Art and play at the DMA!
Tuesday was little gym. They do this exercise every time when we start. We walk around the mat in a circle and then we run in a circle. If the child is not walking yet (akello) then the instructor tells us to put our hands under our child's armpits to support him on his feet and to help them walk. Hmmm…i thought, “im pretty sure that’s a Montessori no-no.” so I have just been holding akello or letting him crawl by himself on the mat.
So the instructor comes up to me and is like, you need to put him down and spot check him, he will love the movement. That when I leaned in close to her and said, “im sorry but we’re montessorians, need I say more?” she gave me a puppy dog stare so I went on explaining to her the concept of letting them do it when they’re ready, not rushing the child, allowing the child to make the discovery for themselves. She was like, “oh ok I can buy that.” Exersises like that one and products like the ones below are contraband and only give children a false sense or reality and slow their development. Same goes for walkers.
I was soon breaking it down for the rest of the class too (in whispers, hey, they asked!). Well since that was so active, I thought we could go to The Dallas Museum of Art for the rest of the afternoon seeing as how the first Tuesday of the month is free admission. I wasn’t sure if akello would enjoy himself or not, and hated the thought of paying the 15 dollar admission only to have to leave a few minutes into it. Akello by design would most likely enjoy it since museums in general are calm and quiet and nobody would be all up in his grill. Plus he enjoyed the last museum , but I didn’t want to take chances.
Now we were going to go to the DMA a few weeks ago but then I noticed that first Tuesday is free day so we went to the Tramell Crow collection instead which was nearby.
Oh, you will hear Theresa and I both saying. “akello enjoyed himself” or “akello did not enjoy himself.” This is because we are trying to get away from saying things like, “he behaved great” because akello does not no how to behave. He’s a 10 month old. He cant behave or misbehave. He can only be.
I was telling Theresa the other day that we were eating lunch at marianos that I got up to go to the restroom and left akello with mona and anita. He did not like that. And while I realized he didn’t want me to leave and went back to get him to take him with me, Theresa broke it down for me…
“babies are constantly orienting themselves to their environment. They have their primary caregiver as their anchor. So no matter how choppy the waters get (new environs)You are there holding it all together. You were in a brand new environment for an hour and then you tried to leave. So nobody but you or me could have anchored him.
Hmm…that makes sense. Montessorily speaking, this is one of the reasons that kids rooms are designed so “boringly” with a high importance put on order and “sameness”
The child becomes oriented much easier if things are orderly and always the same. If there are a bunch of toys all over thttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhe room it is not only messy and disorderly, but the child has to re-orient themselves everytime.
well anyway, DMA.
Akello enjoyed himself immensley and even let me shop around the gift shop which he couldnt stand to even step foot in weeks earlier. too many junior leaguers in one room perhaps? We spent two hours exploring the contemporary collections and the sculpture garden and didn't bother peaking into the galleries of 17th century oils of people i dont know. They were currently exhibiting The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America June 8–September 16, 2007. what a treat!
The Dma also has an EXCELLENT childrens area. in fact its big enough to be its own museum. i could go on and on about. luckily it was pretty vacant and i could let akello out of the sling for some roaming.
akello checking out a promotional video about the DMA educational programs. he loved the big video wall. i even caught this video of him clapping after it was done. and then he was off!
he loved this little depression in the floor and spent some good time going up and down paying no attention to the video.
we played around here but it was a little too old for him. he kept wanting to eat the paper
he had an awesome time. it was all together one of our best days here. i discovered a new artist too named kay sage whom i had never heard of.
i was also able to spend some good time with two of my favorites. Rothko and Motherwell.
this kline was a favorite as well
and mondrian as well whom is probably my 7th favorite artist.
the great thing about the DMA is that the gaurds are clueless as to the rules of photography. one gaurd will tell you "no photos! private collection!" and then the gaurds will rotate and ill whip out my camera and pull the "its easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission" and they will say, "no flash!" and im like "no problem!" it was that way throughout the whole museum.
So the instructor comes up to me and is like, you need to put him down and spot check him, he will love the movement. That when I leaned in close to her and said, “im sorry but we’re montessorians, need I say more?” she gave me a puppy dog stare so I went on explaining to her the concept of letting them do it when they’re ready, not rushing the child, allowing the child to make the discovery for themselves. She was like, “oh ok I can buy that.” Exersises like that one and products like the ones below are contraband and only give children a false sense or reality and slow their development. Same goes for walkers.
I was soon breaking it down for the rest of the class too (in whispers, hey, they asked!). Well since that was so active, I thought we could go to The Dallas Museum of Art for the rest of the afternoon seeing as how the first Tuesday of the month is free admission. I wasn’t sure if akello would enjoy himself or not, and hated the thought of paying the 15 dollar admission only to have to leave a few minutes into it. Akello by design would most likely enjoy it since museums in general are calm and quiet and nobody would be all up in his grill. Plus he enjoyed the last museum , but I didn’t want to take chances.
Now we were going to go to the DMA a few weeks ago but then I noticed that first Tuesday is free day so we went to the Tramell Crow collection instead which was nearby.
Oh, you will hear Theresa and I both saying. “akello enjoyed himself” or “akello did not enjoy himself.” This is because we are trying to get away from saying things like, “he behaved great” because akello does not no how to behave. He’s a 10 month old. He cant behave or misbehave. He can only be.
I was telling Theresa the other day that we were eating lunch at marianos that I got up to go to the restroom and left akello with mona and anita. He did not like that. And while I realized he didn’t want me to leave and went back to get him to take him with me, Theresa broke it down for me…
“babies are constantly orienting themselves to their environment. They have their primary caregiver as their anchor. So no matter how choppy the waters get (new environs)You are there holding it all together. You were in a brand new environment for an hour and then you tried to leave. So nobody but you or me could have anchored him.
Hmm…that makes sense. Montessorily speaking, this is one of the reasons that kids rooms are designed so “boringly” with a high importance put on order and “sameness”
The child becomes oriented much easier if things are orderly and always the same. If there are a bunch of toys all over thttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifhe room it is not only messy and disorderly, but the child has to re-orient themselves everytime.
well anyway, DMA.
Akello enjoyed himself immensley and even let me shop around the gift shop which he couldnt stand to even step foot in weeks earlier. too many junior leaguers in one room perhaps? We spent two hours exploring the contemporary collections and the sculpture garden and didn't bother peaking into the galleries of 17th century oils of people i dont know. They were currently exhibiting The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America June 8–September 16, 2007. what a treat!
The Dma also has an EXCELLENT childrens area. in fact its big enough to be its own museum. i could go on and on about. luckily it was pretty vacant and i could let akello out of the sling for some roaming.
akello checking out a promotional video about the DMA educational programs. he loved the big video wall. i even caught this video of him clapping after it was done. and then he was off!
he loved this little depression in the floor and spent some good time going up and down paying no attention to the video.
we played around here but it was a little too old for him. he kept wanting to eat the paper
he had an awesome time. it was all together one of our best days here. i discovered a new artist too named kay sage whom i had never heard of.
i was also able to spend some good time with two of my favorites. Rothko and Motherwell.
this kline was a favorite as well
and mondrian as well whom is probably my 7th favorite artist.
the great thing about the DMA is that the gaurds are clueless as to the rules of photography. one gaurd will tell you "no photos! private collection!" and then the gaurds will rotate and ill whip out my camera and pull the "its easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission" and they will say, "no flash!" and im like "no problem!" it was that way throughout the whole museum.
posted by THE MODERN DAD at 5.7.07
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