When Your Kid is a Client: Part II

Our family was also at the opening day of MOSAC on Saturday, and we often passed Jennifer and Nora as my six-year-old daughter, Lydia, ran from exhibit room to exhibit room and I tried to keep up.

She noted that her favorite exhibits were in the ‘Nature Detectives’ section.

Her excitement watching the bees leave the hive and trying to guess the sounds and smells of the forest punctuated the importance of hands-on science education, and reinvigorated my own curiosity.

In ‘Destination Space,’ Lydia was excited to see herself in the space suit, even more so when I told her that she could be the first woman on the moon if she wanted.

One of my favorite moments came when we were sitting in the planetarium during a live show exploring the solar system. As you settle into your seat you realize you can’t hear a thing, it’s incredibly quiet. The sounds of Interstate 5 (just behind you) melt away as the lights go down and you’re transported to another reality.

Often our design explorations and countless iterations of details feel like an exercise in futility, but as the live presenter toured us through the eight celestial bodies (I still think Pluto was robbed), audience members young and old responded to the rich imagery and used their hands to trace the rotations of the planets and point at the giant red storm churning on Jupiter. It made all those many sound-proofing iterations worth it for me.

Since visiting the museum we often discuss the millipede, space suit, and the kinetic sand in the water challenge area. Her most frequent comment when we’re getting ready for bed is always: “I can’t wait until me and my classmates can take a field trip to see it”. We know we’ve succeeded when our clients have this deep desire to share the knowledge they’ve gained.