happened. We all actually enjoyed it! Yeah, right! We did - and then we tried a few more museums the next few weekends - you won't believe how many museums there area. The kids crave the outing - they actually get bummed if we try to deny them the trip once we've mentioned it.

There are all sorts of benefits to these outings, besides getting out of house work, that is. The entire family is together, we all get about 3-4 hours of exercise and culture, and no one is sitting in the house playing video games or watching television or nagging. It is truly wonderful.

Now I understand the museum hopping we did as children! What a great big exciting world there is, right outside our front doors! It does take effort, and there are times when the children don't want to see particular exhibits or perhaps don't enjoy every secong - but there's nothing like their little eyes lighting up and that magical look of wonder in their faces when they see new things.

I highly recommend that we all turn into the people our parents were in this way, and take advantage of the culture in your own hometown and the nearby ones as well. Drive the hour to the museum - give the kids a chance to thrive in a little knowledge that is outside their realm of normal thought!

Just my opinion- but loving every moment of it!