Children's Museum Enterprise

As a child moves through the many stages of childhood to young adult, schools, careers, travels and relationships, they collect and save, stuffing their possessions in boxes that get shoved under their beds, piled in closets or along with yours, in the attic, basement or garage. Some of it may be thrown or given away, but then there are things that they just want to hang on to. Then one day they will ask you what should they do with all this stuff? How about suggesting they create their own personal museum.

Not only will their museum be a fantastic way to teach them to appreciate their things, it is a way to install pride and confidence in themselves. When they look, touch and show off their collections – favorite toys, trophies, drawings, mementos from an organization they belonged to, gifts they received, their old eyeglasses, even their baby teeth – all expound the stages of their lives, the subjects that interested them, and the accomplishments they made.

So when your kid(s) had a bad day – things didn’t go right at school, their best friends just let them down, their coach told them they weren’t good enough for the team – whatever tragedy besets them, as they run to their room for cover, they’ll pass by the family museum and pause a second to see that they did accomplish many endeavors and convey to them that they are an important member of the family, and that’s what really counts.

Pride – that sense of self-respect and personnel worth – gives your child a feeling of satisfaction derived from his or her achievements. And most importantly, preserving their memories of childhood and adolescence is a learning journey. That journey becomes their path to personal mastery of the many subjects that interested them. Their museum can contribute to the goal of building a future viable resume.

Our children (now adults) had fun while selecting their favorite things to put in their museum. The next posts will be about their collections.