What age would you find it appropriate to show a child an Egyptian Mummy in a museum

[wishuponastar25]

Bit of a strange question but just as the title says really!

There’s a mummy in our local museum and I took our children when they were top end primary. It was actually pretty horrifying to me (teeth visible) but actually more than that, felt very disrespectful like we were seeing something we had no right to.

@LibrariesGiveUsPower

I wouldn’t. The Mummies belong in the graves in which they were buried in. Showing them in a museum is disrespectful and usually theft.

This.

They are people whose bodies were thieved from their graves during colonial pillaging.

I think DD was about 8 when I took her to see the mummies at Manchester Museum. Certainly old enough to appreciate the moment when a school trip of similarly aged children (clearly on a different half term date to us) we're led through by a teacher saying "And in here children are some real live mummies"

It was definitely a mother and daughter bonding moment

Any age

At any age before you have filled their heads with unreasonable notions regarding the reality of life (and death), and after you have educated them about how people from different ages (in history) approached different events…
…differently from now

Took my dd6 to the museum on Thursday and she didn't like seeing the mummies. I was explaining what they were and the history told her she will be learning this soon in school but she asked to leave told me she doesn't want to learn it. she's really sensitive I just didn't think. Her cousin same age was absolutely fine with tho.

I had horrendous nightmares as a child after visiting a museum on holiday with mummies in. However, our local museum also had an ancient Egypt section, with two mummies in and both my kids (5 and 7) are ok with it and really interested in the history. So I'm just not sure you can tell. I agree with the points made above, that the main issue now for me is it just doesn't feel right / respectful for these to be exhibited.

@LibrariesGiveUsPower

I wouldn’t. The Mummies belong in the graves in which they were buried in. Showing them in a museum is disrespectful and usually theft.

Totally agree. I grew up loving museums but hate most of them now. I don’t know how keeping dead bodies in them (and the obviously stolen loot) is so normalised.

This only hit me when I visited the national museum in Dublin a couple of years ago and they have a few bodies in there. I just thought it was so grim, regardless of how long ago the deaths happened. It was like a freak show.

Our DS at 4 was particularly fascinated by the mummified child in the Ashmolean.

I'd like to have seen his reaction to the shrunken heads at the Pitt-Rivers but they've been taken off show on grounds of cultural imperialism etc

I explained to my 4 year old what mummies were in our local museum. Most of it went over her head but she was interested in looking at it. It'll likely only be film or TV that scares them about mummies.

@Ohmnomnom

There's a brilliant virtual tour you can take at the British Museum that gives another perspective on the stolen artefacts. Its called the Unfiltered History tour.

Ooo - am going next week. Will look it up.

Going with two 8 year olds who are learning about Ancient Egypt.

Mine was 3

Remember seeing them from very young. Didn't really register they were (once) real people until I was around 8 or so anyway IIRC

Any age

OP was you at the museum I was at today?
Father loudly steering his child through the mummy exhibition to the next room saying - no don't look at anything, it will just make you really frightened.

It scared me as a 6 year old and I thought it was really horrible to display a body behind glass. Also shrunken heads at the museum of anthropology. The helpful curator told us how they were made.

Any age.

Some friends of ours took their six year old daughter to the dead bodies exhibition* in London several years ago and apparently she found it fascinating. Not something I would have done/thought of doing with mine. I think kids are actually pretty robust but they do pick up on their parents reactions

*cannot remember what it was called

@DiddyHeck

Literally any age

This

I think I saw them first when I was about six.

DD2 saw them aged 4 as she was a massive fan of The Mummy. Didn't know this until I found her watching it very quietly one night when I'd thought she was asleep. She assured me that she'd seen it before and it was absolutely fine, telling me the plot and what happened to Benny, so as she'd obviously seen it before and emerged entirely unscathed, actually seeing the real thing wasn't a concern.

It was a little awkward when she asked where Anksunamun was and then started muttering Imhotep, Imhotep, Imhotep in the hope that it would revive one of them, but I think we escaped unscathed from that little foray into raising the undead.

I don’t think kids would be particularly interested before aged 4.

I am opposed to human remains in museums. They are people who were buried in accordance with their culture. If we did someone up during excavation etc then they should be reburied respectfully. But this perspective didn’t really hit me until my mid-20’s so it’s not like I didn’t see them as a child and I certainly wasn’t traumatised at the time. Children are ghoulish little buggers and adore things like this.

@NeverDropYourMooncup that’s hilarious. Your DD2 sounds like a very clever little monkey 😂

I agree they shouldn't be on display.

DS is 15 and avoided the section the last time we were in the museum two or so years ago. He doesn't like animal skeletons or stuffed animals either, asked to leave a museum at about 7. Fine with dinosaurs though.

@Notjustanymum

At any age before you have filled their heads with unreasonable notions regarding the reality of life (and death), and after you have educated them about how people from different ages (in history) approached different events… …differently from now

Do you mean the Egyptians approached life & death differently or the era of people who removed the bodies from their tombs did?

@Mothership4two

Any age.

Some friends of ours took their six year old daughter to the dead bodies exhibition* in London several years ago and apparently she found it fascinating. Not something I would have done/thought of doing with mine. I think kids are actually pretty robust but they do pick up on their parents reactions

*cannot remember what it was called

It was called Bodies, the difference with that exhibition is that the people gave their consent for their bodies to be used in that way.

My very sensitive daughter was really distressed after seeing a mummy - my other daughter found it interesting. So I’d say it depends on the child.

Personally I think it’s disrespectful and macabre to have human remains in museums.

We have some in our local museum and I took my DC there regularly from pre school age
They loved mummies and didn't think them especially scary. I wish I could say they appreciated the artistic and cultural significance but their main association was Scooby Doo!