I love taking the girls - aged 2 and 4 - to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. We soak in the magnificent European period rooms. The masters from the Impressionist period. The intricate carved Buddhas.

Oh, who am I kidding? I take them to there because it gets us out of the house. Plus, they love the kids’ penne at the D’Amico’s on the mezzanine floor.

So there we were again last Sunday. They’d already run around the fountain in the atrium and we were wandering through one of the Impressionist rooms. A naked bronze statue loomed. Maya stopped short. “Boy!” she shouted. “Mummy, boy!” And pointed at his, well, boyness.

At that point, Zoe decided to sit on a bench (right in front of a large nude painting of a reclining woman). I was starting to feel like a pervert for exposing such young impressionable minds to these surroundings. More specifically, I was worried that others - it was crowded, being the final day of the Georgia O’Keefe show - would think me a pervert.

Zoe whipped out her “Little Book of Thanks,” the secular version. She’d cut it out of her High Five mag that morning and her daddy helped her staple it together. She was very proud of it.

“I’m thankful for the round things (picture of a kid swinging on a tire),” she recited in her best pulpit voice. “I’m thankful for the sweet things (kid eating pineapple slices…” ending triumphantly “What are you thankful for?” 

“Peace and quiet,” said one man.

Kids in public: Have you had illuminating/mortifying moments?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.