Friday, February 1, 2013

How the Oak Lawn Children's Museum Saved My Life

I had just given birth to my first child when I learned of the existence of these newfangled things called Children's Museums. I was too exhausted to correctly grasp the concept. I envisioned some kind of hippy-skippy art gallery where pictures were merely hung lower than normal. I wrote it all off as a ginormous waste of time. 


On Danny's first birthday, I was six months pregnant with my second son and traveling for work. I suppose this is where you'd expect me to detail the guilt and remorse of not being around on my kid's special day.

Nope.

I was pregnant, tired, and thrilled to be ordering room service. I also wasn't required to feed or bathe anybody else before heading into the office. It was practically the best day of my life.

You already know that I'm kind of a bad mom by now, right?  Hopefully I'm not shocking anyone after all this time.

Regardless, I called home that evening and discovered my husband and Danny had spent the day at the Navy Pier Children's Museum.

"Wasn't he bored senseless?" I questioned. "He's only one. I can't imagine Danny really soaking up a good Monet."

"What are you talking about?" questioned my husband, perplexed.

"Isn't that what a 'Children's Museum' is? Art and statues and stuff?"

"Do you even bother reading those Chicago Parent Magazines you pick up from the lobby? The Children's Museum has a variety of interactive displays and activities designed for little kids. It's not an art gallery. Where do you come up with this stuff?"

My sick, twisted, confused little brain would be the correct answer, but I wasn't about to blow my cover now.


I continued to avoid Children's Museums like the plague. Yet when I became a stay-at-home mom, I started going a tad crazy. One desperate winter day, I piled the kids into the minivan and headed to The Oak Lawn Children's Museum to see what all the fuss was about:


I was pleasantly surprised by how clean, colorful and engaging it was. But that wasn't even the biggest selling point. As I sat down on a bench to watch my kids race wooden cars down a ramp, I heard a friendly voice:

"How old are yours?"

I looked around, confused. Was someone talking to me? Jesus?  Is that you?  I hadn't had an actual conversation with another living person other than my husband in months.

"Excuse me?"

"Kids. How old are your kids?" The woman smiled patiently. 

Was this a trick?  And why was I finding this question harder to answer than my high school ACTs?

"Um...let's see here. What month are we in? Ah. Danny is in the neighborhood of four. Jack I think is still three. And Joey, the little one there eating the golf balls? Well he cries a lot, so we stopped counting his months a while back. I'm pretty sure he's still one."

By now, most normal people would have left the deranged lady with three kids of unknown age and indeterminate origin alone without a second thought. Yet this woman stayed and offered human contact and normalcy that had been noticeably absent from my life. 

I had made my first mom friend.


I immediately purchased a yearly membership to the museum where I would go to compare notes, learn of local activities, and feel human again. The children's museum became a sanctuary of sorts. And best of all? LOOK what is connected to the building:

XL cream & sugar if you're wondering.

By the way, has anyone tried the seasonal brownie batter donuts?  AWESOME:

Liquidy, melty chocolate brownie batter inside.  It's like they made it just for ME.

The Oak Lawn Children's Museum provided me comfort, companionship, and a place where my kids stopped asking for Caillou and juice boxes every 15 minutes. I owe the museum a giant debt of gratitude. But instead of accepting my lifetime devotion, they still give back. Why, just look at a certain fabulous new book that you may recognize made available there:

Psst.  This is one of the final places to buy first edition of EPIC MOM!  2nd edition will be available on Amazon next week!  Be sure to like book on Facebook as I'm hoping to give away THREE very soon!
The Oak Lawn Children's Museum is my pick for institution of the week.

Yes, I just made up that award.

But they deserve it. 

And then some.

32 comments:

  1. Delightful post again and you are expanding my vocabulary again:

    * hippy-skippy
    * ginormous

    I wonder if these words will work on my Facebook Wordscraper games with my brilliant brothers, or on Words With Friends. Maybe not, they are too long.

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    1. Webster really needs to start consulting me for their word entries. I'm good like that.

      I'll be looking for ginormous on your blog! As in, "Marianne is a ginormous wack-a-doodle." (you can use that one, too).

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    2. LOL I am challenged to use ginormous tonight at Toastmasters when I speak with a Power Point pictures on my ginormous messes I have created at our home and my modest successes in de-cluttering.

      Looking forward to reading more of "The Epic Mom".

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    3. Oh, Carol...TELL ME you were able to use "ginormous!" That would make my day!

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    4. I did not and I so went over in time. Now life wants me to speak within a time limit, added to all the other disciplines and challenges in my life! But "ginormous" is now on my blog.

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  2. Back in the 80's, my lovely wife of 31 blissful years and myself shared our parenting duties with my son. She trudged to work in the morning, me, I worked afternoons.

    What saved my sanity was watching reruns of The Love Boat. At night on my days off I could be heard on my night off singing the theme song quite eloquently after numerous Old Styles. Oh and I was an expert with the soaps. That Chad was such a jerk.



    Technology back then, I'll never forget my amazement, was when I got an answering machine the size of a bread box. I was like, wow, this is so cool.

    I'm easily amused as you can see

    MBF (my above google code name CJL, I feel like Bond, James Bond)

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    1. CJL...MBF. You're trying to hit all the letters in the alphabet before you die, aren't you?

