September 8, 2008
Educating Seattle's Littlest Consumers
You've got to be carefully taught. Not how to hate (that comes naturally) but how to love.
The love of shopping, the love of getting and spending, this requires arduous training. Something few parents have time for these days because they're doing so much getting and spending themselves.
Enter the Children's Museum, a 30-year-old institution for the families of Seattle's youngest, with over 20,000 square feet of exhibits at Seattle Center. Hands-on learning, open-ended exploration, creative self-expression, parent-child cooperation, multi-cultural understanding...all the feel-good buzzwords of our time. (Why can't Barack and McJohn, Big Joe and Little Sarah just get along like the tots over there?)
Still, even the most idealistic nonprofits require a little corporate sponsorship these days. Metropolitan Market to the rescue this weekend, underwriting a child-size replica of an urban grocery, a "fun-size" supermarket the size of a one-bedroom apartment with grocery, dairy, produce, deli, bakery, frozen, and floral departments. Fill up your tiny cart, Princess, and wheel it over to the checkout stand. Wasn't that fun? Can you say Kraft, Darigold, Organic Valley, Wilcox Farms?
The Children's Museum, 305 Harrison, 206-441-1788
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My first reaction was 'appalling'.
But then I thought - Hmmm, you ARE going to buy food when you grow up. It's not like target/nordy's/walmart/starby's is trying to suck in the kids to buy useless consumer goods.
Buying groceries is a grim fact of life. It's the one consumer good we actually need to consume.
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Food is food, you're right ... except when it's also a brand name.
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Buying things isn't a bad thing. It does feel good to own something (not someone, although if gotten drunk enough, I would admit I would like to own someone- like a football team).
However, buying irresponsibly is where most of us get our knee-jerk reaction to consumerism. Moderation and responsibility are about as tasty as vegetables.
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I had pretty much the same thought as bilco above. I'd like to see some education on where food comes from too (I've never been to the Childrens Museum, maybe they have a great farm exhibit too), but this doesn't seem that bad.
I also have very clear memories of enjoying playing "store" or "library". Kids like practicing what they see adults doing, and buying food is something that needs to be done. I don't think we need to worry about this mimicry.
The branding is unfortunate, but I'm not too concerned about it and it keeps the place open. At least it's appropriate to the item it's on (the milk looks just like Horizon milk, rather than the paper plate looking just like Elmo.)
When we visit the Childrens Museum, I will let my toddler daughter play with these things.
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When I was a little girl my grandparents would take me to the Pioneer Farm Museum in Eatonville fairly regularly, where I got to milk a cow and knead bread dough and hear stories about the PNW settlers. I certainly gained an appreciation for all things local and hand-made. It wasn't attached to brand, obviously. I learned some great lessons and will never forget those field trips with my grandparents and siblings.
What I'm trying to say is that though education about food and consumer behavior shouldn't have to be brand-bound, anything educational and hands-on is GOOD (lots of kids are kinetic learners, I know I was/am). And hands-on plus family-oriented = a winner of an event in my book.
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I share Malyita's fond memories.