Rethinking Museums：我們對兒童與家庭觀眾是否足夠友善呢？

圖片擷取自kids in Museums粉絲專頁

很喜歡….英國慈善組織「Kids in Museums」針對英國國民信託管理的女神雕像，發現被塗上藍色蠟筆一事所做的發言，值得深思。

(女神雕像被塗上蠟筆一事，只因國民信託提到日前家庭活動曾發給蠟筆，使得兒童與家長成為眾矢之的。)

Kids in Museums在臉書發文表示：

「許多家庭觀眾不參觀博物館，就是憂慮自己行為舉止應該如何表現以及他人對自己行為的評判。

而這些故事與周遭的責備文化，不論是責備家長、兒童或博物館工作人員，都只會加深家庭觀眾的恐懼，阻止他們參觀

。……在這次的案例中，無數個家庭走過都毫無意外發生，且沒有藉助任何清潔劑或昂貴的專業材料，蠟筆痕跡就已去除了。」

意思是這只是少數個案，也無重大損失，不需要過度謾罵兒童與家庭觀眾。

事實上，國民信託也表示，他們不知道這些蠟筆的痕跡是怎麼發生的，也不知道是否真的是來自活動分發的蠟筆。

同時表示，發生這樣的事令人沮喪，但是這樣的例子實屬罕見，數百萬的參觀者都是尊重此處的。

因此，值得深思的是，

我們是否先入為主地覺得一定是兒童所為？在一切只是推測的情況下。

正如Kids in Museums所說，歷史文物的確偶爾會在公共場所被所有各種年紀的人（people of all ages）損壞。Kids in Museums也提到博物館與遺址還是要繼續致力於給兒童和家庭觀眾舒適的參觀環境，不因此事改變。

即使是兒童所為，兒童需要引導和溝通，但不需要過度苛責孩子或家長，博物館與我們著實需要對家庭觀眾更敞開心胸。這樣或許我們才有資格說，博物館真正為所有人開放。

以及，還是很想說，博物館不是製造對立的地方，而是要引導大眾相互理解的地方。需要更多元包容、能站在不同立場同理他人的觀點。

#家庭友善博物館 #友善兒童
#博物館包容性

註：Kids in Museums組織致力於與世界各地的博物館及遺址一起創造更友善兒童與家庭的環境，並舉辦年度家庭友善博物館獎。

Kids in Museums 臉書粉專全文：

It’s been interesting to see the comments around this story and how it has attracted worldwide attention. We know that many families don’t visit museums because they are worried about how they should behave and being judged on their behaviour.

These stories and the culture of blame around them – whether you blame the children, parents or museum staff – only reinforce the fears that prevent family visits. Historic objects do occasionally and very sadly get damaged in public venues by people of all ages, though great efforts are made to prevent this. In this case, “hundreds of families had completed the trail without incident” and the crayon was removed from the statue “without the help of external cleaners or expensive specialist materials”.

Children have a right to access heritage sites and explore them. It’s disappointing to see organisations like the National Trust being criticised for trying to be more family friendly. Engaging children actively with their local heritage can inspire a lifelong interest and research shows that children visiting with their families are more likely to return as adults, than if they visit with a school group.

Over the past decade museums and heritage sites have made huge improvements to their offer for children and families. It’s important that this progress isn’t reversed by incidents like this. We want all museums and heritage sites to continue to strive to give families and children the best possible visitor experience and we want all families to feel comfortable visiting.

參考新聞連結：

The New York Times:<Statue Is Defaced in England After Children Were Given Crayons>