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?????

yes, they had the little man, didnt notice the dead dad or the frozen head, the room full of oil was weird!!! There was a horribly offensive installation there too, that i cant repeat what it was, but i think you may have noticed

I probably did, but can't remember or have cast it out of my mind !

We love our local art gallery. They are always delighted to see ds (and before you all shout "Tarquin" yes they are - he got a special invitation to their big event lately, to meet local dignitaries etc "as one of our most valued visitors")

They are fab and always have activities to include children and would not give a shit about a baby crying. Art is something for everyone, not something holy that needs to be appreciated in silence.

I sometimes worry that there is too much interactive stuff for children in museums - I mean, it might get to the point where my children are incapable of looking at anything unless there is a frigging button to push or a couring sheet.

We go to a lot of galleries and museums - some are child friendly and some are not, but I can't say we've had a bad reaction anywhere. If you explain to kids that some museums are like shops - where you can look but not touch and running up and down screaming is not acceptable, it's usually ok.

I mean, they're not exactly going to stand around discussing what the artist meant by his depiction of the rotting cow carcass executed in pastels and dried pasta, but it's a start. And you may have to rush around in a quartr of the time you might spend if you were on your own...

"Of course there are children in libraries here but noise levels are kept down by the librarians! Messing about and loudness just aren't tolerated. "

such an outdated notion.

We had the Tweenies in our local library the other day beacuse they were on at a local theatre.

Also Baby bounce and rhyme is by no means quite

gah quiet

Yes I think you're right FMF

however we had a wild time at the National Gallery last year when ds was 3 - he was just so bloody excited and impressed and there was not a button in sight

I think if you can convey your own genuine excitement to them then it does rub off (while they are little, anyway)

I set him a challenge of trying to spot as many pictures of St Jerome as he could - he makes frequent appearances in the Sainsbury Wing (my favourite part) and is easy to spot (big red hat) and that REALLY excited him

my younger ds (who is so far removed from a tarquin it's unreal - think belching the ABC and fart jokes) genuinely does seem to appreciate lovely images. He is 6.

I think lots of short visits to galleries for even very young children is important. It starts to educate them to look and think and feel comfortable in that kind of environment.
If we're childfree we'd probably all prefer not to hear anyone else's children crying but on family activity days I think it's just tough on cranky adults like that woman. She was a bloody baby once!

Have also taken mine to kuseums regualrly, everything from the totally child centric St fagsns to small municipal exhibitions such as the blake in bridgwater. The bys adore them- indeed, one of the few places where ds1 becomes completely absorbed and calm.

In the holidays, museums etc are fair game and a brief cry for a bottle is a part of life. A childfree woman with issues could rpesumably choose a non term time visit?

Cardiff has good resources and a variet of activities fro children, although often we choose nto to use them- kids need variety after all.

At uni we have a lot of relics and artefacts and theya re regularly taken into schools (Religions course, so Idols, Buddhas, costumes, statues etc) for rpecisely the reason that different children learn in different ways, and a learning experience that involves as many senses as possible is the best. So talking about art etc at home, or looking at abook, just doesn't cut it- they NEED to see it, discuss and react to it.

bella - that woman is completely out of order

i took my five year old to do that activity too!

the art activities were right at the top of the escalator and it was obvious that they were going on - when we went at least a third of people in the gallery were children

if that woman was a member (as i am) she would know that there are kids activities on every day and that families are welcome at tate modern - the cafe is geared up for it, there are free activities every day, baby changing etc

not everyone who goes though is grumpy - one woman complimented our girls in the cafe!

ALSO the tate holds late night opening on a friday and saturday so if you ever bump into a horrid person again you could say

'i suggest you go in the evening rather than on a saturday in the summer holidays'

Most libraries I got o have alocated quirt areas where I think generally a child wouldn't need to go (reference areas, palces for study)a s well as a generala rea and a lively children's library. The local one here is nigh on a portacabin yet still manages to get a balance.

how do kids ever learn how to behave in certain places unless you take them.
my three love visting places and after many years of vists they are very well behaved, and i can single handedly take them anywhere, as long as there are no dogs

I took dd to see the Mark Wallinger installation State Britain at Tate Britain a while back - not for her edification, I must admit, more for me! - and oh, deep shame, I had not quite twigged that in his meticulous re-creation of the peace camp outside the Houses of Parliament, there would be a row of the skankiest looking teddies and bunnies in the known universe... dd takes one look, whoops "TEDDY!!!!" and goes running for them - cue LC tackling her from behind amidst visions of priceless artwork being destroyed forever.... not to mention dd catching something from skanky teddy...

But the staff there were fantastic, they thought it was very funny and quickly distracted dd with crayons, paper and sticky things and we managed to get around the rest of the gallery in peace. She wasn't the only tiny (2.4 at the time) there, and we were treated brilliantly.

As someone else in this thread has posted, I am not going into artistic purdah simply because I have had a baby! OP you were not being unreasonable, that woman sounds a right cow!

DD loved the recent Antony Gormley, btw... still talking about the foggy room!

This thread reminds me of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which is another fab way to expose children to art. When I went with my nephews they dashed off ahead and started playing hide-and-seek in the Antony Caro and when we guiltily caught up with them and read the panel it actually said that the artist had envisaged children doing exactly that

I haven't read all the replies, but YANBU, Sod the stupid woman and people like her. Art isn't just for miserable, po-faced middle class bints. It should be for all to enjoy. She should go to the Uffizi (sp?) in Florence - a child-infested bedlam of a place, but the most wonderful art gallery in the world and not a sour-faced ponce in sight, thank God!