While on our trip to Texas I managed to talk my husband and kids into a trip to the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum. That might not sound like a feat to you but during the summer months my family will resort to just about any tactic to avoid things that seem educational.

Fortunately, I was prepared to get my Big-Eyed Boy excited about the trip knowing full well that if he wanted to go no one else would dare complain. Initially I tried all sorts of praise for the sights he’d see there: the Conquistadores’ armor, the Native American artifacts, the saddles and other cowboy regalia, Pamela Ewing’s big hair. (Yes, there’s an entire section of the museum dedicated to the show Dallas.) He yawned.

Finally I said, “There’s a cafe there that serves corn dogs” and he was hooked. It helped, too, that I promised we’d keep our visit to one hour, including our stop at the cafe, which meant he wasn’t looking at an endless afternoon trudging all over the place.

Slate has some other ideas on how to keep kids interested while at the museum. One thing I’d add: don’t bother with the guided- or audio tours. Sure, you hope they’ll pick up some information but chances are they’ll just see it as yet another boring adult droning on endlessly. We encouraged our little guy to read the display plaques out loud because Mommy’s contacts were bothering her. As a result he asked more questions than he would have otherwise, and no doubt he learned more, too.

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008, 10:42 am   |   Parenting  |  RSS feed Comments and pings are currently closed.