We visited a new (to us) children's museum today. Our children are now in their twenties but we still like these places. Our youngest would go more often if he could, but quickly expends his chaos quota and has to get out of there! The dauntless enthusiasm of young children can be refreshing or exhausting, depending on the dose and one's personal limits.
One could go to the other sort of museum. One does, and enjoys it. But I wonder why the playful mood of exploration is reserved for children.
Why is there no children's museum for adults? That is: a place where you can get your hands on, in, or in some cases covered with interesting objects and materials; where you can play with ideas and see the results right now; where you can ask any sensible question (children ask a lot of these) without worrying that you're the only one who doesn't get it? I think perhaps the difference is that the very grown-up museum is about what others have done, while the children's museum is about what I might do. I wonder if we don't need more adults thinking about what they might do, instead of waiting to be told what they ought to do.
The children's museum for grown-ups would be like the kind we have now, but quieter and built around somewhat more challenging experiences. Oh, and the exhibits and furniture would be taller. It's probably not a place to take the little ones, who would need to be quiet and well-behaved while watching the adults play. (Although that could be instructive.)
Why don't we have playgrounds for grown-ups? I do not mean the sort of park that is infested with ball courts and other impedimenta of organized sport. How sport became associated with the word "play" is a question I must ponder. No, I mean a place where full-sized humans can just run around in unstructured fun, use e.g. swings that don't pinch and don't make you worry that they will break under your weight. A child's playground, scaled up. Wisely did one Star Trek writer observe that the more mature the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.
Adults do have to get on with the work of this world, but what a loss to put away childish things if we can never allow ourselves to take them up again. Growing up should mean more choices, not just replacing one set with another.
Grown-ups need places to play.
