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Original poster

Does this bore children.

140 replies

Wondering42 · 20/08/2023 11:49

Sorry if this is a stupid question or offends anyone . But I was just wondering. Do children and teenagers actually enjoy family days out at places like stately Gardens ,markets and museums. It just shouts boring to me . Maybe I'm just a dick.

OP posts:
Sirzy · 20/08/2023 11:51

It’s like with adults it depends on the person.

ds is 13 and loves a lot of museums and stately homes. Going to a market would be a nightmare for him.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 20/08/2023 11:51

My kids certainly enjoyed stately homes and museums. Still do, as teens. I can't say it would occur to me to think of a market as a day out though!

WanderingWitches · 20/08/2023 11:52

My kids (7 and 9) love places like that.

mamatoTails · 20/08/2023 11:54

Mine would be bored, I would also be bored!

Other kids and families would find them brilliant days out, but they aren't places we would visit.

ChaToilLeam · 20/08/2023 11:55

I loved markets. With museums, it depends on what’s on view.

Stately homes bored me rigid. I think my parents were just out of rainy day ideas on holiday.

JellyfishandShells · 20/08/2023 11:56

My adult children say they loved it because there were usually children’s trail worksheets to do or other activities aimed at them , they could run around in the grounds, there was usually tea and cakes and we, the parents, were enjoying it as a family activity. One now has a young child and is taking them to that sort of thing as a day out.

If the parents don’t enjoy that sort of thing but feel they ‘should’ then the children won’t enjoy it particularly.

VikingLady · 20/08/2023 11:57

I loved it. My brother hated it until he was a teenager, then he loved it too. My kids adore museums and ask to visit art galleries (11&8).

All kids are different.

VenusClapTrap · 20/08/2023 11:58

Mine (13 and 11) love those places. I think children are generally influenced by their parents - if they’re brought up going to such places as a treat they pick up their parents’ enthusiasm. If you find them boring, you’ll probably pass that on.

Not always though, obviously. They are their own people with their own opinions!

Hbh17 · 20/08/2023 12:01

Depends on the child. But actually, if they're bored occasionally, does that matter? Sometime adults should do what they want to do, and the kids just have to suck it up - we all did, and survived ("going for a walk" - I still don't get that!).

BingandSulaandFlop · 20/08/2023 12:02

Depends on the place. Lots of national trust properties have good gardens, play areas, children's trails. Lots of museums have interactive exhibits for children. We went to the Centre for Life in Newcastle recently and both kids (3 and 1) absolutely loved it because there was so much to do!

Littlemissalone · 20/08/2023 12:03

I went to loads as a child and found them boring, but as an adult I find them fascinating!

IHateWasps · 20/08/2023 12:03

All children are different. I was obsessed with museums as a child and I still am. I also loved markets and Stately homes and I still do. I'm quite sure that I wasn't alone in that.

Bananasplitlady · 20/08/2023 12:04

Depends what it is. A stately home is fascinating for half an hour, but add in a slow trudge, other people, bad weather and a fucking tea shop and I'm like Kevin the Teenager myself.

BoohooWoohoo · 20/08/2023 12:04

Markets wouldn't interest my sons but they hate shopping so no surprise there.
When they were little, they liked the gardens of stately homes as it was somewhere new to explore.
With museums, it depends. If it's something that interests them then they are happy.

TheInseparables · 20/08/2023 12:04

Depends on the child, the attraction, the context and what the parent has done to bring it alive (DD has really enjoyed visiting Tudor houses since seeing Six and talking a bit to me about Tudor history).

Zwellers · 20/08/2023 12:07

I find musuems boring as a child and still do as an adult so won't be inflicting them on the dc. Markets it depends on type but they generally like having a look around.

Toddlerteaplease · 20/08/2023 12:10

We used to do it as kids and usually enjoyed it. Though our nearest NT place is Belton, which has the best adventure play ground!
I love it how. I had life membership of the NT for my 40th birthday and an a member of historic Houses as well. It's brilliant for a free/ cheap day out.

drpet49 · 20/08/2023 12:10

mamatoTails · 20/08/2023 11:54

Mine would be bored, I would also be bored!

Other kids and families would find them brilliant days out, but they aren't places we would visit.

This. I don’t know any family that enjoys it

FutureThroughLensOfThePast · 20/08/2023 12:10

I liked them as a child, even more as a teenager particularly if linked to one of my favourite historical periods.

Ozgirl75 · 20/08/2023 12:10

I have two sons and one loves a national trust place but he loves history and classic so he kind of “gets” them. My other son doesn’t enjoy them as much but likes the gardens.
They both like a good museum, not one with loads of reading but more modern ones like the science museum or natural history they will spend all day in. They both loved the Museum of London Docklands as it was a great mixture of history, stuff to do and things about travel and transport.
None of us would enjoy a market though.

Turquoisa80 · 20/08/2023 12:12

I think 0-8 will be fun for all children to have an outing, it's 8 to preteen that's tricky and are most likely to moan a lot and the teenagers will be a mixed bag depending on personality

Ozgirl75 · 20/08/2023 12:13

drpet49 · 20/08/2023 12:10

This. I don’t know any family that enjoys it

Show quote history

So what kind of things do you do at the weekend or in the holidays?

SpiritedSneeze · 20/08/2023 12:14

Mine loved a market, especially vintage ones or farmers markets she loves busy loud places and trying new things. And especially from about 8 she loved anything historical especially if there were old timey diaries to read or toys and clothes to see. She would spend ages reading about it and then making up stories about the people who might have lived there do homes and social history type museums were very popular with her.

Hated art galleries though, she called them fart galleries, and found it very boring, too quiet and not enough stories about who did the art.

Ozgirl75 · 20/08/2023 12:17

Interestingly both mine like an art gallery as long as it’s modern art.

TheIsaacs · 20/08/2023 12:18

What do you enjoy doing OP? And others? I’m sure there’s things you enjoy that others might find extremely boring. I love museums and gardens, I’d find a market deathly boring.