I thought I knew what a museum was.  A museum either contained artwork or dinosaurs or historical artifacts.  I’m old-school and picture all of these displays housed in columned, marble buildings.

To me, a children’s museum would be one of these categories but perhaps with some tactile displays or themes that would appeal to the young.  Turns out that the word’s definition of a children’s museum is quite different from mine.

I have been trying to market my book to museum gift shops, and I had thought that children’s museums would be perfect.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  The closest children’s museum to me advertises itself as a place where children can “play in the mud, hammer nails or change the tires on a car”.  At another, kids can “pick up local crops and take them to market”.  Not to be forgotten is the museum where kids can “shop for groceries and check out at the register”.

So many of the museums in my state list grocery store lines as a main attraction.  Really?  Couldn’t you just take your child to the store and let them check out?  These museums remind me of the Traffic Jam Roller Coaster in the Progressive Commercials.  Far too boring to be considered fun.

I would hate to be a kid with a weekend dad in any of these towns.

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For real museum fun (and yes, there is such a thing…at the MOTI!), pick up a copy of Dream Our World.  At the Museum of the Imagination, Bitey and Toby view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.

Dream Our World is available from Amazon.