Our Seven - Tricks to Survive the Children’s Museum

Children's museums are popping up all over the country and provide some of the best designed activities for families.  Although most parents know how awesome these museums are, many avoid them because they are seen as being too stressful.  Below are some hints to make the Children's museum experience more pleasant for the whole family (mom and dad included).

1) Meeting Place - Every parent’s nightmare when visiting a children’s museum is hearing their name announced over the loud speaker requesting them to go to the front desk to meet their child.  Yes we are glad that our kids is safe, but we also feel embarrassed that everyone now knows that we let our precious blessing out of our sight.  Note, I am a firm proponent of not watching your child’s every move and really a children’s museum is an awesome place for kids to develop self-efficacy, but not all parents think that way.  The solution to avoid those judging stares is to properly select a safe place for you and your child to meet if (when) you get separated.

I highlight the term “properly” to suggest that there are good and bad places to choose as a meeting point.  Most importantly, make sure it is a place where your child would want to hang out.  They may be waiting for 15 minutes or more before you notice that they missed their check-in time.  If the meeting spot is boring then after 2 minutes your child will start asking people “have you seen my mommy”.  As any parent knows this question only has to be asked once before your name blasts across the loudspeaker.  Hint: To keep the meeting spot from getting boring, don’t spend too much time there prior to heading home.  Other recommendations for choosing your safe spot: choose someplace with lots of other parents and kids (you don’t want your kid to be alone), avoid locations with lots of small places for them to hide, stay close to a walkway so you don’t have to go deep into an exhibit, and be consistent between trips to the same museum so your kid doesn’t get confused.

2) Get a Season Pass - Rather than going into all of the reasons we buy season passes I will just point you to our video explanation.  In short, season passes make you a better parent.  We will often buy a season pass for the children’s museum at the largest nearby city.  Living in South Dakota our nearest major city is Denver, and yes we have a season pass even though the museum is 6 hours away.

Bonus Hint:  Children’s museums participate in reciprocal programs where you can buy a pass at one museum and get free or discounted access to other children’s museums across the country.  There are two major reciprocal programs in the US, and most museums participate in one or the other.  On the rare case that you live near a museum that participates in both (ex. Discovery Gateway museum in SLC) you win.

3) Teach Kids to Recognize Staff - One of the first things we do when we arrive at the museum is to identify a couple of staff members.  Most museums provide staff with a unique outfit indicating that they work there.  This is as much for safety as professionalism.  Make sure your children know who the employees are and that it is ok to get help.  Note: In most public settings we teach our kids that if they are scared or lost it is ok to ask for help from anyone who looks like a mom.  It is worth the risk of a panicked parent if our kids feel confident that they are safe.  In a children's museum the staff is used to having wandering children and make for consistently more relaxed assistance.

4) Know the Exhibits - Before you start visiting exhibits develop a game plan.  You can probably guess which exhibits you kids will just love (aka. bubbles), and which ones will only occupy their attention for a brief period of time.  Some parents choose to visit the most exciting exhibits right off the bat, ensuring that the older kids have enough time at their favorite places before the younger children break down.  Other parents choose to save the best for last, visiting the most educational areas first rather than forcing it at the end of the trip.  Neither technique is inherently better, but it is important to be deliberate with your decision.  If you are visiting the museum with a spouse or friend it is also important to communicate this decision so all adults are on the same page.

5) Be prepared for the Water - Some of the best exhibits include water.  If you bring a change of clothes, or even rain boots, you can let your kids get soaked and have a blast.  I personally don't like to go anywhere without a change of clothes for both myself and the kids, but these clothes usually end of staying in the car.  If I know there is water at the museum then the clothes come along.

6) Bring Food - Not all museums allow outside food, but many do.  Have an assortment of snacks to occupy kids while you are trying to congregate between activities.  Also bring a larger lunch as museum food is typically expensive.  Most importantly know the rules regarding food before you go.  There is nothing more stressful than getting your kids settled for a snack just to have a staff member tell you that you have to eat someplace else.  (Hint: I always plan to spend a little money on treats from the museum.  Popsicles don't travel well but can cheer up any day.)

7) Make it Fun AND Educational - A lot of thought goes into making children’s museums educational and they often incorporate complex concepts related to physics.  Older kids should be given challenges such as restating the printed material in their own words.  It is amazing how quickly kids can learn Newton's Laws when presented in terms they understand.

