Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Kids like Museums, too. Some Museums like Strollers.

Those who live here don't need to conjure up the image of lots of strollers. Just go down to 5th Avenue any weekend day or weekday afternoon, and you'll see all sizes, colors, and styles rolling about. Sunset Park's stroller parade doesn't get as much press as our friendly neighbor to the northeast-ish because it's not as cool to poke fun at and deride people who aren't perceived as privileged. In fact, I think the stroller-mom-hating that used to be pervasive seems to have waned. That, or I have just stopped paying attention because it's so repetitive, silly, and boring.

Anyway, Mommy Poppins, the Manhattan-centric parenting site, has a useful list of museums around NYC that allow, limit, and/or shun strollers. It's not a Sunset Park link, admittedly, but since there are tons of kids in the area (and always have been), I figured some people might appreciate the information.

My advice: choose off-hours to bring your kids. No matter how polite or deferential you attempt to be (and with kids in a museum that doesn't have the word children or natural in the name begs parents to be polite in the extreme), children will be annoying to SOMEone. (So will many other people, but that's a different issue.) That's not to say we shouldn't bring off-spring to museums; that's part of what makes NYC so amazing for children. But be real and be fair to other patrons. A crowded museum isn't fun no matter who you are with or without. Isn't MoMA horrific on the weekends? Ugh.

Even the under-patronized Brooklyn Museum is best when it first opens, especially on the weekends. The American floor is great, what with the historical houses and comfy seating. One of my favorite paintings is The Shepherdess of Rolleboise, by Daniel Ridgway Knight. On one trip to the Brooklyn Museum (when The Dinner Party first arrived as a temporary installation) with my students, a group came running up to me very excitedly. They babbled on about how there was a painting of me in the museum. Sure enough, a light-skinned brunette shepherdess with her hair in a bun was enough to be me. I was flattered. Especially because of the fashion sense portrayed. LOVE the layers.

Next up, a list of 5th Avenue stores that allow, limit, and/or shun strollers. ;)

3 comments:

Emily said...

I think your kids were right. She does resemble you.

veesvision.com said...

Oh great! I'd love to know which stores on 5ht actually allow a stroller. There are a lot of stores that lose out to 86th street, Target and the Children's Place because they are persistent about this policy.

Anna said...

Thanks for linking to my museum stroller policy post! I'm trying not to let the "Manhattan-Centric" comment sting, but I hope you'll check out our site again. Tonight I'm launching expanded neighborhood pages and adding a Brooklyn page as well as pages for the other boroughs, Long Island, NJ and the Hudson Valley. I'll be adding specific Brooklyn neighborhood pages next. I hope you'll check it out and let me know what you think.