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Museum s

icture this: A group of
children runs madly
towards the museum
entrance. Your child leads the
group in a rousing chorus to
the tune of "Take Me Out To
The Ballgame":
Take me out to the Walters
Take me to a museum
Show me Picasso and Claude
Monet
I just hope that we stay there
all day!
The previous fantasy is ded-
icated to all those parents
who wish their child would
express excitement over a trip
to the museum. Unfortunate-
ly, there is no "museum

p

gene." If you want your child
to appreciate museums, you
have to teach by example —
and when the child is young,
Following are suggestions to
develop your child's enjoy-
ment of the museum visit,
and to enhance the ex-
perience for both of you.
PREPARE FOR THE
VISIT
The visit is a huge, quiet,
indoor space — none of which
is instantly appealing to the
young child. Furthermore,
most of the people in the mu-
seum are "old people" (trans-
lation: not children) and most
of the paintings are paintings

Children don't
instantly love
museums. But
they can be
taught to enjoy
the experience.

DIANE JACOBS

Special to The Jewish News

of "old people" (translation:
the same.) Consequently, your
explanations of the museum
must match your child's level
of understanding. To the
young child, you might talk
about a "house of art" with
different rooms, just like the
child's house has different
rooms. An older child might
comprehend the concept of
"classics" and what makes
certain objects "great?' You
might talk about why some
baseball cards are "classics"
and why some dolls are "col-
lectibles." Point out how spe-
cial an object must be to be
housed in a museum.

You could buy your child an
art book appropriate to his
age group. Better yet, let the
child select a book from your
pre-selected options, then
relate the child's choice to
works of art in the museum.
BEST TIME TO VISIT
You can enjoy a visit to the
museum without making a
day of it. Consider your
child's attention span and
your child's "prime time" of
the day — is he more likely to
enjoy the museum in the
morning or following an after-
noon nap? For older children,
Saturday afternoons may be
reserved for favorite activi-

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

105