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Old 06-30-2009, 04:18 PM
 
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Those kids sound like real knuckle draggers. I was at the Smithsonian and would have liked more time and I was a teenager back then. Kids today vegetate in front of the TV, the computer, video games, and now can have their precious music and cell phones with them wherever they go. Of course they're becoming simple minded and out of touch with the world around them. Just wait until these "winners" have to enter the work force or become parents. You think the baby boomers did a rotten job as parents, Generation Y and Next will make them look like experts in child rearing.
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Old 06-30-2009, 07:11 PM
 
Location: Denver 'burbs
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Just because you raise kids a certain way, you like museums, or your 8 year old currently likes museums, that is no guarantee that they will always, in every situation love museums and be thrilled to be there. As others have pointed out - kids are their own selves. That becomes more apparent as they get older and are less and less concerned about pleasing you and doing things to make you happy. A teenager not wanting to be at a museum on vacation doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the parents or the school system or the teen in question. Should they be polite and not whiney to their hosts? Yes of course they should but we are all not always at our best after extended time without privacy or "off" time. My kids are probably much better than I was because as a teen - I can remember doing things that I might have been interested in but after a week or so of not being around my friends, just my "dorky" parents/sister, I wouldn't have cared WHAT we were doing. I was just done.

Last edited by maciesmom; 06-30-2009 at 07:47 PM..
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Old 06-30-2009, 11:13 PM
 
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I think most teenagers would find something to interest them at most of the Smithsonian museums. You have to work really hard not to find something interesting! Of course that may well be what they were doing - maybe they were not excited about the trip (which is hard for me to understand, but I know there are those out there who don't like to travel) and wanted to prove a point or something. That said, it sounds like you visited a lot of museums in what I assume was a short period of time. Combine a busy schedule with the fact that many of the Smithsonian museums are always jammed with visitors and the overall experience can be overwhelming, and maybe they were just having a bad day and were tired, hot, and just needed a chance to chill out for a bit. And I agree with some of the others who said that they probably got more out of it than they admit (or even possibly realize themselves), even if they didn't show it.

I liked museums as a kid, as a teenager, and I like them now (history, art, science - all kinds.) I'm biased, of course, as I work in the museum field, but can attest to the fact that there are still plenty of kids and teenagers who enjoy a visit to the museum. Many museums actually have active teenage volunteer programs, and at one of my previous workplaces we hired local high school students to serve as docents during the summer.

That said, there are plenty of adults who find museums the most boring place in the world, too, so museum boredom is not a teenage thing. Adults just have more power to just not go if they don't have an interest.

I don't think these kids are the norm, and I don't automatically think it's the parents' fault. I do think, though, that to a certain extent parents can instill an appreciation for museums or historical sites in their children - if you visit with your kids at an early age and help give them the intellectual tools necessary to get the most out of a visit then they will have an easier time "getting" it both as children and as they grow older. Visiting a museum shouldn't be a passive experience, but a meaningful visit does involve active thinking and some imagination on the visitor's part. That doesn't mean that your kid will end up loving museums as a teenager or an adult, but they'll probably be more likely to than if they'd never had much positive exposure to begin with. Given that so many schools are cutting field trips due to budget issues it's even more important for parents to bring their kids to visit museums. Most museums have free days, too, (and of course some are free or suggested donation) so lack of money needn't be a barrier.

Also, museums (including the Smithsonian museums) are increasingly offering a broad variety of ways to engage visitors in learning; for those out there who have outdated views of what a history museum is like, give them another chance. Some are still the staid, traditional places of the past, but many are pretty interactive and make great places for kids to visit. Almost every museum (excepting the very smallest places) also has a robust calendar of family-oriented events, so you can try that out, too.
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Old 07-01-2009, 02:23 AM
 
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I have never been too interested in museums and I am fairly smart.
All that walking around and some stuff isn't very interesting.
I do like some museums but its just not something I go do.

I usually end up burying myself in my cell phone. I am an active person...so active things interest me.
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Old 07-01-2009, 08:07 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by formercalifornian View Post
There is so much variety in exhibits at the Smithsonian, I'm kind of surprised that something didn't spark their interest, but I agree with previous posters that a love of history usually hits later in life. Also, none of those places are particularly interactive. Even Mount Vernon is a lot of plain walking and looking, unless you plan ahead to participate in one of their interactive events.

But, all that said, was there something they did that indicated that they were bored silly, like whining and complaining? Even if they seemed a bit under-enthused, they may have gotten more out of it than they let on.
They probably did get more out of it than they let on, and many kids at that age want always to look or be cool and pretty much put on that disinterested act for anything parents or other adults come up with. In other words if people their parents' age are doing it, it's not that cool so they have to at least look like they're bored or some one might see them and think they're a geek or something like that.

It's more difficult to travel with teenagers because they think they have a mind of their own and they think they have a right to their own opinions on what they want to do. Some are so bonded with their friends they really miss them when they're away from them and it's true it's a different generation. My brothers laughed because they took a trip to Florida with their girls who were constantly texting -- each other -- while they sat together in restaurants and the beach. Teenagers today can be very weird.
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Old 07-01-2009, 10:03 AM
 
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Washington, DC was one of my favorite places to go when I was a kid and even when I was a teenager. (My grandparents lived in Fairfax, in the Virginia 'burbs, so I spent a lot of time in DC as a kid.)