      I LOVED the Love Boat. You could time the entire show - first 10 minutes, everyone boards. Problems arise at 25 minutes. Problems resolve at 48 minutes. Everybody de-boards the damn boat at 56 minutes. They just don't make shows with that kind of reliability anymore.

      And I hope you kept that answering machine. Think of the blog potential.

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  3. Marianne,

    Thank you so much for featuring the Children's Museum in Oak Lawn on your blog. I'm glad that you found that "human contact and normalcy" within our walls.

    Adam Woodworth
    Executive Director, Children's Museum in Oak Lawn

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    1. Thank YOU, Adam! I love that place & all the local fundraisers hosted there as well. It's a fantastic addition to the entire southside community!

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  4. Closets can serve as havens or storing kids as well as clothes. Someone told the story of your family about to call the police to report you as a missing six year old only to find you viewing a children's book in the closet.
    SF

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    1. I liked reading books in the closet. Nobody asked me to unload the dishwasher. I was s-m-r-t.

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  5. Thank you so much for your great review of the Children's Museum in Oak Lawn. I have been on the board since it's beginning and I LOVE to hear how it's working with families! Thanks again!
    Cathy Cepican'
    President, CMOL Board of Directors

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    1. Thank you, Cathy. Since my inaugural first visit there, I was convinced to try other museums by friends from various suburbs. I really think yours is by far the best, and the HUGE gated toddler area is above and beyond what anyone else offers.

      Because sometimes, you just need to lock those toddlers up. Please don't call DCFS.

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  6. Loved children's museums when the kids were young. I loved that I could park myself some place, watch them interact with others and have a few quiet moments to myself :)

    betty

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    1. Yes! The ability to SIT DOWN without feeling like you have to do laundry or wash the dishes was so relaxing. You could just sit. How often do you just get to sit? I'm a sitter from back in the day, which is probably why I love these museums so much!

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  7. Gads! I was okay with being pretty much snowed in, but then you had to go all DD-licious on me with a picture of that which I knew nothing about. Now I have lost all focus! Oh, maybe I was going to say that we actually knew the names of the animals at our zoo--no silly, not what kind-more like Bob the horse and Louie the pig. The children';s museum was a bit far for a weekly jaunt!

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    1. No children's museum close by? Another reason you should've moved to Chicago, Andrea.

      Tip for best DD donuts - find out when they have the freshest ones. Every time I go in, I'm like "which ones are new?" New brownie ones? Holy sh*t. I could eat the whole dozen by myself.

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  8. I used to live in Lincoln Park and I love Children's Museums!

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    1. Where were you in Lincoln Park?? I wonder if we ever road the 151, 22, or 36 buses together! I was the one with donut frosting on my face.

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  9. Isn't it funny how dads can stumble upon these things. I will take off for a day with a girlfriend, leaving my hubby with our little one, and when I get home I find out about the adventure he took her on.To places I did not know existed.
    I remember chaperoning on my older daughters kindergarten trip to a children's museum. Same thoughts you had...."boy was I in for a boring day"
    I was WRONG! I was baking pretend cookies and shopping in their pretend grocery store having a grand ol' time.
    Congrats on the book being sold there
    ;)

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    1. Thanks, J.R. I have a theory about why husbands do these fun things with the kids when they're little. It has mostly to do with the lack of importance they place on readying themselves, the kids, and the diaper bag before they leave. There's no make-up, no pressure to find cute clothes for the children, and no thought to the liklihood of anyone peeing themselves. Whatchya think?

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    2. You just put into words what I never could. I would just come home, and stand staring in wonder when my husband would nonchalantly explain where he took one of the kids, and managed to come home and 'clean up a bit'. You just explained it perfectly!!! Dam them and their non caring, non diaper bag packing, non makeup wearing Male selves........and they throw a load of laundry in?? DAM THEM!!

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  10. Great post! Makes me want to go to the Children's Museum right now (possibly by myself).
    And AWESOME about them selling Epic Mom book there! They obviously recognize talent and brilliance when they see it. Museum people are good that way.

    xxo
    MOV

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    1. Museum people ARE very smart, so I think that makes the book practically academic, no?

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  11. I think you and I have many parenting "strategies" in common. Namely donuts and benign neglect.

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    1. Benign neglect - I LOVE that!! Can I borrow it? It pretty much sums up my entire parenting philosphy. Thanks for visiting, Vesuvius.

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  12. What the heck! I did not know of this brownie batter temptation! Now, I'll have to go try one, darn it.

    When I was a nanny of three boys, I took them to a Children's museum all the time! They are definitely lifesavers.

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    1. Oh, Kianwi - you won't regret it!!

      Children's museums probably saved me from complete meltdowns (mine and theirs) more often than I can recount.

      And you were a NANNY??? I think you go to heaven if that is on your resume.

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  13. I love children's museums...even as adult. You actually get to touch things and play! Way better than staring at statues behind glass and a rope, three feet away!

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    1. How about it! I actually get annoyed with the kids when I start "playing" with something and they come along and want to alter my project, Yes. I'm a little OCD.

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  14. I love the Children's Museums (particularly the smaller ones) near us. I've also been dying to try out the Brownie Batter donut. Your review has only pushed me closer to running out the door to go get one!

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    1. FRESH & LOADED are the key words. I've tried about 5 different Dunkin' Donuts (yes, I have a problem) and located the ones with the softest & most filled. I may run out right now...

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