child-hating woman in Tate Modern

[bellawilliams]

I went to the Tate Modern this afternoon with a friend as we had heard they were running special family activities - and they were, and the staff were lovely and very helpful. Between us we had 5 children: two 4 year olds, a 2 year old and 2 babies. We were directed to a room in the gallery where the older children could look at the pictures and make their own collage with stickers all supplied by the gallery. While we were in there (and the older children were quietly getting on with the activity) my friend had to run outside and one of the babies started crying so I went to get out her bottle. In the ensuing few seconds of noise a hateful woman approached me and aggressively told me that 'this is not a kindergarten, this is a gallery - you can't have screaming children in here!" I was incensed but managed to keep my cool and explained that we were here as part of a Tate organised family activity. She kept on and said it should not be allowed so I asked her 'Do you think children should not be allowed to look at art?" and she said no!!! So I said very sarcastically 'What a LOVELY attitude' and proceeded to tell my friend very loudly what had happened. I am still furious!! Anyone else had such a reaction?????

agree with everything expat has said. and i also wanna go back to Latin America where kids are allowed everywhere.

i would havesaid one thng to the lady:
fark off. (in hte nicest way possible. cos i got culture too. )

Baby was only crying for feed. Didn't come in grumpy and screaming from what I can make out in op !

southeastastra were you at the Tate today? Was it you?

no

it does make me laugh at how many mothers now expect long established institutions to just bow to them.

But babies don't scream all the time, they just have a bit of a burst. Like fully grown people coughing, or doing any number of irritating things.

southeast, when holding art workshops for families in the summer you would assume that would include a fair number of babies too. It is so important these activities and opportunities are inclusive, that parens are welcomed and come back again...lifelong learning and all that...

Expat, I think you have been abroad for long and have idealised the Latinoamerican warmth towards children a bit. Children are welcomed everywhere, people are friendly with them as a rule, and everyone has the social responsability to help a child out of trouble (or to stop causing troubles) just by being the nearest adult to the place the child is located, but...unlike here, galleries and museums, and above all, libraries are places where as a child you are expected to visit with the same respect as if you were in a mass (a latin american one), as in please shut up, don't move and don't touch anything.

If you want to find child friendly museums and galleries, Britain is the place to be. The woman may have been a cow, but I believe she is the exception rather than the rule.

sorry, these lifelong institutions are part funded by our taxes and donations. Museums and galleries were made free by the mayor of london and are still underused...

or a restaurant!

Tate Modern a long established institution.

larf.

My DC's actually preferred the tate modern when they were under 5. I took them when the giant spider was there and Ds loved it and we spent a long time there. He still had the postcard of the spider on the wall of his bedroom

Took them back last February aged 11 and 9and they found it boring and after doing one of the child activities they wanted to leave.

Well as parents I think there is a general family expectation in most places now to provide more for us.

As a child I remember my first outing to a resturant on my 13 birthday. Things are different today and older generations have done things in different ways. Children used to sit outside the pub or wait in the car (lucky ones) with a bottle of pop and a bag of crisps, no family rooms.

lol @ Tarquin's a free spirit!

Any child-hating adult foolish enough to go to Tate Modern in daytime during the summer holidays deserves all they get, as others have said. She sounds like a misery-guts, I must say.

i run playschemes for children, i know how many hoops and inspections we have to go through. galleries aren't exempt from the rules. so maybe it isn't acceptable to you, the museum is duty bound to them. to the museum they're taken seriously.

we do live in a compensation culture now

I don't see your point, are you saying babies are a health an safety issue?!

if it wasn't acceptable to bring in the babies under the museum's health and safety policy, surely they wouldn't have been let in in the first place?

it's a museum, not a building site.

In a similar vein. There was a letter in The Observer magazine last year from a woman replying to a woman who had said in an article that, as she planned to remain childless (or childfree, or whatever) she resented paying council tax for schools.

The reply said " I have asked my 2 and 4 year old children and they have said that they are quite happy to work to provide the taxes to pay for your incontinence pads when you're old and barmy.'

I went to a pub and a group of mums were putting buggies and babies back in their cars.

"You're not going in there are you? The landlord was so rude as we had screaming babies that we're not staying.'

He had told them he liked babies and had grandchildren, but didn't want them in his resturant crying.

Fair play. We enjoyed a nice family lunch.

well yes. they would have insured the activity in a certain way and babies wouldn't have probably entered their way of thinking.

any public event, especially with children, is insured if run correctly

Bubble

now you are having a larf, SEA, either that or you are desperately clutching at straws.

why?

I don't know were the conversation is going now but... I don't think the babies are a health and safety issue, but I'm dead sure that in a museum you can find plenty of artifacts that could be a health and safety issue for a vulnerable baby.

I am a bit with SEA here, I think that there are wonderful facilitieas/activities created so the children can get to apreciate art via explanations and activities designed for their age and level of understanding. But... there are other areas in the museums where the presence of certain children wouldn't be "convenient" either because the content of it is not age apropiate or because there are not enough protection for delicate pieces to survive a boisterous child, or because the environment may not be safe enough for a child.

ok, so when I take my dd1 to ballet and stay and watch with my dd2 and she cries i'm in breech of health and safety. So I basicly have to stay indoors and not take my children to anything interesting until they are both over 5.

I work with young children too so I know about risk assessment/insurance but please....you must also be aware of inclusive practice and family learning..