I recently read an article about how Beyonce and Jay Z took Blue Ivy to the Louvre in Paris and a large portion of the world flipped out about it, saying that a two year old has no business going to adult places. Well, I think that’s nonsense. Not only did we take Honeybun to the Louvre when she was 21 months old, we’ve taken both the girls to the Hermitage, Dachau, Westminster Abbey, and numerous pubs, biergartens, breweries and formal restaurants.
Why? Because why not. How on Earth are children going to learn about their world and how to act when in public if we keep them contained to their homes, playgrounds, schools and McDonald’s? We chose to homeschool because we want the world to be our children’s classroom and for them to see and experience things first hand, not just read about them in a book!
So you may be wondering what made all of these trips successful and not major catastrophes for us? How did we survive going to all these “adult” places with babies and toddlers without getting kicked out? 
Here’s our guidelines for going to museums with kids:
We know our kids.
We don’t take them “adult” places if we don’t think they’re in a mood to handle it. If they’re having a bad day, we stay away.
We expect good behavior and teach them how to behave appropriately.
We don’t bribe (or “entice”) them to behave, it’s jut expected in our family. Our kids have gone everywhere with us since they were newborns and they know how to act in public. When visiting museums, libraries, churches, etc., we make sure they know to use their whisper voices and we keep them close by.
If they misbehave, we handle it.
Sure, kids act out. They throw fits and they try to run around. We don’t allow it. If it happens, we shut it down immediately and let them know it’s not okay. If they can’t get themselves under control, we leave (if feasible) or find a more secluded place where we won’t bother others until the child is ready to resume our activities.
We involve the kids in the visit.
We don’t just push our kids around in the buggy and ignore them while we take it all in.
We talk to the kids, point things out, ask them questions, explain things in terms they understand. Honeybun used to love looking at the ornate ceilings of all the places we visited and I love hearing what they think about works of art.
We don’t overstay.
We spent an entire day at the Louvre, walking the ENTIRE museum but that was only because Honeybun was doing great and we were all enjoying the visit. We know when the kids are getting bored or hungry or tired and when that happens we pack it up and go.
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