Original Message------
I would encourage you to shift your thinking a little bit. Until I became a parent, I too thought cell phones should be banned/limited, and parents should be interacting with their children while at a museum. Being at a museum is a wonderful opportunity to learn together and encouraging it or communicating its value to parents is a good thing and an effective method. At Boston Children's Museum they put up signs with photos of parents and kids playing together that read "Unplug... Connect." Brilliant.
However, you shouldn't judge the parents who are not engaging. The fact that they feel safe enough in your environment to take their eyes off their kids for a moment, lets you know that you are doing something right. It is also important for kids to be able to play or explore by themselves. Sometimes, I have to remind myself NOT to engage with my child. They are content without me and that is both a process of becoming independent and valuable to their growth. You don't know how often that parent is visiting and how they are interacting with them on other visits. You also don't know how much the parents engage with their child outside of the museum. A museum visit may be a place where they know they can take a break. It may look like they are playing on their phones, but this may be the one opportunity in the day that their child is occupied, and they can send that email to Grandma about her pending visit.
In regards, to parents chatting with other adults... again I would encourage a shift in perspective. Perhaps they came on a play date (or started a conversation with another visiting parent) and are swapping techniques about parenting and child development. That is valuable interaction and the kind we as children's museums want to encourage. Even if they are just "catching up" with another adult, that can be a recharge moment so they are more present for their child at a different time.
The less you can judge a parent's actions during the brief time they are at a museum, the better. At least they brought their child there! That in itself should be valued.
Of course, a parent not supervising a child while playing on their phone should be corrected. In that instance, you may want to gently remind them that we need their help to supervise their child. We also have several signs up in the museum (around risky activities) that read, "Your child's safety is your responsibility." The fact that it impacts your limited staff resources is a problem. Signage as suggested by another person may help. We put up signs that read "Play together to learn together." But honestly, the thing that has helped me the most has been to shift my own thinking around the issue.
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Tina Keegan
Exhibits Director
Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo
Palo Alto CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2015 01:55 PM
From: Elspeth Inglis
Subject: Parents' use of cell phones while kids run wild in the museum
We're having an increasing number of parents come to the museum with their children, turn the kids loose while they -- the parents -- yak on the phone or text or read e-mails, social media - whatever. The problem is especially pronounced in our preschool room, where parents assume the one museum staff person present will watch after their kid, along with everyone else's. Staff want us to ban phones and other electronic devices, which we can't/won't. Our museum is highly interactive, not just in the preschool room. We are known for our hands-on approach, even in our history gallery. Still -- or maybe because of this -- we find parents actually sitting on the floor with their phones plugged into the outlets in the galleries, ignoring their children while they play. I'm hoping some of you have come up with, or seen, creative ways to get parents to not only pay attention to their children while visiting a museum, but to actually interact with them -- anyone??
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Elspeth Inglis
Assistant Director for Educational Services
Kalamazoo Valley Museum
Kalamazoo MI
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