When we went to California in June we took the kids to one of our favorite museums on the west coast, the J. Paul Getty. Now I have to warn you, my kids aren’t the most city slicker sophisticated types. They aren’t afraid to burp in public and make loud declarations about how bored they are when looking at some of the world’s best art.
Stinkers.
They were far more excited to run the stairs up to the museum than they were about the amazing works of art inside the museum.
The Getty has some of the most beautiful artwork in the world, including my most favorite Monet of all time. In fact, there was a huge Leonardo da Vinci exhibit with tiny detailed drawings and notes, and facts about Leonardo da Vinci I never would have known in a million years.
Amazing. Awe inspiring. Invigorating.
Apparently.
Seriously, you’d think we were *trying* to make them miserable. Poor depraved things.
But seriously, in the end I think some of the culture will rub off on them. It has to. Right? If not, I wash my hands of the whole thing.
You can lead a horse to water…..
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
Kids just don’t get what favors we are doing for them! You would have made them much happier with Disneyland. But they’ll understand a lot better when they have kids and they’ll finally appreciate all you did for them.
I really hope so, because it’s a pain in my patoot to try and educate them.
I was there last July. I got agree with you about kids while there. My son who is 10 he does like it there but until we went in to see the painting. My son get easily bored of seeing painting pictures and other stuff. But until we went down to the Garden area. He loves it. His favorite spot over there is muesum store because they have neat thing he can get. HA.
It’s true, my kids did LOVE the gift store. Cool stuff in there, but really, when Leonardo da Vinci has an entire building full of stuff?
sigh.
Someday, they might thank me.
Was this on Project Runway last year? I remember seeing it on some design show {I am sort of addicted to those things}
So this is in SoCal, gonna have to visit next time I go visit my MIL…
I don’t know! Sadly, we don’t own a TV {long story} so I only watch what I can on Hulu/Netflix. But, I worship Project Runway, and the Getty would be an amazing place for the show to film!
It’s in L.A. right above Beverly Hills/Brentwood. It’s a really pretty area overlooking all of L.A. They have astonishing pieces of art & traveling collections, you really should go!
Sister in law is going to USC, so def will :)
Someday!
One suggestion: scavenger hunts. We recently took 2 10 yr olds to the art museum, and before we went, I found pics online of the pieces that I most wanted to see, then copied and pasted them on a sheet of paper and printed a copy for each kid. They had a blast, and wanted to go into every room (he he he) to look for the pieces on their lists. To make it even more challenging, I only put details from some of them, like a monkey in the corner of one piece rather than the whole painting. They loved it and I got to see what I wanted to see without whining from them or their daddy ;)
You know what, this is a GREAT idea. There’s another museum near our house that has different scavenger hunts for different ages of kids, and it makes it totally fun for everyone.
Perfect idea.
This lovely sight is literally up the street from us. We love going, but when the 4-year-old is along we spend all our time around the fountains outside, in the garden and one Friday night spent about an hour “ice-skating” on one of the upper level balconies where the marble flooring is slippery enough to twirl, slide and skate. The tram ride is a kid delight too.
We let her enjoy what she enjoys, become familiar with the place and as she grows up she’ll have plenty more to things to discover there–like the art. Love the scavenger hunt idea!
Oh, I wish we lived closer so my kids could explore at their own pace! But, I really do love the idea of the scavenger hunt, getting the kids to look at art on their level.
I reckon that trip to the museum will rub on them somehow when they grow up. :)
I hope so. I THINK so, and I’m counting on that every time I take them somewhere.
Tip for taking children to the museum is make it a game. Go on-line and see what is in their collection and then make a bingo game or treasure hunt out of finding the art work. Bring a sketch book and see who can draw the best art. Sometimes they offer childrens programs on Saturdays. Study the art by reading about it before they go. It makes it more interesting. Don’t give up. It will rub off on them. Never been to the Getty, but it is on my list.
The Getty is a must, really. There are so many interesting things to see and the art is in different buildings so you can check out the view of L.A. in between checking out art. I’M in love, and hopefully it will rub off eventually.
The Getty is such an amazing place–I think the architecture and the view is worth it, and of course the fun little tram you take up the hill to get there. It’s funny that I have more recollection of the building than of the art!