eWire
October 05, 2005
Paris with Children: Where Art and Culture ARE the Rides
Gary Lee Kraut
To travel editors: The following is the opening section of a 1200-word opinion piece about cultural travel with children in Europe. The full piece is available on spec upon request and modifiable following your space requirements. Quality images of specific works mentioned in the article can be provided.
Paris with Children: Where Art and Culture ARE the Rides
By Gary Lee Kraut
Sorry, no kids list here!
That’s my response to travelers who ask what sights I specially recommend for children.
Rather, that’s the beginning of my response, because Paris is indeed a great family destination. It’s just that the Mickey Mouse approach whereby one thinks in terms of age-appropriate rides seems to miss the point. Paris is an exciting family destination precisely because it is a rare city that can readily entertain and enrich and feed parents and children at the same time, at the same sights, in the same museums, in the same parks, in the same pastry shops, at the same cafés…
The question isn’t what to see so much as how to see it. The better question, then, is: “How can I get and keep my child curious about foreign travel?” After all, the more curious your child is the less likely he'll be bored by what’s drawn you to Paris in the first place: the beauty, the culture, the art.
But planting an 11-year-old in front of Notre Dame and expecting him to “appreciate” it rarely works. There’s little reason for a child (or for anyone) to be impressed by simply standing before a famous monument or work of art, and even less of a reason to be stimulated by dates and names alone.
Instead, cultural curiosity begins with connecting a visible detail or individual with a good story, and vice versa. Therefore, while the postcard view of Notre Dame can leave him cold, pointing out entertaining images of hell in stone and of decapitated Saint Denis holding his head in his hands and then leading the child around to the side of the cathedral to figure out for himself that the gargoyles serve as waterspouts will encourage him to open his eyes to details.
Similarly, dragging a 10-year-old through the crowds at the Louvre and asking her to find the Venus de Milo beautiful will invariably lead her to whine, "Oh, Mom, she doesn't even have any arms!" But ask her and help her to imagine what armless Venus might be doing with her hands and you may just have found the spark she needs to get curious about art...