We headed for the museum. We are lucky to live in a city where there are tons of them, and we know how to take advantage. We drove in early, found a legal spot on the street (if you’re patient, you can find one, even in a busy area like the Upper East Side of Manhattan), carried our young charges through the rainy sidewalks and up the twenty-six steps to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is featuring an exhibit on Hathshepsut, a Queen who became Pharaoh as she ruled with her nephew, Thutmose III (note: “Thutmose” is recognized by MS Word; “Hathshepsut” is not!)
We got in just a few minutes after the place opened, and headed for the special family program “Start With Art,” after paying only twenty dollars donation for admission for the four of us. There were two groups, usually divided according to age, but today the kids chose according to interest. We went with the Van Gogh group, and the girls looked at just a few paintings and the educator – a charming woman whose name we did not catch – had the kids draw a picture like one of VG’s – and the kids made marks on their paper to imitate the sound of rain falling. She talked about “Vincent” as a lonely man, but that it was okay to be sad, because that way you can know how to be happy too.
They talked about how VG put feelings into his paintings, and how we can detect emotion in natural objects that have no faces. (no one talked about the ear thing, probably a good idea). As I studied some of the paintings myself, I was amazed again, seeing those paintings something I’d missed before. After the activity ended, the educator saw my little one, tired and resting on mommy’s shoulder, and asked her if she’d like to see something silly.
She took us to the famous Renoir painting, MADAME CHARPENTIER AND HER CHILDREN, which looks like a portrait of a mother and her two girls… until you look closely and realize the younger child on the sofa as Mme. C’s son Paul… the educator did not tell the kids which one was a boy, and made them guess; my oldest chose the one on the sofa and gave an explanation why. I liked that this woman said “there are no wrong answers” a lot during the session. She just wanted to make the kids feel that whatever they had to say was important.
We spent a lot of time at the museum, but not really looking at the art. We did tour the Egyptian section, since it is so cool, and took a break to dine in the cafeteria (which cost us more than admission!). But one thing we realize, having done a number of museums with the girls, is that you really should just study a few works of art per visit; it’s too much overload for preschoolers to sit through all of this stuff (though of the gift shop is another matter – they could spend all day there!).
Afterwards we went to Williams-Sonoma, saw a “Nespresso” machine demonstration – free samples, naturally – bought some icing for cookies, and drove back home to bake aforementioned cookies.
Walking the Upper East Side, one sees the privileges money brings, but I don’t get bitter about it. I have a job I wish could pay me more, but I’m okay for now, and I can afford to make trips into this world and show my daughters those cultural objects that make life worth living, like Van Gogh. When we’d show her something, my little one would say, “oh! I never thought of that!” An awareness of the idea of thinking, of having thoughts, of perspective. I think that comes with going to all these different places, and being open to learning.
It’s a good life, and whenever I start to get stressed, I remember how great it is to be where I am, with these girls, who are so smart, and funny, and terrific.
Of course, I did give them some Backyardigans while I cleaned up after dinner… last shot at mindless entertainment for a whole week!