Toronto Royal Ontario Museum | ?m | ?s | Daniel Libeskind

greenleaf said:
I understand where you are coming from, but parents can often control their kids only to a certain point, just like a poster trying to control ageist comments in this thread.

Believe me, no parent wants their child to be running and yelling around the museum.
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Then the appropriate thing to do is leave - if temporarily - not pretend that nothing is going on and let the kid scream and tick off everyone else (i.e. ignore them and they will exhaust themselves eventually), which is becoming the de rigueur approach. No one else paid close to $20 to suffer that.

AoD
 
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This whole issue is not really specific to museums but rather one of public courtesy.

I think it's great that kids are interested in the museum. I also think it's wonderful that the museum ensures there are enough exhibits that appeal to kids. Prohibiting children from attending so that the museum can have an air of sophistication and class is not the correct approach.

The underlying issue are the parents who let their kids run wild rambunctiously with no care in the world. Granted, I'm glad they're not in the majority but there will always be a few that unfortunately misrepresent that whole group in the eyes of everyone else.
 
James said:
This whole issue is not really specific to museums but rather one of public courtesy.

I think it's great that kids are interested in the museum. I also think it's wonderful that the museum ensures there are enough exhibits that appeal to kids. Prohibiting children from attending so that the museum can have an air of sophistication and class is not the correct approach.

The underlying issue are the parents who let their kids run wild rambunctiously with no care in the world. Granted, I'm glad they're not in the majority but there will always be a few that unfortunately misrepresent that whole group in the eyes of everyone else.
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Indeed - I think pretty much everyone on here agrees that children have a place in the museum (education is one of the mission afterall, though we may differ in our views in terms of the degree to which the museum should bend to accommodate their tastes - that's a stylistic issue, and one that can be bridged). What's at issue is the disproportionate impact of children who can't behave themselves and parents who can't be bothered to deal with that. It only takes a few of those to lower the experience for everyone else.

AoD
 
greenleaf said:
I understand where you are coming from, but parents can often control their kids only to a certain point, just like a poster trying to control ageist comments in this thread.

Believe me, no parent wants their child to be running and yelling around the museum.
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Of course. But do something about it. We all understand that children can be difficult and act up, and we are all sympathetic (or we all should be sympathetic) to those parents we see trying (in vain) to calm/quiet their kids in a public space where yelling and screaming is not appropriate. Most parents are responsible and considerate to others. And typically those parents, if they cannot get their children to quiet down, step out (either temporarily or for good). The level of self-entitlement some other parents have, whereby they think the space is theirs and they can ruin everyone else's experience just because they can't control their children, simply astounds.

If one's children are going to yell and scream, and it can't be helped, then one should take them to chuck e cheese or a park or something. Leave the ROM to a day when they can behave.

And, being critical of bad parenting is not ageism, not matter how many times you keep repeating that.
 
Skeezix said:
Of course. But do something about it. We all understand that children can be difficult and act up, and we are all sympathetic (or we all should be sympathetic) to those parents we see trying (in vain) to calm/quiet their kids in a public space where yelling and screaming is not appropriate. Most parents are responsible and considerate to others. And typically those parents, if they cannot get their children to quiet down, step out (either temporarily or for good). The level of self-entitlement some other parents have, whereby they think the space is theirs and they can ruin everyone else's experience just because they can't control their children, simply astounds.

If one's children are going to yell and scream, and it can't be helped, then one should take them to chuck e cheese or a park or something. Leave the ROM to a day when they can behave.

And, being critical of bad parenting is not ageism, not matter how many times you keep repeating that.
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Are you a parent? Is anyone else here commenting on parenting and kids a parent?
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Then the appropriate thing to do is leave - if temporarily - not pretend that nothing is going on and let the kid scream and tick off everyone else, which is becoming the de rigueur approach. No one else paid close to $20 to suffer that.

AoD
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I agree. I was once at a member's preview of a new exhibit at the AGO, at 5 pm on a weekday, and a parent insisted on carrying one continuously screaming child in his arms and another in a stroller through each room; last week, I saw the Outsiders photo exhibit, also at the AGO, and another parent with a loud child walked into the area where Nan Goldin's very adult film The Ballad of Sexual Dependency was being screened and remained there for several minutes.

I don't want to veer too far off topic, but I fled the ROM with my partner more than once due to excessive yelling, and I even thought about not renewing my membership for that very reason. I'm not sure cash-strapped institutions can afford to lose their patrons due to situations they should better control. If they did, it would be one way to improve our enjoyment of their collections that wouldn't require huge capital investments. I'm seeing the new Tattoos exhibit tomorrow and I'm not sure if I should be looking forward to it or not!
 
greenleaf said:
Are you a parent? Is anyone else here commenting on parenting and kids a parent?
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We don't need to be a parent - we just need to have suffered the end product of poor parenting. We ourselves were children once and have parents of our own - and I can guarantee you that mine wouldn't have tolerated poor behaviour along said lines - and most certainly would not have let the issue progress to a point where it became a constant disruption to everyone else.

AoD
 
I have noticed over the years, art galleries and museums are becoming more "family friendly" I think it's an accident waiting to happen. The ROM and especially the AGO should have a supervised play area where adults can drop off their children like at Ikea. That way the the kids can run around scream and fart and they won't disrupt the people in the exhibits. Or set aside a few hours a day for families. After a certain time no one under 10 permitted in the gallery.
 
greenleaf said:
LOL. Whatever. I'm done on this issue.
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Dude are children allowed to scream in a library? No, they are immediately told to shut up or leave. Museums are very much the same.

When I was a child my parents often took me to museums and art galleries (both in Toronto and abroad). The second I started something my mother would shoot me the death stare. Knowing full well I would get a beating if I kept it up, I shut up.
 
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gabe said:
I have noticed over the years, art galleries and museums are becoming more "family friendly" I think it's an accident waiting to happen. The ROM and especially the AGO should have a supervised play area where adults can drop off their children like at Ikea. That way the the kids can run around scream and fart and they won't disrupt the people in the exhibits. Or set aside a few hours a day for families. After a cretin time no one under 10 permitted in the gallery.
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As a child, I was a huge fan of the IKEA play room. I remember crying when they told me I was too tall for the ball pit... Anyway great idea for museums. They can make it educational as well as fun.
 
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