Misconceptions and the Role of the Museum

Last week I sent an email to our advisors which ended with the question, “What do you think is a misconception parents have about early childhood development?” The very first response that came back was from an advisor who works to connect parents of very young children to information and resources. Here is their response:

“When thinking of misconceptions parents have about early childhood development, I start with our new moms and books. Many new parents believe that they don't need to read books to their baby because they will not understand. More than one family has shared that board books for babies are boring so they didn't feel reading board books was worthwhile. Families often wait until their child is older and can hold the book or name pictures in the book. A second misconception we see often in our work with families is that they do not need to talk with their child. They often share that it is not possible to have a conversation with a child, so they do not try. A third misconception that we encounter often is that children do not learn through play. The only way they learn is through serious academics and memorizing numbers and letters.”

Reading this response I am so excited to be able to work with such a large group of advisors with various backgrounds. Here is the perspective from someone working with parents in a nonclinical setting, but I can already see the threads connecting this experience to the work of early brain researchers. Both are pointing to the incredibly important role of caregivers, that these moms and dads have the potential to be amazing resources and literally shape the brains of their children! I’m also excited because I’m reminded about how well this project and these discussions blend with the mission of The Discovery Museums; we see the amazing potential of children and families and will work tirelessly to leave them filled with enthusiasm, curiosity, and the joy of learning and being together. We have finally lined up our first group meeting as part of this project which includes museum staff, advisors, and evaluators; it isn’t until early June, but the list of questions and topics are percolating.

Another interesting conversation that we had as part of our own internal meetings was the idea of practices versus benchmarks. As part of this project we have the opportunity to connect with and learn from medical experts, behavioral experts, and professionals providing direct care to children and families; however, at the end of the day, we the museum are not these experts. That is to say that museum staff are not providing developmental screenings or offering medical advice. With this in mind, perhaps an appropriate approach to messaging is focusing on replicable practices rather than what is or is not developmentally appropriate. For example, in the response given by our advisor above, it may be more appropriate for us to focus on ways to make reading to your young child more exciting and meaningful and why it is important, and less on at this age your child will be able to do X, Y, and Z.

And perhaps this is a very fine line for us to walk, as I don’t think it would be out of line to learn about developmental norms, but we need to be careful not to present ourselves as early intervention. Do you think this makes sense? Should a children’s museum not shy away from providing developmental information, even if they don’t have the capacity to answer serious questions about health and wellbeing? I’m honestly torn as I write this, it made more sense when discussed in our meeting, and less sense as I typed it. I will say that there are a great number of amazing resources locally for families, so the museum should not have pressure to fill that void as some have in other communities.