The Air & Space Museum ROCKS!! I always have to go see To Fly! even though I've seen it a ten or fifteen times. It still makes the bottom of my stomach fall out. But I liked the art museums (especially the Corcoran) and the museum of natural history, too. And the Museum of American History...that's the one with Fonzi's jacket, right? Fun to go to the National Zoo and the old post office (get some ice cream and then go up to see the Carillon) and all the other monuments. I remember my mother working on my brother's reading inside the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials, by making him read the inscriptions out-loud. I think the new FDR memorial is cool...not necessarily a place to hang out, but a neat place to see at least once. And I always have to go to the Vietnam Memorial. Makes me cry, and I have vivid memories of my mother taking us there the year that it opened and running her hands along the wall saying, "I went to school with him!" and "He lived down the street from me" and things like that. Very sad.

Anyway, I had one uncle who would buy all us kids (me, my brother, our cousins) metro tickets, and we'd spend the day just riding the metro and getting out and taking the escalators up and down, then getting back on the train. Some of the escalators are really tall and it was a fun and scary thrill. It was a great thing to do on a rainy day. Talk about your cheap entertainment!

The Holocaust Museum is amazing -- although of course a sombre experience. And I want to go see the Spy Museum...haven't gotten to do that yet. I haven't done the White House or Capitol tours in decades. Maybe I'll go back and do them again soon. A friend and I have been talking about going up this fall when it's cool and spending a week in DC.

I dunno what to say about teens. I think there's no "one-size-fits-all" activity when it comes to kids. Some are gonna love DC, and some are gonna hate it and find it boring. I loved it. The metro, the architecture, the history, the attractions. I thought it was way cool.
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Old 07-01-2009, 01:39 PM
 
Location: Camberville
15,774 posts, read 21,283,299 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler View Post
Understanding the dynamics of being a teenager has it's own challenges, my wife (Jane) and I said afterwords that if we had chosen to have children and they were 16-18 years old now we are sure that they would have been brought up to enjoy museums, the arts, travel and learning just for the sake of education and would not have been so bored visiting museums if we visited friends in another city. OR COULD WE REALLY? Parents?
Obviously said by one who is not a parent and doesn't remember their own childhood!

My parents said the same thing of my brother and I. We never went on "vacations"- we had field trips all over the country. Museums of all description (art, history, science), battlefields, geology and wildlife lessons at national parks, walking tours, etc etc. I grew up to take that to a completely different level than my parents ever could have imagined- my brother would like nothing better than sitting in a hotel room to decompress before laying out at a beach or taking a walk in the park. He hates the rush rush rush of a day doing the tourist circuit in a place like DC. Especially in the summer- even as much as I love museums, I would rather jump off a cliff than go to DC in the summer.

I must say, Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum has ALWAYS bored us both to tears. My last time in DC, I tried and barely made it 15 minutes before deciding it just was not a good idea- I was feeling quite cranky! I also tend to walk through the cut minerals/gems and stuffed animal parts of science museums. You see one and you've seen them all.
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Old 07-01-2009, 04:23 PM
 
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I love history now as well as museums. But as a teenager I was bored silly. I had no interest in them. Now if you took me to an aquarium, zoo, or something with animals as a teenager I would have loved it.

Don't be so quick to judge. Everyone has different interests and they can change as we age.

We take our own kids to museums and historic places, but we know not to saturate them all day long with it. Small doses works for us. All day does not.
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Old 07-01-2009, 04:25 PM
 
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Originally Posted by maciesmom View Post
just because you raise kids a certain way, you like museums, or your 8 year old currently likes museums, that is no guarantee that they will always, in every situation love museums and be thrilled to be there. As others have pointed out - kids are their own selves. That becomes more apparent as they get older and are less and less concerned about pleasing you and doing things to make you happy. A teenager not wanting to be at a museum on vacation doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the parents or the school system or the teen in question. Should they be polite and not whiney to their hosts? Yes of course they should but we are all not always at our best after extended time without privacy or "off" time. My kids are probably much better than i was because as a teen - i can remember doing things that i might have been interested in but after a week or so of not being around my friends, just my "dorky" parents/sister, i wouldn't have cared what we were doing. I was just done.
great points!!!!
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Old 07-01-2009, 08:35 PM
 
Location: here
24,873 posts, read 36,015,649 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Weekend Traveler View Post
My wife and I had some old friends from College here in Washington DC over the weekend. They had four teenage kids. (We do not have children so are not always sure what they are interested in)

Anyway, we brought them down to Washington DC and did a tour of the Capital, the White House and the Museums on the National Mall. All four were just miserable, bored silly and could not wait to get back to their hotel room where they could swim and watch ESPN. (Which they could do at home). The next day we went to Mount Vernon (The home of George Washington), they were bored silly.

Is this to be expected? Would most teenagers be so bored at the Smithsonian Museums, the Capital and White House and similar attractions?

(Is it the fault of the parents for not encouraging intellectual interests from an early age or would that be impossible because they are kids?)
That is too bad. I don't have teens yet, but I did go to DC as a teen. I think it may be partly the parents fault for not explaining the significance of the sights before hand. I hope I can avoid that with my kids.
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