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Community Corner

Kids Museum Frenzy

Lainey tackles agoraphobia.

My daughter Lainey is 5 years old, and I love her. For some reason, we decided to go to The Boston Children’s Museum on a Friday after 5 p.m. –- dollar admission night!

When we arrived the line to enter was so long that we grabbed a bite to eat. After supper the line dwindled, but the crowd inside was insane.

“I want to play on the climbing structure!” Lainey yelled.

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Several different wavy platforms of carpet hung from the 3-story ceiling. Numerous cables acted as framework and cooping, to house the multitude of crawling kids. 

“Lainey, look at the line to get in that thing!” I grimaced, “and it looks way too crowded!”

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Lainey reluctantly agreed, and we walked to the “Ball Room.” Kids released golf balls down a variety of different ramps, which led over peaks and valleys, or shot into holes, like a . In the crowd, finding a ball was the biggest challenge. Lainey grabbed one and immediately, like an NBA steal, an older kid snatched the ball from her hand.

Lainey’s jaw dropped in shock, “Did you see that?”

“Let’s try another room,” I said.

The “Bubble Room” next door was just as crazy. In one exhibit a kid stands on a hula-hoop sized stage, surrounded by a moat of bubbly water. The kid pulls on a rope and the hoop rises, encasing the kid in a giant bubble.

Unfortunately the water had turned grungy and bubble-free, and one annoying little girl, ignoring the queue, must have raised that hoop 50 times! Her parents were nowhere in sight.

“Next room!” I declared.

Thankfully the crowd thinned the further we journeyed from the main lobby. Lainey enjoyed the temporary Native American Peoples exhibit, the Japanese House, Peep’s World and Arthur’s World. had his close-up in the Arthur green-screen movie exhibit and the kids laughed.

But with crowds too thick for a stroller, the baby got heavy in my arms, and I wasn’t the only tired one. Whining ensued, and soon, Lainey was asleep on the car ride home.

There’s always something to be learned at the Children’s Museum. Whether it’s introducing , or learning how to deal with crowds, the kids will have a blast. But next time, we’re going on a Tuesday.

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