{"id":4741,"date":"2012-01-16T12:41:32","date_gmt":"2012-01-16T12:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwithkids.co.uk\/?p=4741"},"modified":"2019-01-04T11:54:40","modified_gmt":"2019-01-04T11:54:40","slug":"its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s not enough to keep museums free – they must be fun too"},"content":{"rendered":"Top marks to Dea Birkett, a mum with more chutzpah than Roseanne and Miss Piggy rolled into one.\r\n\r\nWhen, just over ten years ago, her two year old son was thrown out of the Royal Academy for shouting, did she a) Put him on the naughty step, b) Say \u201cMy mistake\u201d and head straight for the Science Museum<\/a> or c) Create a huge fuss and start a charity to make museums more kid friendly? Hint. Ms Birkett is a Guardian columnist and her son is called River.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nOf course she did, and it is thanks to her, and the now teenage River, that the charity she founded, Kids in Museums<\/a>, launched its Kids in Museums Manifesto<\/a>, this morning, with 20 simple things museums can do to make children, teenagers and families more welcome in their hallowed halls.\r\n\r\nNow, there is an argument that says that if adults can\u2019t escape the attentions of a noisy two year old in the Royal Academy<\/a>, then where on earth can they, but equally, the poor little thing was in his buggy and was clearly doing his best to show willing. His crime was to shout \u201cMonster!\u201d at one of the Aztec statues of a bird man, a reaction his mother, not unreasonably, on a rainy Saturday afternoon out with twins, declared a result.\r\n\r\nSo, given that in towns and cities all over the country, a museum will always be a refuge for frazzled parents on a rainy weekend afternoon, it does make sense to make them as welcoming as possible for all of us. After all, the way things are going, they will soon end up being the only free place in town.\r\n\r\nTop of the manifesto, which was compiled solely from visitors\u2019 comments, is to draw families in by making them feel welcome, greeting them, ensuring teenagers have a place to hang out, and most importantly of all, not telling them off the moment they step through the door.\r\n\r\nAnd, after my moans last week about the price of food for children it was lovely to see, at number 16 in the manifesto \u201cProvide healthy, good-value food and unlimited tap water\u201d. Yes, please, so let\u2019s see a few fewer meringues the size of our heads and a few more bog standard cheese sandwiches please – V & A<\/a> I am looking at you!\r\n\r\nLet me know how you would improve your favourite museum to make it more welcoming to your children and get involved in the Kids in Museums campaign<\/a>.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top marks to Dea Birkett, a mum with more chutzpah than Roseanne and Miss Piggy rolled into one. When, just over ten years ago, her two year old son was thrown out of the Royal Academy for shouting, did she a) Put him on the naughty step, b) Say \u201cMy mistake\u201d and head straight for","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3502],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-great-family-life-tips","category-holidays-and-day-out-ideas"],"yoast_head":"\r\nIt's not enough to keep museums free - they must be fun too - KidStart Magazine<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It's not enough to keep museums free - they must be fun too - KidStart Magazine\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Top marks to Dea Birkett, a mum with more chutzpah than Roseanne and Miss Piggy rolled into one. When, just over ten years ago, her two year old son was thrown out of the Royal Academy for shouting, did she a) Put him on the naughty step, b) Say \u201cMy mistake\u201d and head straight for\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"KidStart Magazine\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-16T12:41:32+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-04T11:54:40+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anita\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anita\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/\",\"name\":\"It's not enough to keep museums free - they must be fun too - KidStart Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-16T12:41:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-04T11:54:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f892175d96fe3714b565dc5da94471b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":467,\"caption\":\"Electric-Hair-blog\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It’s not enough to keep museums free – they must be fun too\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"KidStart Magazine\",\"description\":\"KidStart - a little help along the way\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f892175d96fe3714b565dc5da94471b\",\"name\":\"Anita\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ed254c55b7b84fc4ac5b27299652760?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ed254c55b7b84fc4ac5b27299652760?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anita\"},\"description\":\"I\u2019m Anita, a mum to two under 5s, a blogger, journalist and author. I\u2019ll be blogging about all things family related whether that\u2019s ranting about legislation, or a general heads up about something to make family life happier and less stressful.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/author\/anita\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It's not enough to keep museums free - they must be fun too - KidStart Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"It's not enough to keep museums free - they must be fun too - KidStart Magazine","og_description":"Top marks to Dea Birkett, a mum with more chutzpah than Roseanne and Miss Piggy rolled into one. When, just over ten years ago, her two year old son was thrown out of the Royal Academy for shouting, did she a) Put him on the naughty step, b) Say \u201cMy mistake\u201d and head straight for","og_url":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/","og_site_name":"KidStart Magazine","article_published_time":"2012-01-16T12:41:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-04T11:54:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":467,"url":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anita","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anita","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/","url":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/","name":"It's not enough to keep museums free - they must be fun too - KidStart Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg","datePublished":"2012-01-16T12:41:32+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-04T11:54:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f892175d96fe3714b565dc5da94471b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Electric-Hair-blog.jpg","width":700,"height":467,"caption":"Electric-Hair-blog"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/its-not-enough-to-keep-museums-free-they-must-be-fun-too\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It’s not enough to keep museums free – they must be fun too"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"KidStart Magazine","description":"KidStart - a little help along the way","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0f892175d96fe3714b565dc5da94471b","name":"Anita","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ed254c55b7b84fc4ac5b27299652760?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1ed254c55b7b84fc4ac5b27299652760?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anita"},"description":"I\u2019m Anita, a mum to two under 5s, a blogger, journalist and author. I\u2019ll be blogging about all things family related whether that\u2019s ranting about legislation, or a general heads up about something to make family life happier and less stressful.","url":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/author\/anita\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15939,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4741\/revisions\/15939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}