Our Seven - Reasons for Getting a Suite

When you have lots of kids money often becomes a struggle, especially when you consider the cost of hotel rooms.  Yet, we have discovered that there are actually many benefits to splurging a little and getting a suite for your family.  Below are our top seven reasons why we will get a suite.

1) Money - While suites are more expensive than a typical room, they are often cheaper than getting two separate rooms.  The standard hotel room has a maximum capacity of 4-6 people, which isn’t near enough for a large family.  While I will admit to breaking this rule on many occasions, I have learned that there are important reasons why hotels don’t want you to treat the room like a clown car.  If you are considering getting a second hotel room (aka more beds and a second bathroom) then a suite may be a less expensive option.  There is also the added benefit of getting to share a bed with your spouse.

2) The Door - Most suites provide some sort of separation between the sitting area (where the kids will sleep on the pull out couch) and the bedroom.  This may be a door, a staircase, or at a minimum a partial way.  When you have just spent a hours in the car with your kids it often becomes necessary to get away.  Although a door won’t block all of the sound, it at least provide the option of not breathing the same air as your kids for a few minutes, and possibly all night.  

3) Perks - A little known fact is that some hotels actually provide extra perks to customers staying in their suites.  For example, on a recent trip to Colorado Springs we stayed in the Hotel Elegante.  Unfortunately upon arriving I discovered that we would have to pay for our breakfast in the morning, a huge added expense for our family.  Yet, by simply upgrading our standard room to a suite (which only cost me $75) we would have access to the Premier Lounge.  The Premier Lounge  provided not only a free hot breakfast and free snacks (and booze for those who drink) in the evening, but also a comfortable and quite place to take my kids when they were restless in the middle of the night.  The cost of breakfast alone nearly covered the upgrade.

4) Two TVs - I love that most hotels now carry the Disney channel, but personally there is only so much I can watch during a trip.  Although somewhat obvious, one of the biggest benefits of staying in a suite is having separate TVs for kids and adults.  We don’t typically use the TV, and prefer to still stream shows from my laptop, but it is nice to have an option other than cartoons and bad acting.

5)  The Bathtub - I know it doesn’t always happen, but when it does it is heaven sent.  I am talking about the separate bathtub, which in suites sometimes turns into an oversized jacuzzi tub.  Kids stink in general, but when traveling it seems impossible to keep them from getting extra smelly.  Yet for some reason it is also much more difficult to bathe every kid every day when you are on the road.  If your suite has a separate tub and shower then you can clean your children twice as fast.  Bath time is also more fun when you aren’t rushing to let the next person climb in behind you.

6)  Feeling Special - Hotel staff must hate me, because I am always asking for additional items brought to my room.  I have yet to find a hotel that starts you off with enough bath towels, pillows, blankets, or beds for a large family.  At the very least I find myself asking for a bed for the baby, but if there is space in the room I will sometimes get a full roll away bed plus the sheets and blankets to match.  While these requests may draw strange looks with a standard room, the judgement disappears when you are staying in a suite.  All of a sudden the hotel staff is there to serve you, and even remembers your room number without having to ask.  This may come from a false perceptions that everyone staying in a suite is a big tipper, or possibly you just stand out as most unique, but in either case it feels good.  

7)  A Happy Wife - It goes without saying, which is why I say it constantly, the most important part of having a fun trip with your family is to keep your spouse happy.  There is nothing better than seeing the look of relief on my wife’s face when she sees that she won’t be spending another night in a sardine can.  There are lots of benefits to having a happy wife, but to keep this G rated lets just say your trip will go much better if you are in a suite.

Although this may sound like a big plug for spending a fortune on your hotel, you need to know that I am just as cheap as I have always been.  As a family we prefer to camp.  Even when we stay in a hotel I personally don’t reserve suites as my initial purchase but rather find an inexpensive room online (often using Priceline’s name your price feature) and then ask for an upgrade upon arrival.  On a few occasions I have been upgraded to a suite for free, but usually there is some small charge associated with the upgrade.  Typically the discounted room price plus the upgrade is still about the same as I would have paid for a standard room at full price.  As a disclaimer this doesn’t always work, especially if you plan to arrive at the hotel after 5 or 6pm, by which time hotels have often run out of their best rooms.  If you travel infrequently, or if money isn’t an issue for you family, then the safe bet is to just suck it up and book the suite.  You may pay twice as much for your room, but you will also get twice the sleep.