Originally published at: Little boy accidentally smashes ancient pottery at museum - Boing Boing
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I know that it’s a from whole different region of the world and time period, but some pots that are repaired with Kintsugi methods end up being even more valuable than the unbroken ones. Just sayin…
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Daddytypes (who was a fabulous dad blogger back in the day, although his site is a bit of a zombie now with broken CSS that makes it hard to read) introduced me to the concept of “museum hands” for kids–hands behind your back when touring a museum.
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I always hold my hands behind my back in museums … after that one incident at the Tate in 1985. And no, I don’t want to talk about it.
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A terrific attitude from the museum to show that there is to be no punishment for an innocent accident and to encourage the child to continue to be curious about the World (although maybe slightly less ‘hands-on’ in future).
Well done them.
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Not only museums. In my field, we call it “engineer gloves”, but usually it’s hands-in-pockets. Only touch what you’re invited to touch.
Wow, that last statement can apply to more situations than I was envisioning a second or so ago!
Kudos on the resolution of an unfortunate but learnable lesson, for the family and the museum.
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The problem was caused by the father not watching the 4 year old in a museum. The child was behind him when this happened. It was the father’s fault not the child’s.
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That belongs in a museu- oh… never mind.
But seriously, why would pottery be in open air? It should be behind glass. The good news is, they should be able to repair it.
I’ve worked at a couple museums. People touch things. Ropes and signs help, but they don’t stop people from touching things.
OMG - we had the Command Module control panel from Apollo 13 and it had like 1000 little switches that adults couldn’t resist touching.
Paintings have to be watched because people touch them. Heck last time I went to an art museum, there was this piece similar to the one posted below, and while talking with the docent managed to touch the glass TWICE - both times instantly correcting myself, but my god damn brain did it again!
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Really, you would let a 4-year old run through the entire museum with their hands behind their backs? Not just because they’ll fall flat on their face when they trip. That is one weird parenting method, right up there with things like time-out, more akin to dressage than nurture / education.
This. While we don’t know why exactly the father didn’t watch the little fellow in that moment when there were artifacts in his reach, he should have.
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Last time I was at Fallingwater I noticed that the interior tour doesn’t allow children younger than 6. A wise policy, I think, unless the museum is designed for Exploratoreum-style interactivity.
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I took a 5 year old on a playdate to the British Museum, she and her little friend discovered how lovely it is to slide across a well-polished floor, right next to the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles. No harm was done, honest.
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I wouldn’t let a 4-year-old run through an entire museum, period. Nor would I expect them to keep their hands behind their backs while walking. But I ask my kids to keep their hands behind their backs while looking at objects in museums and galleries that are within arm’s reach. I often do it myself, too. That’s in addition to (not instead of) supervising them. When looking at something, it’s natural for kids (and adults) to want to touch and point (pointing can easily turn into inadvertent touching), and I don’t have the Jedi reflexes to stop a little hand from jabbing out and scraping paint off of a painting or knocking something over.
“Museum hands” isn’t being mean to kids. It’s a practical way to allow young kids to see amazing things without breaking anything.
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Let me guess: Alex and his kid aren’t Palestinian.
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If he did knock them over, maybe they’d roll back to Greece.
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If it was Bronze Age shouldn’t it have just dented?
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Maybe it’s more of a practical way to allow parents of young kids to see amazing things without the kids breaking anything? I do get that parents want to do that, because I’ve been there.
We’re talking about a four year old here, and what they find amazing might be totally different.
And having to look at things without being allowed to point out stuff is not really relaxing for young kids either. I don’t see much reason to put kids under that kind of stress. YMMV.
She is part Greek-Cypriot, maybe that was the plan 
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It was an early Sunday morning so there were no other visitors in the gallery and she and her friend just needed to let off some energy for a few minutes.
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